Alcune riflessioni sugli ἀνδρεῖα e sulle ἀγέλαι cretesi

The present study offers a comparative analysis of literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources concerning Cretan andreia and aghelai, from the second half of the VII century B.C. to the beginning of the II century B.C. The term "andreion" indicates the institution of common meals ("syssitia"), the buildings in which they took place, and the associations ("etairiai") of citizens. "Aghelai" are associations of aristocratic boys 17-20 years old. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the function, the management and the socio-economic implications of these two social aggregation forms. From the late-archaic to the first part of the Hellenistic period, the andreia seem to have been supplied, in part, with public funds to which contributions from the perioikoi and citizens were added; in part, with the amounts that every citizen paid directly to the andreion of which he was a member. Such permeability between minor and major units of Cretan society (politai – andreia – polis) is reflected in the pedagogic organisations too. The andreion represented, in fact, the main place for the education of the paides and the reference frame for the aghelai. This system provided a military education based on the private initiative of its most illustrious citizens. The author argues that, at least in the main cities, such as Lyttos and Gortys, so many syssitia as etairiai likely took place until the III century B.C. Then the polis should have gradually assumed also the socio-economic aspects of the organisations, such as the andreia and the aghelai, which were traditionally located in a cross position between the community and the private initiative. The unification of the syssitia of the eteriai in a unique andreion of the polis is attested at the beginning of the II century B.C. In the last part of the paper, the archaeological evidence for the andreia is reviewed. At the present stage of the field research in Crete, no building is recognizable with certainty as an andreion, but we can suggest its requirements were satisfied by complexes with specialized areas, with one or more halls for male banquets distinguished from rooms for the storage and preparation of food.