COMPOUND POLITICAL HEADS. 375 



formed of the heads of the cooperating small societies ; and 

 if the cooperation for defence was prolonged, or became 

 changed into cooperation for offence, this temporary control 

 ling body would naturally grow into a permanent one, holding 

 the small societies together. The special characters of 



this compound head would, of course, vary with the circum 

 stances. Where the traditions of the united clans agreed in 

 identifying some one chief as the lineal representative of the 

 original patriarch or hero, from whom all descended, prece 

 dence and some extra authority would be permitted to him. 

 Where claims derived from descent were disputed, personal 

 superiority or election would determine which member of the 

 compound head should take the lead. If within each of the 

 component groups chiefly power was unqualified, there would 

 result from union of chiefs a close oligarchy ; while the close 

 ness of the oligarchy would become less in proportion as 

 recognition of the authority of each chief diminished. And 

 in cases where there came to be incorporated numerous 

 aliens, owing allegiance to the heads of none of the compo 

 nent groups, there would arise influences tending still more 

 to widen the oligarchy. 



Such, we may conclude, were the origins of those com 

 pound headships of the Greek states which existed at the 

 beginning of the historic period. In Crete, where there sur 

 vived the tradition of primitive kingship, but where disper 

 sion and subdivision of clans had brought about a condition 

 in which &quot; different towns carried on open feuds,&quot; there were 

 &quot; patrician houses, deriving their rights from the early ages of 

 royal government,&quot; who continued &quot; to retain possession of 

 the administration/ In Corinth the line of Heraklcid kings 

 &quot; subsides gradually, through a series of empty names, into 

 the oligarchy denominated Bacchiado3. . . . The persons so 

 named were all accounted descendants of Herakles, and formed 

 the governing caste in the city.&quot; So was it with Megara. 

 According to tradition, this arose by combination of several 

 villages inhabited by kindred tribes, which, originally in 



