Max Weber, the Rise of the Polis, and the "Hoplite Revolution" Theory.

Abstract

With his essay "Agrarverhältnisse im Altertum," Max Weber pushed the scholarly narrative of the rise of the Ancient Greek polis closer to what was to become the paradigm of the twentieth century: that the unique political development of Greece followed from the rise of a new kind of warrior, the hoplite. But the scholars who would enshrine this "hoplite revolution" theory seem to have been ignorant of Weber. His prescient work is never cited on this subject. This article explores the contemporary origins and Weberian nature of a forgotten version of the "hoplite revolution" theory.