Perhaps the most striking development accompanying the emergence of the Greek city-state (ca. 1200-480 BC) was the appearance of new urban centers whose form, contents, and construction provided the most visible and effective means of creating, reinforcing, and symbolizing the social, political, and economic relationships that characterized the new polis system. Excavations at the site of Azoria (East Crete) have brought to light an unparalleled collection of architectural data, largely unobscured by later activities, that provides one of the best opportunities to study the architectural correlates of urbanization in the Greek world. This paper explores three levels of the built environment at Azoria - the domestic, the civic, and the urban - and demonstrates that the architectural landscape of the nascent city-state not only served to reflect the dramatic social and political developments that accompanied the emergence of the polis, but in effect, also functioned as an active agent in their creation.
Current models of state formation in the Greek world envision a radical shift in sociopolitical structure from either pastoral or mixed village-farming communities operating wIthin a chiefdom-based or big-man society to more elaborate sociopolitical and economic systems characterized by drastically rearranged social organizations, complex inter - and intraregional trade networks, and more extensive integration between rural landscapes and their new urban centers (Donlan 1985, 1997; Foxhall 1995; Morris 1997a; Nowicki 1999, 2002; Osborne 1996; Small 2010; Tandy 1997; Wallace 2001, 2003a, 2006). This process of transformation, which unfolded aT different paces in different regions of the Aegean world from the end of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200-1050 BC), through the Early Iron Age (ca. 1050-600 BC) to the end of the Archaic Period (ca. 600-480 BC), culminated in the appearance of that characteristic Greek political institution, the city-state or polis (e. g., Hansen 2006; Hansen and Nielsen
2005; Morris 1997b; Mitchell and Rhodes 1997; Perlman 2004; Small 2010; Snodgrass 2006; Wallace 2010). One important, yet understudied, aspect of the emergence of the Greek polis involves the process of urbanization, a phenomenon that resulted in the appearance of cities throughout much of the Aegean Basin over the course of the eighth through sixth centuries BC (Andersen et al. 1997; Andreev 1989; Kotsonas 2002:50-57; Lang 2002, 2007; Osborne 2005). Indeed, even though the precise definition of the term urbanization varies from culture to culture (Cowgill 2004:526-528; Vink 1997:111-118), studies of numerous preindustrial societies throughout the Old and New Worlds have demonstrated the intimate connection between the creation of urban space and state formation (Adams 1966; Blanton 1976; Cowgill 2004; Fox 1977; Marcus 1983; A. Smith 2003; M. Smith 2003; Hansen 2000, 2002; Nichols and Charlton 1997; Sanders and Santley 1983; Storey 2006). As these studies have shown, the construction of these new urban landscapes provides perhaps the most visible and effective means of creating, reinforcing, and symbolizing the new social, political, and economic relationships in these developing polities (Abrams 1989:48; Abrams and Bolland 1999:263-264; Cowgill 2004:528; A. Smith 2003; see Miller 1995 for Athens).
URBANIZATION AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE GREEK POLIS
Despite the integral relationship between urbanization and polis formation, however, previous examinations of the role played by the built environment have been hampered by the general paucity of structural remains dating to the seventh and sixth centuries BC (Kotsonas 2002:48-50; Nowicki 2002:150, 170). Whereas studies of larger, "successful" city-states such as Corinth anD Athens have yielded abundant historical and archaeological evidence for this field of study, the majority of the architectural data dating to the relevant periods from non-sanctuary contexts remain buried or otherwise obscured by centuries, even millennia, of later construction activities and, as a result, the overall form of these early urban centers beyond their primary cult centers is fragmentary at best (e. g., Harris-Cline 1999; Hurwit 1999:85-137; Papadopoulos 2003:280-297; Pfaff 2003; Rhodes 2003; Robertson 1998; Schmalz 2006; Shear 1994; Weir 1995). Similarly, althougH the eighth-century BC architectural remains at smaller sites such as Emporio on Chios (Boardman 1967), Koukounaries on Paros (Schilardi 1983), Vroulia on Rhodes (Kinch 1914; Melander 1988), and Zagora on Andros (Cambitoglou et al. 1971, 1988; Green 1990; Vink 1997) are clearly visible in the archaeological record, their potential contribution to this discussion is limited by
The fact that they were abandoned at a relatively early phase in their development.
