
Originally Posted by
Arjos
1Countless rebellions in Aigyptos and everywhere else beg to differ...
2With the military colonies like Metoikia Katoikon and Phrourion Laon, you will be able to do just what you are after and recruit local non-hellenic troops...
It is exactly what happened, olygarchy and democracy are just broad terms for the lack of more than two options that fit every single corner of the world...
The allied governments keeps intact how the locals governed themselves, the only difference is whether it is a closer of more open political system...
3As for the nomadic world you'd be surprised to find out that almost the whole population, male and female, was free and held the same rights as everybody else. Only wealth distinguished social groups and power only applied to military matters and foreign affairs, mostly because the people with whom they interacted expected/needed single figures to deal with...
That is completely wrong not only for Hellenistic polities, but also for pretty much every other culture...
Hellenistic epigraphy throughout the period is almost entirely a matter of Basileis establishing alliances with local governments...
What happened really was not coercion, but either the local elite was eliminated and the newcomers substituted themselves or a defeated people was integrated into another...
The former however requires willingness from the defeated to do so, either because feeling unable to resist or because its own upper social echelons opted for collaboration...
That a single man or body of people would rule over a multitude of others was the undiscussed way of things in the whole ancient world...
Really still is :P
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