The Other Greeks

Part one discusses post- Mycenean Greece (1100 BC). Hanson argues that after the fall of Mycenean Greece, that Greece was decentralized, and people in an effort to feed themselves, turned to homesteading. Documents from the time show that the size of the Greek yeoman farm was roughly equal.[1] This rough equality in farm size translated to a rough equality in material wealth and created a citizenry neither poor nor wealthy but situated in the middle of their society. Additionally, the daily struggle of the small farmer against nature created a shared sense of comradery among the yeomen due to the similarity of their experiences.

Part two of the book discusses the development of the polis. Hanson suggests that the common culture of farming shared by the "Other Greeks" led them to create a government that protected their interests. In the Greek polis, landed yeomen were typically the only citizens who could vote. As such, these "middling farmers" determined the laws of the polis in times of peace and decided when the polis would wage war.[1] Hanson uses evidence of short warfare duration and the fact that wars typically occurred in the agricultural downtime of August to suggest that the hoplites were Greek yeomen farmers.

Part three scrutinizes the decline of the egalitarian polis culture which occurred around 500 - 300 BC and is associated with Classical Greece. Hanson argues that an increase in wealth disparity drove the destruction of the egalitarian "polis" in Greece. Wealth disparity manifested itself in unequal plots of land and differential taxation. Marginal lands, i.e. many of the lands that Greek homesteads were located on, could not produce enough food to be viable in subsistence agricultural practice under the heavy taxes of the Classical period.[1] This forced many yeomen off of their farms and potentially into serfdom. This precipitated the destruction of a form of government in which the voter also is a legislative representative, warrior, and farmer.