The Role Of The Hoplite Reform In The Other Greece By Hanson

In The Other Greeks, Hanson suggests a similar socioeconomic model of the Hoplite reform, yet he centers his study on the object of farming land rather than the whole picture of tradeoffs between the hoplite and the agricultural activities. He concurs with Viggiano and Cartledge in that overpopulation and relative land hunger were stimuli of revolution and struggle both inside and outside the polis. Within the local affairs of the city-state, “the population pressure on limited land led to the use of more intensive farming techniques, such as the cultivation of marginal lands and farmstead residence” (Hanson on Viggiano, 122). The concept of “land hunger” originates from the fact that as population escalated at a faster rate, land became increasingly scarce – especially quality arable land –, and small farmers started colonizing terrains around mountain slopes and relatively away from water sources. …show more content…
This “novel agrianism” expanded in massive proportions and promoted an egalitarian ethos, based upon the fairly similar holdings of these independent landed non-aristocrats. Consequently, it was them who provided “the ‘best’ type of government (…) but possible only when they are present in sufficient numbers to prevent class strife between the very rich and the abject poor” (Hanson THE OTHER GREEKS). Thus, the broader oligarchies, which had acquired significant political and military power, emerged as a middle ground between the narrow aristocracy and the direct democracy including the poorest