Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

TRIBUS.

389

TRIBUS.

tribes and clans. Homer speaks of such di-
visions in terms which seem to imply that
tbey were elements that entered into the
composition of every community. A person
not included in any clan (<x$p?;t&>p), was re-
garded as a vagrant or outlaw. These divi-
sions were rather natural than political,
depending on family connection, and arising
out of those times, when each head of a
family exercised a patriarchal sway over its
members. The bond was cemented by reli-
gious communion, sacrifices and festivals,
which all the family or clansmen attended,
and at which the chief usually presided.
■—Of the Dorian race there were originally
three tribes, traces of which are found in
all the countries which they colonised.
Hence they are called by Homer Awpie'e;
Tpixai'xe;. These tribes were the Hylleis
('YAAeis), Pamphyli (nd.p.c/>uAoi), and Dymana-
tne or Dymanes (Avfuamreu. or Sv^aves). The
first derived their name from Hyllus, son of
Hercules, the two last from Pamphylus and
Dymas, who are said to have fallen in the
last expedition when the Dorians took pos-
session of the Peloponnesus. The Hyllean
tribe was perhaps the one of highest dignity;
but at Sparta there does not appear to have
been much distinction, for all the freemen
there were by the constitution of Lycurgus
on a footing of equality. To these three
tribes others were added in different places,
either when the Dorians were joined by other
foreign allies, or when some of the old inha-
bitants were admitted to the rank of citizen-
ship or equal privileges. Thus the Cadmean
Aegeids are said by Herodotus to have been
a great tribe at Sparta, descended (as he
says) from Aegeus, grandson of Theras,
though others have thought they were in-
corporated with the three Doric tribes. The
subdivision of tribes into phratriae ((pparpiai)
or patrae (irarptxi), gene (yen;), trittyes (TpiV-
Tves), &c. appears to have prevailed in various
places. At Sparta each tribe contained ten
obae (io0cu), a word denoting a local division
or district; each obe contained ten triacades
(Vpum-aSe;), communities containing thirty
families. But very little appears to be known
of these divisions, how far they were local,
or how far genealogical. After the time of
Cleomenes the old system of tribes was
changed ; new ones were created correspond-
ing to the different quarters of the town,
and they seem to have been five in number.
—The first Attic tribes that we read of are said
to have existed in the reign, or soon after
the reign, of Cecrops, and were called Ce-
cropis (KeKpom's), Autochthon (AiiTdx^coi/),
Actaea (A/crata), and Paralia (TlapaAia). In
the reign of a subsequent king, Cranaus,

these names were changed to Cranais (Kpa.
raw), Atthis (At0i;), Mesoyaca (Mecrdyaia),
and Diacris (Aiaxpc's). Afterwards we find
a new set of names; Dias (Aias), Athenais
(Aflrji/ai?), Poscidonias (IToo-eiSuji'tas), and He-
phaestias (' H^aiorias) ; evidently derived
from the deities who were worshipped in the
country. Some of those secondly mentioned,
if not all of them, seem to have been geo-
graphical divisions; and it is not improbable
that, if not independent communities, they
were at least connected by a very weak bond
of union. But all these tribes were super-
seded by four others, which were probably
founded soon after the Ionic settlement in
Attica, and seem to have been adopted by
other Ionic colonies out of Greece. The
names Geleontes fTeAe'oi'Tes), Hopletes ("Oir.
Ar)Te9), Argades ( ApyaSeis), Aegicores (Aiyi-
/copeis), are said by Herodotus to have been
derived from the sons of Ion, son of Xuthus.
Upon this, however, many doubts have been
thrown by modern writers. The etymology
of the last three names would seem to sug-
gest, that the tribes were so called from the
occupations which their respective members
followed ; the Hopletes being the armed men,
or warriors ; the Argades, labourers or hus-
bandmen ; the Aegicores, goatherds or shep-
herds. But whatever be the truth with
respect to the origin of these tribes, one thing
is certain, that before the time of Theseus,
whom historians agree in representing as the
great founder of the Attic commonwealth,
the various people who inhabited the country
continued to be disunited and split into fac-
tions.—Theseus in some measure changed
the relations of the tribes to each other, by
introducing a gradation of ranks in each ;
dividing the people into Eupatridae (Ei>7ra-
TpiiW), Geomori (reu>p.dpot), and Demiurgi
(Arjiiuovp-yoi'), of whom the first were nobles,
the second agriculturists or yeomen, the
third labourers and mechanics. At the
same time, in order to consolidate the na-
tional unity, he enlarged the city of Athens,
with which he incorporated several smaller
towns, made it the seat of government,
encouraged the nobles to reside there, and
surrendered a part of the royal prerogative
in their favour. The tribes or phylae
were divided, either in the age of Theseus
or soon after, each into three phratriae (<pp<x-
rpuu, a term equivalent to fraternities, and
analogous in its political relation to the
Roman curiae), and each phratria into thirty
gene (yeVr;, equivalent to the Roman Gentes),
the members of a genos (yeVos) being called
gennetae (ye^rou) or homogalactes (op.oya-
AaxTes). Each genos was distinguished by a
particular name of a patronymic form, which