Athenian DemocracyPeter John Rhodes Oxford University Press, 2004 - 358 pages Athens' democracy developed during the sixth and fifth centuries and continued into the fourth; Athens' defeat by Macedon in 322 began a series of alternations between democracy and oligarchy. The democracy was inseparably bound up with the ideals of liberty and equality, the rule of law, and the direct government of the people by the people. Liberty means above all freedom of speech, the right to be heard in the public assembly and the right to speak one's mind in private. Equality meant the equal right of male citizens (perhaps 60,000 in the fifth century, 30,000 in the fourth) to participate in the government of the state and the administration of the law. Disapproved of as a mob rule until the nineteenth century, the institutions of Athenian democracy have become an inspiration for modern democratic politics and political philosophy. P. J. Rhodes's reader focuses on the political institutions, political activity, history, and nature of Athenian democracy and introduces some of the best British, American, German, and French scholarship on its origins, theory, and practice. Part I is devoted to political institutions: citizenship, the assembly, the law-courts, and capital punishment. Part II explores aspects of political activity: the demagogues and their relationship with the assembly, the maneuverings of the politicians, competitive festivals, and the separation of public from private life. Part III looks at three crucial points in the development of the democracy: the reforms of Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes. Part IV considers what it was in Greek life that led to the development of democracy. Some of the authors adopt broad-brush approaches to major questions; others analyze a particular body of evidence in detail. Use is made of archeology, comparison with other societies, the location of festivals in their civic context, and the need to penetrate behind what the classical Athenians made of their past. |
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Page 2
... demo - kratia , people - power , appear about that time ; shortly afterwards we find Athens imposing II . Morris , ' The Strong Principle of Equality and the Archaic Origins of Greek Democracy ' , in J. Ober and C. W. Hedrick ( eds ) ...
... demo - kratia , people - power , appear about that time ; shortly afterwards we find Athens imposing II . Morris , ' The Strong Principle of Equality and the Archaic Origins of Greek Democracy ' , in J. Ober and C. W. Hedrick ( eds ) ...
Page 5
... demos = whole citizen body , and to stress equality under the law and equality of political opportunity . RESPONSES ... demo- cracy positively . The nineteenth century saw the formal abolition of slavery and the extension of the ...
... demos = whole citizen body , and to stress equality under the law and equality of political opportunity . RESPONSES ... demo- cracy positively . The nineteenth century saw the formal abolition of slavery and the extension of the ...
Page 11
... demos controlled the elite he argues that what led to their recall was not a process driven by political leaders but ... demo- cracy developed in archaic and classical Greece , and particularly in Athens , and gives an answer involving a ...
... demos controlled the elite he argues that what led to their recall was not a process driven by political leaders but ... demo- cracy developed in archaic and classical Greece , and particularly in Athens , and gives an answer involving a ...
Page 12
... demo- cratic Athens in the classical period is specifically a product of or is peculiar to the Athenian democracy , 28 and in putting together this book I have borne in mind that it is a book about Athenian demo- cracy , not a book ...
... demo- cratic Athens in the classical period is specifically a product of or is peculiar to the Athenian democracy , 28 and in putting together this book I have borne in mind that it is a book about Athenian demo- cracy , not a book ...
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Acropolis Aeschin allotment rooms ancient apagōge apotumpanismos archon Areopagus argues Arist Aristophanes Aristotle Aristotle's assembly Athenian democracy Athenian Ecclesia Athenian politics Attica boule Brauron century B.C. cheirotonia choinikes citizens citizenship Classical Athens Cleisthenes Cleomenes competition Constitution of Athens Council courts decree deme democratic demos Demosthenes dikasterion dikasts drachmas eisangelia Ephialtes evidence festival fifth century fourth century Greece Greek Hansen Heliaia Herodotus Hesperia hoplite Hypereides IG iiČ Isagoras jurors jury kanonides Keramopoullos kleroteria leaders Lysias medimnos obols offences officials oligarchic orators Oxford P. J. Rhodes Panathenaia Peisistratid Pericles phratry Plato Plut Plutarch polis Politeia politicians poor procedure proedroi Prytaneis psephoi punishment reforms Revolution says seems show of hands slaves slots Solon Solonian Spartans speech Thuc Thucydides ticket-inserters tickets tribe trittyes trittys tyrants University Press vote wheat word δὲ καὶ τὰ τὴν τῶν