Athenian DemocracyP. J. Rhodes Edinburgh University Press, 2019 M08 7 - 304 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 meant 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 the 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 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 manoeuvrings 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 analyse a particular body of evidence in detail. Use is made of archaeology, 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 10
... arguing that awareness of modern attitudes in this area may help us to formulate questions about and to make sense ... argue that the link should be with the polis in general rather than with the democracy in particular: P. J. Rhodes ...
... arguing that awareness of modern attitudes in this area may help us to formulate questions about and to make sense ... argue that the link should be with the polis in general rather than with the democracy in particular: P. J. Rhodes ...
Page 11
... argue that Cleisthenes was engaging in clever electoral geography. R. Sealey in Chapter 13 argues that judicial procedures can come into existence and change without conscious acts of creation and reform, and gives a view of Ephialtes ...
... argue that Cleisthenes was engaging in clever electoral geography. R. Sealey in Chapter 13 argues that judicial procedures can come into existence and change without conscious acts of creation and reform, and gives a view of Ephialtes ...
Page 12
... argues that we should stand back from our latefifth-century sources' view of demagogues as upstart rabble-rousers and see the political leaders as essential to the success of Athens' assembly-based democracy; while I myself in Chapter 7 ...
... argues that we should stand back from our latefifth-century sources' view of demagogues as upstart rabble-rousers and see the political leaders as essential to the success of Athens' assembly-based democracy; while I myself in Chapter 7 ...
Page 16
... argues against both that most participants were 'poor' men who needed to work and did work for their living, and that the payments fulfilled their intended function of enabling these men to devote some of their time to public service ...
... argues against both that most participants were 'poor' men who needed to work and did work for their living, and that the payments fulfilled their intended function of enabling these men to devote some of their time to public service ...
Page 19
... argue that the subject did become, and remained, a matter of intense interest and preoccupation: that the questions 'Who is to be, and who is not to be, in the Athenian community, and why?' were continually being posed by pressures from ...
... argue that the subject did become, and remained, a matter of intense interest and preoccupation: that the questions 'Who is to be, and who is not to be, in the Athenian community, and why?' were continually being posed by pressures from ...
Contents
1 | |
13 | |
PART II POLITICAL ACTIVITY | 159 |
PART III MOMENTS IN HISTORY | 237 |
PART IV A VIEW OF DEMOCRACY | 325 |
Intellectual Chronology | 349 |
Bibliography | 352 |
Index | 356 |
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Common terms and phrases
activity actual allotment ancient archon argues Aristotle assembly Athenian Athens attempt barley called citizens classical Cleisthenes competition Constitution Council count courts decision deme democracy democratic demos Demosthenes dikasts discussion doubt eisangelia evidence example fact festival fifth century five four fourth century give given Greek hands Hesperia Hundred IG ii2 important individual institutions interest jury kind kleroteria later leaders least less lines majority means officials originally Oxford particular perhaps period person Plut political poor possible practice present probably problem procedure proposal punishment question reason references reforms regard remained Rhodes rooms says seems Solon sources speech suggests taken tickets tribe University vote whole