Some reflections on cretan andreia and aghelai

The author conducts a comparative analysis of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources (second half of the seventh to the beginning of the second century BC) on andreia (a term designating the institution of the syssitia, the buildings that hosted them, and also the town etairiai) and aghelai (associations of young aristocrats aged between 17 and 20). The purpose is to understand how these institutions functioned and their socio-economic implications. From the late Archaic period to early Hellenism, andreia seem to have been partly financed drawing on a fund in the public treasury built from contributions by the perioeci and politai, and partly from quotas directly paid by each citizen to the andreion he belonged to. This permeability between the smaller and larger units of Cretan citizenship (politai - andreia - polis) is also reflected in pedagogic organization. The andreion was the principal place for the instruction of the paides. It was also the institution around which the aghelai system revolved, which provided a military instruction left to the private initiative of prominent citizens. Thus, at least in the larger towns, like Lyttos and Gortyna, until the 3rd century BC there must have been as many syssitia as there were etairiai. Over time, then, the polis must have totally incorporated even those aspects of economic and social life, like the andreia and the aghelai, that had traditionally depended on a combination of public and private support. By the beginning of the second century BC, the syssitia of the etairiai had been unified in a single andreion of the polis. Finally, a quick review of archaeological evidence indicates the lack, in the present state of research, of buildings certainly identifiable as andreia, suggesting that these must have been specialized building complexes with one or more rooms for male banquets, well distinct from those where food was prepared and stored.