Ancient Society 43, 1-73. doi: 00.0000/AS.00.0.0000000 © 2013 by Ancient Society. All rights reserved. AGE-CLASS SOCIETIES IN ANCIENT GREECE?* Abstract: This article assesses the validity of claims that Greek city states were ‘age-class societies’, a type of social ordering found in acephalous societies, in which males grouped into age sets attain different degrees of power and status as they progress collectively though a system of age grades. After a survey of the anthropological terminology, drawn mostly from studies of age-class societies in northeastern Africa, three Greek case studies are presented: Athens, Sparta, and Crete. Examination of literary and epigraphical evidence reveals that while Athens manifested an abundance of age designa- tions they did not cohere into the official, universally applicable age scale necessary in an age-class society. The ephebate proves to be neither compulsory nor all-inclusive, qualities typical of age-class systems. In contrast, the Spartan citizen training system was compul- sory for all young Spartiates, but no evidence exists for the further collective movement of Spartan males through an official set of graded age designations, despite a recent detailed argument in favor of Sparta being organized along generation-set lines. The mixture of different ages was moreover integral to the functioning of important Spartan institutions such as the army and common messes. Crete offers the only evidence for universally-applied official age designa- tions, nonetheless without any indications that citizens belonged to age sets or age-grade scales were systematically arranged. This nega- tive finding leads to the conclusion that no single theory can explain how ancient Greek societies were organized and that more profitable insights may be gained from comparisons with evidence from places such as early modern Europe. A strong current of interest, bubbling more and more to the surface recently, in the question of whether Greek cities were what anthropolo- gists call ‘age-class societies’ has long flowed among ancient historians, archaeologists, and art historians. 1 As part of a discussion about transi- tions between age categories, initiation rituals, and the construction of identity, age-class systems have been seen as providing a key to the fundamental structure of Greek society and even, as a recent article has * I thank the Warden and Fellows of All Souls College Oxford for awarding me a Visiting Fellowship for Hilary Term 2009 to pursue the research that led, surprisingly, to this particular article. I also thank Angelos Chaniotis, Edward Harris, Michael Herzfeld, and Peter Rhodes for their helpful suggestions for improving my argument. Of course, any remaining errors, inconsistencies, or omissions are my own responsibility. 1 E.g. Sallares (1991) 160-192, but see the criticism of Osborne (1996) 77-78; David- son (2006), (2007) 71-78, (2009) 353-354; Ferrari (2002) 152-153; Persky (2009). 96421_AncientSociety_43_01.indd 1 21/08/13 11:44