The Gods of Politics in Early Greek Cities
Marcel DetienneI have decided to speak of ‘‘the gods’’ rather than ‘‘religion,’’ and of the
‘‘political domain [le politique]’’ to identify the specific domain that has
been recognized as such (asto ̄politiko ̄n) ever since Aristotle. As for the
earliest Greek cities, they constitute the area of my present fieldwork.
No doubt you thought ‘‘Presumably, he’s a Hellenist’’... and there
is surely nothing shameful about being a Hellenist. All the same, I
should like to make it clear that, very early on, I was lucky enough to
embark upon comparative studies. What kind of comparative studies?
The kind in which historians work with anthropologists, and vice versa.
But to work as an anthropologist concerned with the comparativist ap-
proaches of ethnologists and historians is more complex than it might
appear.^1
When Hellenists hear of someone ‘‘doing anthropology with the
ancient Greeks,’’ they manifest irritation. Historians too—and I am
thinking of mainstream historians, those of our ‘‘major’’ nations of
both today and yesterday—are usually less than enthusiastic, particu-
larly if one is embarking upon comparativism of a wide-ranging nature.
Let me explain. The comparativism that I have been practicing for
the past twenty years or so isexperimentalandconstructiveand—yes—it
involves both anthropologists and historians. First,experimental:in
what sense?
Between us historians and ethnologists, we have amassed a rich
fund of knowledge about several thousand different cultures and socie-
ties, spanning both space and time. It is my deep conviction that we
need to analyze human societies and understand as many of their cul-
tural products as possible. So why not ‘‘experiment’’ (that is, test
hypotheses), given that it is not only possible to do so but also an excel-
lent form of intellectual activity? It involves working freely together, for
years, moving from one society to another, always—indispensably—in
the company of experts and specialists in the field in question.
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