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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 82
Page 3
... fourth century , fifth - century democratic principles did come to be modified in some respects , and the Macedonians were probably responding to their Athenian contacts when in 322/1 , after defeating a Greek rising led by Athens ...
... fourth century , fifth - century democratic principles did come to be modified in some respects , and the Macedonians were probably responding to their Athenian contacts when in 322/1 , after defeating a Greek rising led by Athens ...
Page 4
... century but not in the fourth , when the number of citizens was lower ) , and the stipends made it easier for the poorer citizens to exercise their rights ; and the assembly was not dominated by the authorities but was a powerful body ...
... century but not in the fourth , when the number of citizens was lower ) , and the stipends made it easier for the poorer citizens to exercise their rights ; and the assembly was not dominated by the authorities but was a powerful body ...
Page 8
... fourth - century mechanism for the allotment of jurors to law - courts ( Chapter 3 ) , payment for service in assemblies and juries and its effect on participation in those bodies ( Chapter 4 ) , and the different forms of capital ...
... fourth - century mechanism for the allotment of jurors to law - courts ( Chapter 3 ) , payment for service in assemblies and juries and its effect on participation in those bodies ( Chapter 4 ) , and the different forms of capital ...
Page 11
... fourth century the orators were prepared to attribute to him laws which were demon- strably much more recent . Doubts about Solon's reforms as presented in texts of the fourth century and later are not new , but in the late twentieth ...
... fourth century the orators were prepared to attribute to him laws which were demon- strably much more recent . Doubts about Solon's reforms as presented in texts of the fourth century and later are not new , but in the late twentieth ...
Page 20
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
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 ii² 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