οἵ κέ ἑ δωτίνῃσι θεὸν ὣς τιμήσουσιν,
καί οἱ ὑπὸ σκήπτρῳ λιπαρὰς τελέουσι θέμιστας.
The connection of the ideas in the two lines respectively would appear to show, that the δώτιναι may be no more than the fees payable to the sovereign on the administration of justice.
Thus then the king might draw his ordinary revenues mainly from the following sources:
First and principally, the public τέμενος, or demesne land.
Next, his own private acquisitions, such as the ἀγρὸς of Laertes.
Thirdly, the fees on the administration of justice.
Fourthly, the presents paid for licenses to trade.
The position of Agamemnon.
The position of Agamemnon, the greatest king of the heroic age, constitutes in itself too considerable a feature of Greek polity at that period to be dismissed without especial notice.