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 9
... procedures took place. Thus Ath. Pol. 68 describes the jurors' voting-tokens, hollow to vote for the plaintiff and ... procedure was in execution by apotympanismos.23 Comparison with other societies, whether in the Graeco-Roman world ...
... procedures took place. Thus Ath. Pol. 68 describes the jurors' voting-tokens, hollow to vote for the plaintiff and ... procedure was in execution by apotympanismos.23 Comparison with other societies, whether in the Graeco-Roman world ...
Page 11
... procedures can come into existence and change without conscious acts of creation and reform, and gives a view of Ephialtes' reforms in 462/1 as based not on an ideological commitment to democracy but on the far less ambitious desire to ...
... procedures can come into existence and change without conscious acts of creation and reform, and gives a view of Ephialtes' reforms in 462/1 as based not on an ideological commitment to democracy but on the far less ambitious desire to ...
Page 23
... procedure is not entirely clear, but it is usually agreed that there were two ceremonies, the meion and the koureion, both occurring on the same day, the 3rd day (koureiotis) of the Apatouria festival in Pyanopsion (IV = October). The ...
... procedure is not entirely clear, but it is usually agreed that there were two ceremonies, the meion and the koureion, both occurring on the same day, the 3rd day (koureiotis) of the Apatouria festival in Pyanopsion (IV = October). The ...
Page 24
... Procedures, then, are elaborate, and become even more so in the only phratry that we know much about.28 While there must ... procedure.30 Plainly, public preoccupations are partly with age, but mainly with parentage and status within the ...
... Procedures, then, are elaborate, and become even more so in the only phratry that we know much about.28 While there must ... procedure.30 Plainly, public preoccupations are partly with age, but mainly with parentage and status within the ...
Page 25
... procedures in deme, phratry, or tribe emphasize it so prominently, one gets a distinct sense of siege, of barricades being manned, of determined resistance to constant pressures from outside. In itself that is not surprising. There is ...
... procedures in deme, phratry, or tribe emphasize it so prominently, one gets a distinct sense of siege, of barricades being manned, of determined resistance to constant pressures from outside. In itself that is not surprising. There is ...
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