ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4 I oered an interpretation of the archaeological evidence which suggested that during the eighth century bc there was an increasing sense within Greece of belonging to a particular community and that this went together with an awareness on the part of individuals that they could use achievements outside their community to enhance their status within it. In Chapter 6 I stressed the development of structures of relating within the community, the increasingly political ends to which links with men and communities outside the home city were put, and the cultural competition between communities. e tension between city particularism, the sense of belonging to one Greek community rather than another, and panhellenism, the sense of being part of a wider Greek world, informs early Greek history; Greek cities compete in one sphere as they collaborate in another, keen to assert dierence but always within the framework of broader distinction between themselves and the non-Greek world. During the sixth century bc some forms of city particularism reach a height, while, rst culturally and then in response to burgeoning political threats from the non-Greek world through actual political collaboration, Greek cities increasingly link up for common action as political issues cease to be merely parochial and come to be seen as belonging to a wider agenda. In this chapter I will explore the height of city particularism and the beginnings of new political cooperation.
