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 2
... possible for one scholar to write of the development of a 'middling' as opposed to an aristocratic ethos in Greece, and for another to write of 'early popular government outside Athens'.1 In Athens the first attested historical event ...
... possible for one scholar to write of the development of a 'middling' as opposed to an aristocratic ethos in Greece, and for another to write of 'early popular government outside Athens'.1 In Athens the first attested historical event ...
Page 3
... possible on active involvement of the citizens. (Citizenship was limited to adult males of Athenian ancestry, and therefore excluded not only children but also women, immigrants and slaves, but those exclusions were entirely normal ...
... possible on active involvement of the citizens. (Citizenship was limited to adult males of Athenian ancestry, and therefore excluded not only children but also women, immigrants and slaves, but those exclusions were entirely normal ...
Page 26
... possible scale of vulnerability. It comes as no surprise to find, as a frequent theme in Euripides, the reception of strangers on Attic soil and the extent to which, and the ways in which, they are either exposed as xenoi (e.g. Medeia) ...
... possible scale of vulnerability. It comes as no surprise to find, as a frequent theme in Euripides, the reception of strangers on Attic soil and the extent to which, and the ways in which, they are either exposed as xenoi (e.g. Medeia) ...
Page 34
... possible because he was still being Solonian in not significantly changing or enlarging society's definition of the office-holders (still basically defined by criterion (3), of wealth). On the other hand the formalization of citizenship ...
... possible because he was still being Solonian in not significantly changing or enlarging society's definition of the office-holders (still basically defined by criterion (3), of wealth). On the other hand the formalization of citizenship ...
Page 41
... possible to reconstruct a fairly reliable picture of how the Athenians passed their decrees and elected their officials. In the orators the vote taken by the people is described either with the verb psephizesthai [“to ballot”] or with ...
... possible to reconstruct a fairly reliable picture of how the Athenians passed their decrees and elected their officials. In the orators the vote taken by the people is described either with the verb psephizesthai [“to ballot”] or with ...
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