In November 2024, a monograph entitled "A Chora for the Polis" was published by Christian Leeck, an ancient historian from Wuppertal.
In his dissertation, Christian Leeck is concerned with examining the eastern part of the Chora of the West Sicilian polis Selinus from multiple perspectives and diachronically structurally with regard to its connection to the polis. This is quite an unusual undertaking for a dissertation on ancient history; extremely demanding and work-rich. Accordingly, he also distinguishes his project from the philological-ancient historical mainstream approach in its methodological considerations and explicitly and programmatically describes it as "classical studies". With an open mind, he was concerned with the question of how the Chora was connected to the city and how it was permeated by it. Methodologically, he stands in a tradition that wants to go beyond city-focused ancient historical research and understands the Chora, the land belonging to the city, as an object of study in its own right or an independent form of organization. The change of perspective, which is carried out and called for above all in the pioneering work of Robin Osborne, is ultimately intended to help reduce the dominance of political history and to show ways to better understand economic and demographic aspects and thus – explicitly – to find a key to understanding the history of the polis.
Research Topic
This interest in knowledge, in which few methodological predecessors and few preliminary works can be drawn on, determines the structure of the work, which is not apparent at first glance.
In a detailed introduction, the subject of the research, the history of research, the methodology and the data basis are presented. The study room was chosen to deal with an exemplary case. The eastern part of the Selinuntine Chora is explained as a definable microlandscape and an independent object of research, as it has several characteristics that make it definable on the one hand, and worthwhile for research on the other. The eastern part of the Chora is separated from Selinus's immediate environment by natural barriers, it is a border region par excellence, not only with regard to the powerful and expansive neighbour Akragas, but also with regard to the indigenous – or better: pre-Greek – Sicans in the hinterland, who can be grasped as actors, there are numerous usable statements by ancient authors, and it has been studied densely enough to work out the present synthesis. The concepts of landscape and Chora are explained in detail; In summary, Chora is defined as the surrounding area that considers the polis to be its sphere of activity. Leeck also shows the relevance of his approach by presenting and justifying the increasing preoccupation of research with microspaces. With regard to the state of research, he reports in detail on the previous occupation with the anthropology of the area, a topic that has always been important and always sensitive for the multi-ethnic island of Sicily. Finally, the data basis of his study is presented.
Contents
In the second chapter, the historical landscape of southwestern Sicily is spread out, divided into the historical developments and the natural spatial description. What might sound like refereeing preliminaries, however, is a precise and detailed self-elaborated history of the region, which alone could represent a full-fledged object of research. But that is not Leeck's concern; instead, it presupposes the reader's familiarity with the major events, and above all the problems are discussed.
After the foundations have been laid in this way, the third and longest chapter, the "thematic analysis", presents the actual research work. In it, he deals in detail with the spatial development of the territory, with the population and with the infrastructure. It shows the steps in which the Chora area was expanded eastwards from the coastal area around Selinus, which can be seen naturally, how the settlements were densified and how the city (Herakleia) Minoa was finally founded in the 2nd quarter of the 6th century. He notes an extension along the rivers and proves that the indigenous settled hilltop settlements were included. Particular attention is paid to the border situation with Akragas; one of the many important miniature investigations scattered throughout the work is dedicated to the dating of the transition from Minoa to Akragas.
Due to its size, the Selinuntine Chora had connections to two separate settlement landscapes, in the east to that of the Sicans and in the north to that of the Elymians. Population dynamics were essentially dependent on the coexistence and opposition of the facies, which is why ethnic identities are discussed in detail. Another miniature asks about the location of the Sican capital Kamikos, known from literature. He also tries to calculate the population, an always daring undertaking, especially since the study area had three urban centres – Minoa, Caltabellotta and Monte Sara – whose density is little known. Leeck states that from the 1st half of the 5th century onwards the indigenous population is no longer recognizable in the archaeological findings, so that an assimilation of the material culture must have taken place. He identifies Italic and Etruscan merchants as other important population elements, but especially in the core city.
The study of the infrastructure deals with the road system, whereby the Roman period is well researched but the Greek is problematic, as well as with the economically relevant resources such as quarries, mineral deposits, cultivation and livestock breeding facilities. He recognizes several infrastructurally important functional locations.
The third chapter is not only the longest, but it is also extremely rich in information, discussion and detail. It is therefore impossible to give an overview in the expert report that even comes close to doing justice to the abundance of material spread out and researched.
