Ancient Athens

The contribution of slaves to the Athenian state is a debate linked closely with the evidence of slaves for Greece as a whole.  This is because Athens, which included urban areas as well as villages within the territory of Attica, is one of the best documented sites for gathering evidence of the role of slaves in Classical Greek society.  However, although the question of slaves’ contribution to the Athenian state may provide a possible model for what occurred in other Greek cities, some historians advise caution on this matter.  For instance, Perikles’ ‘Funeral Oration’ praises the values of the Athenian life as unique and in contrast to the Spartan system.

Recensione a P. Vidal-Naquet, Atlantide. Breve storia di un mito, Torino, Einaudi 2006 (trad. it. di Id., L’Atlantide. Petite histoire d’un mythe platonicienne, Paris, Les Belles Lettres 2005).
Recensione pubblicata in «RCCM» 50, 2, 2008, pp. 435-439.

This article calculates the public spending of classical Athens. The major public activities of this ancient democracy were festivals, politics and wars. There is hot debate about what was spent on these three activities. Ancient historians cannot agree whether the Athenian dēmos (‘people’) spent more on festivals or wars. This debate goes back to the first book on Athenian public finance. In 1817 August Böckh famously criticised the Athenians for wasting money on their festivals instead of building up their armed forces. Calculating their public spending would settle this debate. Böckh lacked the evidence to do such. Two centuries after him this is no longer the case. But this articles calculations do more than settle a longstanding debate. In classical Athens the dēmos had full control over public spending. In the assembly they authorised all the public activities of their state. Assemblygoers understood the financial consequences of their decisions. They knew how much a proposal that was put before them would cost. They had a good general knowledge of what the state spent on its major activities. Consequently they could judge whether a proposal cost the same as what was normally spent on such things. This made it possible for the Athenians to change their pattern of spending and so what they spent on one class of activities relative to other classes. Such votes allowed the dēmos to spend more on what they saw as a priority. Over time the sums that they spent on different public activities reflected the order of the priorities that they had set for their state. By calculating these sums this article demonstrates that it was not religion or politics but war that was the overriding priority of the Athenian people.

IG V 1,1 should not be dated to the beginning of the Archidamian War. Connections with an
allusion in Thuc. 2,8,4 and the explication of the beginning of the War in the Peace of Aristophanes are not
very firm. Datation at the Decelean War remains possible.

As it happens, my unique play is newly available in a fine new shape, thanks to Petite Plaisance.
It now has an introductory note by Linda Napolitano Valditara and a short additional appendix.
In the meanwhile, this play has been translated into Spanish and published in Argentina by Teseo Press.

Scholars have disagreed about whether the Great Dionysia was celebrated in 404 bce, despite the grim circumstances in Athens on the eve of the city’s surrender to Sparta. This article reconsiders the problem and reviews the positive documentary evidence for the festival’s celebration. The
evidence indicates that the festival was indeed held, which speaks to the centrality of the Great Dionysia to Athenian civic life. The article then re-examines the conditions in Athens in the spring of 404, the practical consequences that these may have had for the festival, and the celebration of other festivals during times of war and crisis. Despite the evidence that the Great Dionysia was celebrated, the scale of its festivities must have been reduced. The first regular celebration after the war did not likely take place until 402/1, when the posthumous premiere of Sophocles’ Oidipous at Kolonos would have served partially as a symbolic proclamation that Athens’ great theatrical tradition would continue undiminished.

This article argues that the “hauling scene” (458–728) of Aristophanes’ Peace is modeled on a distinctive fishing technology, the beach seine, and not, as is commonly held, on the hauling of heavily freighted commercial vessels into port. The dance and song of the comic chorus’ halieutic rescue of the goddess Peace evoke mythological and aetiological narratives of the recovery of talismanic objects from the sea and the confinement of maidens with strong fertility associations. The netfishing theme contributes to the creation of a comic succession myth in which Peace is characterized as a maternal figure whose procreative capacities are obstructed by the personified War, who seeks to prevent the flourishing of human and agricultural fertility.

