ABSTRACT
T HE way in which the aristocratic form of government was born within the earlier period of the monarchy is clearly portrayed in epic poetry.1 It is significant -that a petty chieftain of Crete should refuse to put himself under the orders of Idomeneus, prefer to lead his own troops independently, and assassinate the king's son who tried to deprive him of the spoils of war;2 because, when Aristotle3 informs us that monarchy formerly existed and had been abolished in Crete, it is the devolution of the king's military leadership upon the kosmoi that he emphasizes. His formulation throws an interesting light on the original function of the king as the leader of a tribal military democracy, and also on the subsequent usurpation of his powers (including that which had constituted the principal motive for his authority), by those among whom he had been primus inter pares, the lesser chiefs who became the leaders of new, aristocratic societies.
