Archaic Crete is ideally suited for a case study on the process of institutionalization in early Greece. Along with the literary and archeological sources, numerous inscriptions from the 7^th to the 5^th centuries BCE cast light on key issues of the epoch, including the emergence of the polis, mechanisms of social integration, and ways of dealing with sociopolitical conflict.

G. Seelentag, Universität Rostock.