RODNEY D. FITZSIMONS
The dearth of evidence for these initial stages of urbanization is even more pronounced on the island of Crete, where there is a remarkable decline in the quantity not only of settlement remains, but also funerary and ritual activity in the sixth century BC. This situation has led many scholars to suggest that the island witnessed a dramatic drop in population during this period (e. g., Coldstream and Huxley 1999; Kotsonas 2002; Prent 1996-1997; Van der Vliet 1996-1997; Vink 1996-1997). Such a population decline is particularly surprising considering that the preceding three centuries were characterized by intense and dynamic cultural interaction between the inhabitants of Crete, the Aegean islands, the Greek mainland, anD the Near East. Moreover, it was precisely during this period that the state entities that dominated the political landscape of the island during the second half of the first millennium BC seem to have had their formative years. New studies being conducted at such sites as Afrati and Kato Syme (Erickson 2002), Eleutherna (Erickson 2004; Stampolidis 1990,
2002) , Itanos (Apostolakou et al. 2004-2005; Duplouy 2009; Greco et al.
2003) , Kommos (Shaw 2000), Praisos (Whitley 2006; Whitley et al. 1995; Whitley et al. 1999), and Vrokastro (Hayden 2004a, 2004b), however, have begun to shed some much-needed light on this so-called Dark Age and, as a result, challenge more traditional views of stagnation on the island. Of particular importance in this regard is the site of Azoria, where recent excavations have produced a wealth of evidence suggesting that the seventh and sixth centuries BC was a period of active sociopolitical development.
Azoria is located atop a double-peakeD hill in eastern Crete, roughly 1 km southeast of the modern village of Kavousi and 3 km from the Aegean Sea (Figure 7.1). The site commands an excellent view of the coastal plain of Tholos to the north, and is strategically located at the western end of the system of mountain valleys that leads to the eastern end of the island, and at the northern end of the Ierapetra Isthmus, a narrow neck of land roughly 15 km in length. This isthmus served as a primary route of land-based communication linking the Aegean Sea to the Mediterranean Sea throughout the history of the island. Azoria was first explored by Harriet Boyd in 1900 (Boyd 1901), but it was not until 2002, when a ive-year campaign of excavation under the direction of Donald C. Haggis and Margaret S. Mook was initiated, that systematic investigations of the
URBANIZATION AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE GREEK POLIS
Figure 7.1 Map of
Eastern Crete, showing the location of sites mentioned in the text (redrawn by author from Coulson and Tsipopoulou 1994:figure 1; inset redrawn from Azoria I:Figure 1).
Site began (Azoria I-VI). Although these excavations have yielded abundant artifactual and scattered architectural evidence for occupation as early as the Final Neolithic Period (Azoria I:390; Azoria 11:276; Azoria 111:668-696, 706-707), the primary phase of occupation appears to date to the seventh through early fifth centuries BC, the very period of the so-called Cretan "Dark Age." Moreover, unlike the majority of other relevant sites in the Aegean, Azoria was abandoned in the first quarter of the fifth century BC, and reoccupied on a very limited scale for only a brief period in the late third and early second centuries BC (Azoria 1:372, 379; Azoria 11:266-269, 294-295, 305; Azoria IV:i-4). This exceptional occupational history has thus preserved the urban landscape of the seventh and sixth centuries BC in a relatively intact fashion, and provides a unique opportunity to study the process of urbanization as it unfolded in this region of the Greek world (Figure 7.2). This paper explores three functional and ideological levels of the built environment at Azoria (dubbed here, landscapes) - the domestic, the civic, and the urban - and demonstrates thaT the architectural landscape of the nascent city-state not only served to reflect the dramatic social and political developments that accompanied the emergence of the polis, but in effect also functioneD as an active agent in their creation.
World History