Este libro propone un análisis de las configuraciones políticas, las representaciones simbólicas y los valores afectivos que organizaron el accionar de los sujetos en la democracia ateniense. El desarrollo de la política democrática en la Atenas clásica supuso la capacidad del pueblo de limitar la opresión coactiva de los sectores aristocráticos, así como de construir un espacio específico de participación y disenso. Bajo estas condiciones, las representaciones simbólicas operaron como vehículo para procesar este singular suceso, dando cuenta al mismo tiempo de las pasiones extremas que este supo desatar y que se expresaron en conflictos políticos, en ocasiones con una inusitada violencia física y psicológica.El recorrido que se realiza considera en especial el rol de la asamblea y los tribunales, la dimensión socio-política de la comedia antigua y su vinculación con los procedimientos institucionales de la democracia ateniense, así como la interfaz que las experiencias emocionales tejían en el cruce entre tales procedimientos y las prácticas ideológicas, de las que formaban parte tanto las representaciones teatrales cuanto las elaboraciones conceptuales. La convergencia entre los particulares intereses de los autores de cada capítulo y el proyecto global desarrollado ha permitido redimensionar las problemáticas específicas y potenciar mediante la interacción y el intercambio las conclusiones alcanzadas. El enfoque elegido ha procurado generar cimientos más sólidos para una lectura integral de los fenómenos institucionales, políticos, cívicos, culturales y emocionales ligados a la democracia ateniense y sus proyecciones, que aun cuando no aparezcan deliberadamente tienen una presencia implícita en algunas de las idealizaciones de la mejor pólis, modelos en los que los remedios y los controles propuestos muestran que la democracia ya ha pasado dejando su huella en el horizonte del pensamiento de la política.

The Phratries of Attica provides the first comprehensive account in English of a key institution in ancient Athens: the Attic phratries. These hereditary groups of citizens, linked to one locale or more in Attica, played a crucial role in regulating access to Athenian citizenship. The author concentrates on the evidence, much of it epigraphical, for the period 450-250 B.C.E., but he also considers the role of the phratry in the reforms of Cleisthenes and examines the institution's origins and its probable demise in the second century B.C.E.

The paper (accessible here too: http://hdl.handle.net/10889/14833) offers an interpretation of Solon's citizenship law (Plu. Sol. 24.4), focusing on its importance (the first of its kind) and its (occasionally misunderstood) meaning. Solon's law restricted the bestowal of Athenian citizenship rights only to the perpetual exiles and those who came to Athens with their entire family to practise a trade. Thereby Solon wished to limit transient settlement and labour in Attica in the early sixth century BC, thus providing for political and economic stability. The clarification of both the law's meaning and Solon's intentions is necessary, given the past and recent problematic readings of Plutarch's text.

Ευρωπαϊκές Πολιτικές Ιδεολογίες τον Εικοστό Αιώνα: Η εξέλιξη της δημοκρατίας καλύπτει μία μακρόχρονη πορεία και ταυτόχρονα η θεωρία της και τα ιδανικά που πρεσβεύει αποτέλεσαν και εξακολουθούν να αποτελούν πεδίο συγκρούσεων αλλά και συμπόρευσης. Η άμεση δημοκρατία αποτέλεσε φαινόμενο του αρχαίου κόσμου που ανέδειξε τη σπουδαιότητα της πολιτικής συμμετοχής. Η μεγαλύτερη ριζοσπαστική όμως καινοτομία ήταν ότι επινόησε την έννοια του ενεργού πολίτη ο οποίος συμμετείχε σε μία διαδικασία αυτοκυβέρνησης με απώτερο σκοπό την επίτευξη του γενικού καλού. Η νέα αυτή μορφή διακυβέρνησης αποτέλεσε το πρόγονο των σύγχρονων δημοκρατικών συστημάτων.

The most ancient polis centre was located at the east slopes of the Acropolis. It served as the meeting-place of the citi- zens and housed the Town Hall, a lawcourt and the head- quarters of the authorities.
About 510-500 BC the open space at the foot of the Kolonos (later called Agoraios), already used mainly during the city festivals, was formally marked by boundary-stones, so becoming the public square of the city.
The relocation of the civic central place resulted in a divi- sion of the functions of the Old Agora: the administrative centre was fixed at the Kerameikos, while the ekklesiai were held at the Pnyx. The ‘new’ Agora never served as the politi- cal meeting-place of the people, except for the ostrakophoriai.
Between the Agora and the Pnyx was the Areopagus, and one wonders if the location of the assembly-place was not a tribute payed to the most authoritative Council of the polis.
The Kerameikos Agora started serving also like a shop- ping centre: this function extended toward east as far as the open space later occupied by the Roman Agora, land of the kapeloi scattered with houses and shops, where the Tower of the Winds was also built.
In the imperial age both Strabo and Pausanias called ago- ra the main marketplace of their time, that is the square funded by Caesar and Augustus on request of the Athenians, in order to provide the old commercial space with a monu- mental structure.
The so-called Library of Hadrian can be considered the last of the city agorai; it is better understood as an imperial forum, built in the city that, thanks to the Emperor, saw a great political and cultural revival as the centre of the Greek East.