The fourth chapter with the peculiar title "Abstraction" contains a kind of summary, or rather evaluation, of what has been established in detail and in detail in chapter 3. The sub-chapters take up the topics of the three sub-chapters of the third section:
First, "territorial constitution, expansionist policy and border character" are synthesized. The finding that came to light in the third chapter, that from the founding of the city to almost its destruction by the Carthaginians a success story is recognizable and that there are obviously no signs of moments of failure, can be explained by the fact that every expansion of the area was preceded by intensive explorations. (Leeck calls this Scouting.) Of course, this is not unlikely. The Selinuntines also pursued an intensive strategic protection of the territories gained, especially in view of the confusing topography of the study area. The construction of real fortresses began with the onset of Carthaginian expansion. An important result is that there was no two-tiered Chora, as is often assumed for Greek poleis, i.e. that a Chora directly permeated by the rulers is not confronted by a further extended "zone of influence". Furthermore, an important observation is that the border character of the area is always to be understood situationally; it was not sharply demarcated, but marked by border emporia and sanctuaries. The "border" to the indigenous territories was overlaid by the border location with Akragas from the 2nd half of the 6th century.
Then, in the subchapter on "Acculturation, Forms of Integration and Population Movements", the observations and findings on intercultural contacts are systematized. Here it is a matter of observing how spatially and temporally the superimposition of the pre-Greek material culture, which can ultimately be called Greek, took place – almost only in this way can statements be made at all on questions such as ethnicity and acculturation or the embarrassingly avoided "Hellenization" that only occurs in the research discussion. Indigenous elements are not recognizable in the new foundations in Minoa and Sciacca, but Punic elements are. The Greeks frequented the indigenous sanctuaries: no place of worship was established in a previously unused place. Indigenous traditions can be found longer than elsewhere in the largest indigenous center Caltabellotta (= Kamikos or Triokala?); however, everything points to peaceful contacts.
The third subsection on "Economic Structure and Transport Planning" offers an immensely important combination of observations on the economy. Leeck shows that the various areas of the Selinuntine Chora were specialized, which suggests central planning. Cereals were probably mainly grown in the western Chora section, i.e. outside the study area; in the east, it was more oil and wine, wood, also cattle, as well as clay and agate as mineral resources, which contributed to economic prosperity. There were several distributed economic and distribution centers; the Chora was a multi-pole. Selinus had three port cities: the capital itself, Mazare in the west and Minoa in the east. Foreign trade could therefore be handled directly from the Chora. This is not the only thing that can be seen in the effort to maintain stable trade contacts with more distant Mediterranean regions. This was not only vital for Selinus, but probably the raison dʼêtre in general, even if Leeck refrains from further speculation about the causes and course of the founding of the Sicilian "colony cities". Furthermore, it is important and further to observe that the principles of infrastructural development were already applied in the High Classical period, which are generally attributed to the Roman period.
Scientific approach
The data basis of the study consists of all available sources, which plausibly proves Leeck's claim to proceed decidedly in classical studies. The basis is the framework provided by the ancient sources. Two papyrological sources are consulted, an anonymous historical work on Sicily and an excerpt from Callimachos' Aitia. Inscriptions and coins are also examined; however, the most important data in terms of quantity are provided by archaeological findings. In an appendix (pp. 378–443), the epigraphic evidence and the archaeological sites are presented in detail, so that Leeck's argumentation can be understood at every point. In addition, there is an abundance of maps, plans, photos and illustrations, some of which he created himself. On numerous journeys, Leeck explored the area and all the sites, paths and passes himself and checked the information in the literature. The theses and results are then inserted into the historical grid that, as mentioned above, he himself has worked out. This creates a picture that, albeit very rich in prerequisites, can be checked by the reader at any time and secured against the data basis.
Result
The clearly named research desideratum that is pursued in this thesis is the question of the structural-historical development of the urban connection to the surrounding area. Leeck explores this using the example of the eastern part of the Chora of the Sicilian Selinus. His research shows in detail and from multiple perspectives how Choral research can work, and thus offers suggestions for further investigations in other places that go beyond the specific subject. The pioneering character of the work is underlined by the fact that the work was open-ended and at many points it does not go beyond stating that something is the case. Future research will follow the suggestions of the work and may also be able to narrow down the question that arises after reading it as to whether what Leeck can show in his object of investigation is typical or exceptional.
