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. |
From inside the book
Page 8
... citizens to control the elite.19 Ober is one of those scholars, to be found particularly though not only in the USA ... citizen body of Athens favourably with the passive citizen bodies of modern representative democracies.20 THE SCOPE ...
... citizens to control the elite.19 Ober is one of those scholars, to be found particularly though not only in the USA ... citizen body of Athens favourably with the passive citizen bodies of modern representative democracies.20 THE SCOPE ...
Page 11
... citizens in a complicated new system of tribes, trittyes ('thirds') and demes, and he uses the detailed evidence for the location in Attica of Cleisthenes' units and the known associations of units which were joined together or kept ...
... citizens in a complicated new system of tribes, trittyes ('thirds') and demes, and he uses the detailed evidence for the location in Attica of Cleisthenes' units and the known associations of units which were joined together or kept ...
Page 15
... citizen rights, not human rights, and that the polis was a community of politai (citizens). The doctoral thesis of J. K. Davies, who has recently retired as Professor of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology at Liverpool, was ...
... citizen rights, not human rights, and that the polis was a community of politai (citizens). The doctoral thesis of J. K. Davies, who has recently retired as Professor of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology at Liverpool, was ...
Page 16
... citizens to play the part which they were legally entitled to play. M. M. Markle is an American who spent the later part of his career at the University of New England, in Australia. Earlier he studied in Oxford under G. E. M. de Ste ...
... citizens to play the part which they were legally entitled to play. M. M. Markle is an American who spent the later part of his career at the University of New England, in Australia. Earlier he studied in Oxford under G. E. M. de Ste ...
Page 18
... citizen body, and thereby its civic space, rigorously in terms of descent. Citizens were those who were male; were sons of a citizen father; were born from a woman who was the daughter of a citizen father; were born from a woman who was ...
... citizen body, and thereby its civic space, rigorously in terms of descent. Citizens were those who were male; were sons of a citizen father; were born from a woman who was the daughter of a citizen father; were born from a woman who was ...
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