TRANSITION FROM TRIBAL SOCIETY 289 



find it described in the " Odyssey" as the social order of 

 the Greeks in the Homeric period. Tacitus tells of the 

 custom of giving cattle and grain to tribal chiefs which 

 existed among the Germans and indicates the beginnings 

 of barbaric feudalism among them. 24 We have seen how 

 a metronymic people like the Iroquois Indians had com- 

 bined their tribes into a confederation which remained 

 a source of power and dread to all their enemies for two 

 hundred years. 25 But patronymic tribes of the same 

 racial stock, dwelling within a territory affording natural 

 geographical unity and protection, have united in mili- 

 tary confederations that are more formidable, and more 

 stable than the strongest of metronymic confederations. 

 "The Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Hebrews, the 

 Greeks, the Romans, the Saxons, the Franks, the Ger- 

 mans, and the Slavs were originally tribally organized 

 peoples which, by growth of population, confederation, 

 and consolidation, developed into civil states." 



"When patronymic tribes confederate and form the 

 ethnic nation, the agnatic principle and ancestor-worship, 

 combined with political and military conditions, confer 

 great authority upon the chief of the confederation. He 

 becomes a military leader, a religious leader or priest, 

 and a supreme judge, all in one. The chief, in a word, 

 becomes a king." 26 



This patriarchal organization of society did not in- 

 definitely remain the characteristic mark of the social 

 structure, for changes occurred in all of the component 

 family groups in response to certain new conditions which 

 grew out of these relations of prosperity and unity. The 

 family became increasingly definite, the clan gave place 



2* Tacitus, Oermania, ch. xv. 



25 Morgan, op. cit., pt. ii, ch. v. 26 Giddings, op. cit., p. 473. 



