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in A. Tsakmakis and M. Tamiolaki (eds), Thucydides Between History and Literature (Trends in Classics Supplementary Volume 17; Berlin, 2013), 119-38.
2007, K. Raaflaub, J. Ober, and R. Wallace, Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece (University of Calfornia Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles), 83-104
Abstract: The origins of democracy at Athens should be sought in a revolutionary moment in 508/7 BC and the subsequent institutional reforms associated with Cleistehenes. An revised version of the argument first offered by the author in" The Athenian Revolution of 508/7 BCE: Violence, Authority, and the Origins of Democracy," in C. Dougherty and L. Kurke (ed.), Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece: Cult, Performance, Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press 1993), 215-232.
This paper explores the stratagems of the Athenian oligarchs on their way to power in 411 BC. It focuses on political propaganda-- the cynical manipulation of democratic ideals, principles and procedures for the purpose of promoting oligarchy as a different form of democracy. The study challanges the widely accepted view of a moderate Theramenist faction in an attempt to demonstrate that until the oligarchs have usurped power there is no justification for differentiating between extremists and moderates among them. As to the historiography of the revolution, the paper argues that, for all its weaknesses and deficiencies, on the whole Thucydides' account is a genuine attempt to free history from the distortion of propaganda, whereas the parallel account of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia , despite recent attempts at its rehabilitation and validation, appears by and large to have achieved precisely the opposite effect -- perpetuating by means of systematic omission and commission the historical distortion generated by propaganda.
Resumo: Analisaremos a discussão em torno do igualitarismo político em Atenas. Abordaremos o caso das elites atenienses arcaicas no período da tirania dos Pisistratidas. As famílias aristocráticas proeminentes realizavam carreiras militares e buscavam novas formas de enriquecimento na região do Chersoneso. Discutiremos sobre a analise polarizada entre aristocracia e pólis, seu sistema de interação entre gregos e não-gregos e as redes de conectividade em torno do mar Egeu.
The purpose of this thesis is to suggest why Athenian oligarchs reacted against the democratic agenda of Panhellenism in 413–411. Panhellenism was a gradual process of Greek cultural unification, which took on a politicized connotation after the Persian Wars calling for the accession of a hegemon to oppose the Persian Empire. This thesis examines the differences in political ideology between oligarchs and democrats, the increasing economic burdens on oligarchs to finance the Peloponnesian War, and the rift between oligarchic restraint (sophrosyne) and democratic courage (andreia) as the reasons for the oligarchs’ opposition to Panhellenism after the failed Sicilian Expedition. By examining Thucydides’ History, various speeches of the Attic orators and Athenian plays, as well as incorporating inscriptionary evidence, this thesis shows that Panhellenism was indeed not a universally held notion in Athens, and that further study must be done on the fragmentary nature of Athenian Panhellenism in the Classical Period.
A review and discussion of V. Hanson's The Other Greeks and J. Ober's The Athenian Revolution.
The purpose of my dissertation is to analyse the negative comments concerning Pericles; the 5th Century BCE Athenian statesman and general. This will involve an assessment of both ancient and modern writers. It will include an exploration of his early career as well as the decisions he made whilst in high office. His personal life will also be examined to clarify to what extent it affected his judgement in politics. Larger themes such as Athenian Imperialism and financial greed will also be taken into account to confirm if Pericles' actions were all just simply part of the current social-political landscape of the polis of Athens. The eventual aim of my dissertation is to evaluate these various assessments and judge if there is substantial weight to them.
2005, ZPE 154, 125-159
Second of a series of prolegomena to IG II3 1 fasc. 2
The focus of this paper is on Solon's attitude towards wealth as can be extracted by his legislation and poems. The argument is that part of the rationale of Solon's legislation aimed at the regulation and check of the influence of wealth in the Athenian administration of justice and the emerging legal system of the polis. In this era of spreading monetisation, there was a conscious effort on the part of the Athenian lawgiver to place limits on the use of wealth and to make economic resources a positive feature, at the service of law and community, rather than the opposite. In the Solonian reforms we find traces of subsequent dominant characteristics of the Athenian legal system (such as amateurism and egalitarianism) which might offer new insights on the modern manifestations of inequality before the law.
2017, Violence and Community Law, Space and Identity in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean World
The broad aim of this inquiry is to use a close reading of the text to explore Herodotus' interest in "human nature", in other words to measure him by the standard offered by the contemporary Sophistic movement and by Thucydides, who shares the same preoccupation. "Human nature" is taken to include human psychology at all levels from individuals to city states, nations and empires. The focus is on Herodotus' sensitivity to the psychological complexities of individuals, in particular to the contradictions and paradoxes in their behaviour; his interest in the mechanisms of social and political life; and his examination of the phenomenon of empire and how he shares with Thucydides a concern with its psychological motivation, with particular attention to his foreshadowing of Athenian empire. The study concludes by placing Herodotus firmly within the Sophistic (and Hippocratic) intellectual milieu and identifying him as an active participant in the major debates of the late 5thc. Central to the inquiry is the detailed analysis of extended contexts, exploring how large sections of text are put together, with consideration not merely of the structure and literary presentation but also Herodotus' use of his sources and the intentionality of the narrative. The fundamental hypothesis is that Herodotus is a complex and sophisticated writer with a developed critical acumen in his use of sources, such that he uses his material much more than his material uses him.
