Terra e società nel mondo coloniale: il privilegio dei primi

In this paper I dwell on the relation between genos and possession of land in the definition of colonial aristocracy. Since even in the colonies, the possession of land determines the social pyramid, it is interesting to see whether and how the familiar identity can determine the possession of land in the colonial history through the experiences of re-foundation, colonial reinforcements or internal political crisis. From a Aristotelian suggestion and from an enlarged (both chronologically and geographically) notion of colonization, I take into account some significant cases, and in particular Sybaris / Turi, Cyrene, Naupaktos, Imera and Lumbarda. They allow you to recognize the signs of social dialectics among the first settlers and the subsequent reinforcements just in the division and in the management of the land, highlighting a sort of criterion of 'birthright' in the definition of the social body. In this contexts we see the tension between an isonomic attitude and elements of aristocratic nature.