Short paper written for Phillips Exeter Academy's Liber Classics Magazine Volume 2: Women. This paper briefly explores how the perceived message of Lysistrata has changed as the cultural context around the play has changed. Edited by Blane Zhu, Pepper Pieroni, Kevin Zhu, and Sophia Cho.

An examination of Plut. Cim. 13, 4-5 and Harp. Α 261 Keaney s.v. Ἀττικοῖς γράμμασιν suggests that fourth-century historians Callisthenes (FGrHist 124 F 16) and Theopompus (FGrHist 115 F 154) challenged the view of contemporary Athenians – attested especially in rhetorical writings – that the Peace of Callias was concluded in the 460s BC in the aftermath of the battle at the river Eurymedon. Such a view described the peace as unilateral, i.e., not implying any obligation on the part of the Athenians. The fact that Callisthenes and Theopompus did not accept that tradition, doesn’t imply, per se, that they believed that no peace between Athens and Persia was ever concluded in the V century BC. On the contrary, the peace of 449 BC, as described by Diodorus in XII 4, 4-6 on the basis of fourth-century sources (Ephorus among them), was bilateral, i.e., it implied obligations on both sides (Athens and Persia); whether Callisthenes and Theopompus also disputed that peace was made in 449, is unclear. In addition, this paper explores the possibility of changing the unknown Νέσσου ποταμοῦ with Νείλου πο­ταμοῦ in the so called ‘Aristodemus’ (FGrHist 104 F 1, 13, 2).

It is commonly said that we know only a few verdicts of the forensic speeches preserved in the canon of the Attic orators. Moreover, the lists of successes and defeats drawn up by law specialists do not match. The survey of the known or conjectured results makes it possible to propose a clear and reliable list, which reveals a relatively extensive knowledge of the verdicts delivered: the jurors’ decision can be proposed with a certain probability for almost a third of the corpus. It is true that we know the sentence of pleadings written for or against one of the canon’s authors more than when they wrote their speeches as logographers, but our knowledge of the judgements is broader than what historians and commentators think and repeat. Jurors’ verdicts are of particular interest because they provide a better understanding of the speeches themselves, through the examination of the strategies that support the publication of a text.

The battle of Marathon marked the end of the first Persian invasion of Greece (492-490 BC). It was a remarkable achievement of the 10,000 Athenians and 1,000 Plataeans, who without cavalry and archmen defeated the Persians who were 20,000 - 25,000 strong and had both cavalry and archmen. The democratic system of the polis of Athens played a key role, as well as the military genious of Miltiades, the leading general of the Athenians.

The main purpose of the study is to draw a picture of the education system in terms of the curriculum, the physical condition of schools, the attitudes of the teachers and the perspective of the society towards education in ancient Athens and today. Education was an important issue for free Athenian citizens. Athenian children were taught at home, sometimes under the guidance of a master or a paidagogos, until they began elementary education at approximately seven years of age. At school, the children were taught how to read and write, to count and draw. In this study also the importance of the paidagogos and the family structure in the education of the primary school students is investigated. In doing so, the body of the study is based on a literature review, where available the modern sources has been supported by the ancient sources. In this study is compared the ancient times and today's education system. Many similarities and differences were observed.

This work presents an in-depth study and reconsideration of early 5th-century BC Greek history. Focusing on Athens in the aftermath of the second Persian invasion, it reconstructs the chronology, events, and context of the first half of this century, through the figure of the prominent Athenian politician and general Cimon, son of Miltiades. The study deals with themes of politics, economy, religion, military and social issues, and reception.
The near-complete absence of contemporary sources means that the analysis is based mainly on later traditions. This study argues that present scholarship needs to be revised in favour of source criticism that reinterprets the surviving evidence, by setting it against its own contemporary context and by highlighting divergences among the sources.
The ancient tradition has reshaped and reinvented the memory of the period under study along with that of Cimon. By peeling away a complex of layered traditions, biased by cultural stereotypes and later perspectives, this monograph questions traditional approaches to the 5th century BC, opening new ways to address and interpret Classical Greek history.

