Chapter 2. The Four Divisions of Society Abstract The tripartition studied in Chapter One is of a functional character and it is by no means identical with the hierarchy of the groups to which a man belongs. These are political divisions that concern societies when studied over their whole extension. Here ancient Iranian has preserved four terms, designating respectively the “family,” the “clan,” the “tribe” and the “country.” But the… Read more
Chapter 3. The Free Man Abstract Although the opposition “free/slave” is common to all Indo-European peoples, a common designation of the notion of “liberty” is unknown. The fact that this designation evolved along parallel lines in two groups of languages merely serves to bring out better the specific content of the notion. In Latin and Greek the free man, *(e)leudheros, is positively defined by his membership of a “breed,” of… Read more
Chapter 4. Phílos Abstract The specific values of Lat. cīvis ‘fellow citizen’, Got. heiwa– ‘family group’, Skt. śeva ‘friendly’ lead us to postulate for the Indo-European word *keiwo-, which these words enable us to reconstruct, a meaning with both a social reference and sentimental overtones. The uses, especially the Homeric ones, of Gr. phílos and its derivatives point in the same direction, however unsure we may be about the full… Read more
Chapter 5. The Slave and the Stranger Abstract The free man, born into a group, is opposed to the stranger (Gr. xénos), that is to say, the enemy (Lat. hostis), who is liable to become my guest (Gr. xénos, Lat. hospes) or my slave if I capture him in war (Gr. aikhmálōtos, Lat. captivus). A stranger by necessity, the slave is designated in the Indo-European languages, even modern ones, either… Read more
Chapter 6. Cities and Communities Abstract The Western dialects of Indo-European (Celtic, Italic, Germanic, Baltic) have preserved the word *teutā, derived from a root *tew– ‘to be swollen, powerful’, to designate “the people” as a full development of the social body. Quite naturally, this term, which supplied national ethnics among the Germans (Teutoni, deutsch) acquired the opposite meaning when Slavic borrowed it from German: Old Slav. tŭždĭ means “stranger.” The… Read more
Book IV: Royalty and its Privileges Chapter 1. Rex Abstract Rex, which is attested only in Italic, Celtic, and Indic—that is, at the western and eastern extremities of the Indo-European world—belongs to a very ancient group of terms relating to religion and law. The connection of Lat. rego with Gr. orégō ‘extend in a straight line’ (the o– being phonologically explicable), the examination of the old uses of reg– in… Read more
Chapter 2. xšay– and Iranian Kingship Abstract Iran is an empire and the notion of the sovereign has nothing in common with that of rex. It is expressed by the Persian title xšāyaθiya xšāyaθiyānam (Gr. basileús basiléōn, Pers. šāhān šāh), the King of Kings; this title designates the sovereign as he who is invested with the royal power, the xšāy-. Now an epithet of the Achaemenid king, vazraka, which may… Read more
Chapter 3. Hellenic Kingship Abstract As compared with the Indo-Iranian and the Italic concept of the king the Greek names basileús and wánaks suggest a more evolved and differentiated notion close in several respects to the Germanic conception. Of unknown etymology, but both attested in the Mycenaean texts, these terms are in distinctive opposition, in that only the second designates the holder of power. As for basileús, although he is… Read more
ΕΠΙΛΟΓΟΣ Μετὰ τὰς Ἀραβικὰς κατακτήσεις ἡ ὀρθόδοξος Χριστιανικὴ μοναστικὴ ζωὴ ἐξηκολούθησε νὰ ὑπάρχῃ ἰδίως εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν ἔρημον [1] καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὑπὸ ἐξέτασιν κρίσιμον περίοδον τὰ μοναστήρια ἐξηκολούθησαν νὰ ὑπάρχουν καὶ νὰ ἀναπτύσσωνται παρὰ τὰς προσκαίρους ὀπισθοδρομήσεις τὰς ὁποίας μερικὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐγνώρισαν λόγῳ τῶν Ἀραβικῶν κατακτήσεων. Ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰσλάμ, τὰ μοναστήρια ἤνθεσαν καὶ ἀπετέλεσαν φύλακας τόσον τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ ὅσον τοῦ… Read more
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ Α. ΑΙ ΠΗΓΑΙ 1. ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑΙ Ἀγαθίου. Ἰστορίαι. Ἐκδ. R. Keydell. [CFHB 2. Series Berolinensis. Berlin 1967]. Ἀθανασίου Ἀλεξανδρείας. Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἀντωνίου. PG 26:835-976b. ———. Λόγος περὶ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Λόγου. Ἐκδ. C. Kannengiesser. [Sources Chrétiennes 199. Paris 1973]. Ἀπολλωνίου Ῥοδίου. Ἀργοναυτικά. Ἐκδ. H. Fraenkel. Oxford 1961. Read more