Athens has a rich history has the cradle of civilization and democracy, in the globe. This admirable aspect, if not analyzed deeply can trivialize the deep rooted role that Athens played in passing civilization to the world.
It has recently been claimed that the Solonian zeugitai were well-off landowners included in the Athenian leisured class. As a result, it has been called into question the existence of a “middle class” of farmers and suggested that the thetes were regularly conscripted as hoplites in the fifth century. In these pages we reflect on who the zeugitai of the archaic and classical periods were and develop new arguments in favour of their importance as a broad group of middling peasants who owned approximately 5 ha of land and a yoke of oxen.
2015, Histos. The Online Journal of Ancient Historiography
The Athenian recovery of Theseus’ bones from Scyros is known through a number of literary accounts spanning several centuries. The tradition dates the recovery to the early fifth century and connects it to the Athenian statesman Cimon. Modern reconstructions tend to rely on the combination of different (and possibly conflicting) sources. An analysis of the evidence, however, shows that the story was built up over several centuries, as the various layers of the tradition date to different historical and cultural contexts: its core probably dates to the fourth century. Evidence for any fifth-century element is so scant that most of the story may be safely detached from its alleged historical context.
Existing attempts to understand the relationship between violence and stability within Classical Athens are undermined by their failure to compare democracies with oligarchies. The exclusion-ary policies of oligarchies created a fragile political equilibrium that required considerable regulation if oligarchic regimes were to survive. By contrast, the inclusiveness of democracies largely defused the danger that disputes would lead to regime collapse. Citizens of democracies faced fewer incentives to police their behavior, resulting in higher levels of public disorder and violence ; this violence, however, was at the same time less likely to escalate into deadly force and stasis. The distinctive cultures of democracies and oligarchies were determined in part by considerations of basic political order.
Contrary to the common opinion, Thucydides accepts that oracles may have been right. He is, however, critical of the interpretations of diviners.
2018, Erga Logoi
The institution of ostracism has been considered a central practice of the Athenian democracy during the fifth century B.C.: the purpose of its establishment was to prevent tyranny. Anyway, according to Athenaion Politeia (22, 6), from Xanthippos’ ostracism (484) Athenians started to use the practice to remove from Athens any person who seemed to be too great, even if unconnected with tyranny. Among the ostraka against Xanthippos found during the Agora Excavations, one seems to be remarkable because it contains an elegiac couplet which stated why the father of Perikles should be ostracized. Interpretations of the text differ in details, but the general sense is that Xanthippos should be condemned because he did most wrong of all the leaders. Analyzing the inscription and the events of the Aeginetan War (Her. VI 88-93), this paper supposes that the ostracism of Xanthippos could have been caused by the rising figure of Themistokles, who condemned the Alkmeonid associate for his failed attack against Aegina. In fact, this defeat elicited a sacrilege against one of Nikodromos’ supporter. As the word ἀλειτερο῀ν, inscribed on the ostrakon, seems to suggest, this event could have been related to the Cylonian curse.
2004, ZPE 150, 85-120
First of a series of prolegomena to IG II3 1 fasc. 2
2004, Planning Theory & Practice
The birth of democracy in classical Athens was driven by the aim of balancing opposed social forces engaged in bitter infighting. The solution found by the statesman Cleisthenes was a fresh constitutional framework, based on a strong relationship between spatial control and citizenship. As a consequence of the framework, the source of political power no longer resides in bloodline and fortune, but has moved to the land itself. Athenian space is therefore political in nature. Such an archetypal connection between place and governance is worthy of attention, since the political outcome of spatial control is one of planning’s major concerns.
This paper addresses the construction of a " national " identity of the Athenian inhabitants during the tyrannical governance of Peisistratos and his sons (561/0-511/0 BCE 1) mainly through a series of religious practices, such as the transfer of cults from the rural areas to the city (asty) of Athens, the reorganization of the Panathenaia, the establishment of the City Dionysia, etc. The present paper investigates how this developed " national " consciousness in the late 6th century, in the sense of the citizens' nationalization within the borders of the Athenian city-state, could enable the political unification of Attica and the emergence of Democracy, taking into account the constitutional reforms of Kleisthenes the Alcmeonid, after the expulsion of the Peisistratidai. This paper focuses on the interpretation of the concept of political equality and the formation of a political identity of the Athenians in the late 6th century onwards, two notions which are treated here as very closely integrated. It was that political consciousness, following the constitutional changes of Kleisthenes, which led the Athenians to their first great military victories in the early 5th century over the Persians. These victories, which indisputably confirmed the strength of the constitution, will be brought, in short, into discussion in order to clarify the transition of Athens from the narrow borders of an archaic city-state to the rise of its naval empire in the " golden " 5th century via the newly-established Democracy.