La bataille d'Amphipolis (421 av. J.-C.) oppose les deux grands États-cité de Grèce continentale, Athènes et Sparte, en plein cœur de la guerre du Péloponnèse. Amphipolis est le théâtre de la lutte entre deux personnalités brillantes. Cléon est un brillant homme politique athénien à qui tout réussit jusque là. Brasidas, général spartiate audacieux et innovant, est devenu le chantre de la liberté des cités et peuples de Grèce du Nord, face à l'oppression athénienne.
La bataille d'Amphipolis est également un parfait exemple d'articulation des systèmes de l'ethnos et de l'État-cité à travers un cadre militaire. A la tête d'une armée hétéroclite, Brasidas a rendu possible la cohabitation et l'usage combiné de soldats de l'ethnos (infanterie légère et cavaliers) et de soldats de l'État-cité (hoplites), pratiquant des modes de combat différents. Ce compromis entre  hoplites, infanterie légère et cavaliers préfigure celui de Philippe II de Macédoine et d'Alexandre le Grand. Brasidas est ainsi parvenu à mettre à profit l'hétérogénéité de leur armée pour obtenir une victoire totale contre Athènes.
Enfin, la bataille d'Amphipolis est un événement « accélérateur de l'histoire », favorisant largement l'inversion des rapports de force entre la Grèce du Nord et la Grèce du Sud. Athènes perd progressivement toute prétention hégémonique en Grèce du Nord, puis son empire est démantelé en 404. Le recul d'Athènes en Grèce du Nord permet au royaume de Macédoine de s'affirmer. En 357 Philippe de Macédoine s'empare d'Amphipolis et opère l'unification politique de la Grèce du Nord.  Ainsi, l'ethnos macédonien est à la tête de cités et d'autres ethnê au sein d'un royaume ethnique). La victoire des armées de Philippe à Chéronée est l'acte de soumission de la Grèce du Sud au profit de la Grèce du Nord. Les petites entités politiques que sont les États-cités perdent leur indépendance au profit d'entités politiques plus vastes et englobantes que sont les royaumes.

La tragedia de la democracia actual nos ha abierto a una dimensión que aún no nos acostumbramos a habitar: la irrecuperable capacidad de representación de la voluntad popular que ya no logra ser disimulada por las contiendas electorales. Y ni siquiera éstas conservan ahora el atisbo participativo que antaño estructuraban el imaginario del ciudadano moderno: una encuesta, organizada bajo las estrictas pautas del marketing, puede hoy hacer desistir a candidatos y electores de la idea de resolver en una votación la elección de un gobierno.
Las peripecias de la política contemporánea –una experiencia relativamente reciente– no deben tornarnos cómplices de su apropiación de la idea de democracia ni del supuesto antiguo legado que avala esta operación. En rigor, no hay legado dado de antemano sino una utilización del pasado.
Pero tragedia y democracia no son términos que sólo señalen una crisis de proporciones de los estados nacionales. Estos dos vocablos designan, en otra situación –la Atenas del siglo V a.C.–, dos tipos de prácticas que dieron lugar a acontecimientos inéditos: la democracia ateniense, la tragedia ática. Pensar ambas experiencias, sus ocurrencias singulares, las conjunciones entre sí y con otras prácticas (principalmente, el discurso histórico y la sofística), implica interrogarse sobre el recorrido distintivo de una subjetividad política concreta: la asamblea del dêmos ateniense durante la así llamada democracia radical. Tal es el propósito de este libro.

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.

The book tells the story of the Athenian elite between 600 and 400 BCE on the basis of the imagery on the luxury pottery from which the wealthy drank at their banquets. The statistical evaluation of more than 6,000 representations lend insight into the lives of the elite as horse owners, athletes, and revellers. The image analysis is prefaced by a cultural historical section that describes the history and socio-economics of the elite.

Das Buch erzählt die Geschichte der Elite Athens zwischen 600 und 400 v. Chr. anhand der Bilder auf der Luxuskeramik, aus der die Reichen bei ihren Festen tranken. Über 6000 ausgewertete Darstellungen liefern Erkenntnisse über das Leben der Elite als Pferdehalter, Athleten und Bankettgesellschaft. Der Bildanalyse ist ein kulturgeschichtlicher Teil vorangestellt ist, der die Elite über die Historie und sozioökonomische Aspekte definiert.

A new discovered base with a fragmentary choregic inscription from the great Dionysia on it was found at Tripods Street, in Athens. The inscription was possible to be reconstructed. The choregos was most probably Deinippos, son of Sostratos from a well known aristocratic family of Athens, during the 4th c. B.C. The whole monument with the choregic tripod on it was also reconstructed. Lastly topographic remarks were made,  concerning the still to be found Prytaneion at ancient Athens and the Tripods street itself.

Издательский дом ВШЭ / id@hse.ru / www.facebook.com/phhse 73 В.Р. Гущин АФИНЫ НА ПУТИ К ДЕМОКРАТИИ: VIII-V ВЕКА ДО Н.Э. Серия «Монографии ВШЭ: Гуманитарные науки» ISBN 978-5-7598-2164-9 (в пер.) ISBN 978-5-7598-2220-2 (e-book) 456 с. 60×88/16 2021 г. В монографии рассматривается процесс становления афинской демократии на протяжении архаического и классического периодов (VIII-середина V века до н.э.). