Ancient terms from Homer for "King"

[lysis56]

This is a bit of a confusing subject for me and I'm posting here hoping someone might be able to help me with this. I have read in other posts on Pothos that there was no real Greek term for "king" when Alexander and Philip were alive. However, in some reading, specifically, The Trojan War, a New History, by Barrry Strauss, Simon & Schuster, 2006, in Chapter Two: that Homer uses the term or title anax for Agememnon which Strauss says goes back to the Bronze Age term for king: wanax. Strauss further states that the term basileis would be used as such: "the rest of the territory was run by local big men or basileis, each no dobut with his own armed followers."

My question is are we talking Linear B here with reference to Homer's usage of the terms anax and basileis? I understand Linear B was the precusor to the Greek of the classical world or thereabouts. My understanding (and it may be in error) is that by Alexander's time the term basileis (my spelling may be incorrect, I apologize) was used to indicate one in power or as might be equated with a ruler. Of course, I understand that the Greek language developed consideraby between Homer's time and Alexander's in various ways. I'm in no way anything but a real novice on the Greek language, ancient or modern. What I'm curious about is exactly how rulers in Alexander's time were addressed. If in Bronze Age time they were addressed possibly as anax then what caused the jump from anax to basileis in Alexander's day? If in fact there was such a jump in the development of the meaning of these terms. I may also be completely off base here, that's why I'm asking if someone might know.

I realize this may seem really obscure and nitpicky, but it's something I'm curious about as I'm trying to get a better understanding of how the Macedonians of Alexander's time might have used terms to denote their rulers especially if they were more Homeric in thier leanings than the rest of Greece, well, primarily the South, Attica, etc.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Lysis

[marcus]

My understanding is that "anax" is used mainly for Zeus, in Homer, and also for Agamemnon in his role as "high king", whereas the other Greek kings are usually referred to as "Basileus" (or "Basileos"), denoting them as "chieftains" or "princes" - or at least not as "high" as the "anax". I am not an expert in Greek by any means, but I believe that "Basileus" was the term used in Classical times, "anax"/"wanax" having long fallen out of use (but still appearing in certain words and names (e.g. Anaxagoras)). "Basileus" was used in Classical times to denote the kings the Greeks knew of - of Macedon, Sparta, Epiros, etc. and also the Barbarian lands, such as Persia (of course), but perhaps referring to the power of the person rather than to the office they held (if that makes sense).

Alexander was "Basileus", or even "Megas Basileus".

Someone else with much better knowledge of Greek would no doubt be able to flesh this out ...

ATB

[Arete]

Okay, I've been two weeks out of ancient Greek class and that's enough to be rusty. I really should go back to my textbooks, and I could email my Prof.

Basileus (that's the exact transliteration) was indeed the Classical term for Kings, and the one Alexander would have been accustomed with, and was also used for Zeus during this time.

I'm not too clear on "Wanax" and it's correct uses, although I do know that it was used for Agamemnon. I do think it was the archaic term that was standard for kings.

During the Dark Ages, the head of the town was referred to as "Qasireu" in Linear B tablets. This is the archaic term for Basileus.

What I think might have happened is that during the Dark Ages the Kings disappeared, and instead communities were led by these heads, the "Qasireu". The digamma, the letter with the sound value of our "W" disappeared during this time, rendering "wanax", "anax". However, the Dark Ages rendered the term almost obsolete.

The Greek society that emerged would be short of Kings, and thus the word Basileus, descended from the term for the head of a village, came to mean "King" and were applied to the Kings the Greeks were aware of.

But then again, I'm rusty on this.

[lysis56]

To Arete & Marcus,

Thank you both for your information. I appreciate it. Arete, your comments were interesting - clearly your classes haven't gone to waste.


Lysis

[Arete]

I would hope not!

I'm really into etymology, and it's fascinating for me to not only study the traces of Greek that have weaseled their way into English, but to study how Greek terminology changed over time.

[agesilaos]

As far as I know, wanax was the Linear B/ Mycenaean term as you say ditto 'quasireu' (whose root seems Assyrian to my uneducated ear I seem to recall Qua' risi being Royal troops but my Akkadian is rustier than an Elamite's geometry! It loses something in the translation). Allegedly Sparta had kings throughout the Dark Ages and they emerge into history as basileoi but that is probably an artefact Laconian self-mythologising.

We can, however, be certain that the Macedonians used basileos as this is the title that appears on their coinage.