Land Lost, Land Redistributed: Citizenship and Property between Stability and Change in the Archaic and Classical Greek World

Under what circumstances did a polis decide to expropriate the land of all or part of its citizens and redistribute it, and to what extent could popular pressure influence these decisions? Or were these instead purely political and practical choices, linked to changes in the polis’ demographic structure? Through three selected case studies (late Archaic Cyrene, and fifth-century BC Leontinoi and Samos), this paper proposes some hypotheses addressing these questions. Particular attention is given to the historical and political context, while also considering the ideological factors that, from a certain point onwards, shaped the relationship between authoritarian governments and land redistribution.