Oikistes
The oikistes (Greek: οἰκιστής), often anglicized as oekist or oecist, was the individual chosen by an ancient Greek polis as the leader of any new colonization effort. He was invested with the power of selecting a settling place, directing the initial labors of the colonists and guiding the fledgling colony through its hard early years.[1] The oracle is also consulted during deliberations for choosing an oikistes.[2] After he is appointed and directed to found a colony, he also consults the Delphic oracle.[2][3] Due to his authority, the oikistes was often accorded his own cult after his death, and his name was preserved even when all other details of the founding of a colony were forgotten.[4]
At the time of Greek colonisation, the oikistes is historically identifiable. He was usually responsible for providing the ship on which the colonists set sail from the Greek mainland to found a colony. He therefore ritually consulted an oracle about the advantages of the possible location of the new settlement and then determined the place of foundation. After arriving at the newly founded colony, the oikistes determined the distribution of land and the street grid. In his honour, sanctuaries were erected in the colony in the manner of the heroes of the mythical Oikistes, games were sponsored and festivals were held.
The home polis (metropolis) commissioned an oikist to prepare and lead the expedition to Italy or other areas of the Mediterranean. The oikist was usually very well known in his home town and usually came from a noble family. Before the expedition, he had to guarantee the protection of the gods. So he went to a sanctuary, usually that of the god Apollo in Delphi, and had the god confirm the destination of his journey. The god spoke revelations through his priests.[5]
In keeping with the social structures of the archaic period, the actual leadership of a Greek city foundation was regularly in the hands of a nobleman who, as an oikist (or archeget), was in command of his companions (hetairoi), laid down the rules for living together in the planting city (apoikie) and was responsible for the local distribution of land. According to the British ancient historian Oswyn Murray, around 200 emigrants, who did not all have to come from the same civil organisation, were needed for a new foundation. As a rule, they were probably unmarried men able to bear arms.[6]
List of famous oikists:
- Archias for Syracuse, on the east coast of Sicily
- Baatus for Cyrene, in the highlands of Jebel Akhdar in Libya
- Byzas for Byzantion, at the south-western exit of the Bosporus
- Epeios for Pisa and Metapont
- Euarchos for Catania
- Hippocles of Cyme and Megasthenes of Chalcis for Cumae, north-west of Naples
- Makekon for Macedonia, region on the southern Balkan peninsula
- Phalanthus for Taranto, on the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea
References
[edit]- ^ Dillon, Matthew; Garland, Lynda (2010). Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Alexander Routledge sourcebooks for the ancient world. Taylor & Francis. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-415-47330-9.
- ^ a b Wilson, Nigel Guy (2006). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. New York: Psychology Press. p. 177. ISBN 0-415-97334-1.
- ^ Raaflaub, Kurt A.; Wees, Hans van (2012-12-21). A Companion to Archaic Greece. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-55665-8.
- ^ Casson, Lionel (1991), The Ancient Mariners: Seafarers and Sea Fighters of the Mediterranean in Ancient Times, Princeton University Press, p. 68, ISBN 978-0-691-01477-7
- ^ Lazzarini, Mario (1995). Lazzarini, Mario (ed.). Giorni di Magna Grecia. Il giocastoria (in Italian). Taranto: Scorpione Ed. p. 17. ISBN 978-88-8099-027-7.
- ^ Murray, Oswyn (1995). Das frühe Griechenland (in German). München: Deutscher. Taschenbuch-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-423-04400-4.
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