Agela
Encyclopedia
Agela was an assembly of young men in Dorian
Crete
, who lived together from their eighteenth year till the time of their marriage. Up to the end of their seventeenth year they remained in their father's house ; and from the circumstance of their belonging to no agela, they were called apageloi. They were then enrolled in agelae which were of an aristocratic nature, and gave great power to particular families. An agela consisted of the sons of the most noble citizens, who were usually under the jurisdiction of the father of the youth who had been the means of collecting the agela. It was the duty of this person, called agelates, to superintend the military and gymnastic exercises of the youths, to accompany them to the hunting, and to punish them when disobedient. He was accountable, however, to the state, which supported the agela at the public expense. All the members of an agela were obliged to marry a woman at the same time. When they ceased to belong to an agela, they partook of the public meals for men andreia (Laconian syssitia
). These institutions were afterwards preserved in only a few states of Crete, such for instance as Lyctus
. At Sparta the youths left their parents' houses at seven years of age and entered the bouai, the Spartan equivalent for Agela.
Dorian
The Dorians were one of the four major ethnē into which the Ancient Greeks, or Hellenes, of the Classical period considered themselves divided. Ethnos has the sense of ethnic group. Herodotus uses the word with regard to them...
Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, who lived together from their eighteenth year till the time of their marriage. Up to the end of their seventeenth year they remained in their father's house ; and from the circumstance of their belonging to no agela, they were called apageloi. They were then enrolled in agelae which were of an aristocratic nature, and gave great power to particular families. An agela consisted of the sons of the most noble citizens, who were usually under the jurisdiction of the father of the youth who had been the means of collecting the agela. It was the duty of this person, called agelates, to superintend the military and gymnastic exercises of the youths, to accompany them to the hunting, and to punish them when disobedient. He was accountable, however, to the state, which supported the agela at the public expense. All the members of an agela were obliged to marry a woman at the same time. When they ceased to belong to an agela, they partook of the public meals for men andreia (Laconian syssitia
Syssitia
The syssitia was, in Ancient Greece, a common meal for men and youths in social or religious groups, especially in Crete and Sparta, though also in Megara in the time of Theognis and Corinth in the time of Periander .The banquets spoken of by Homer relate to this tradition...
). These institutions were afterwards preserved in only a few states of Crete, such for instance as Lyctus
Lyctus
Lyctus or Lyttos , was one of the most considerable cities in ancient Crete, which appears in the Homeric catalogue. Lyttos is now a village in the municipality of Minoa Pediada.-Lyctus in mythology:...
. At Sparta the youths left their parents' houses at seven years of age and entered the bouai, the Spartan equivalent for Agela.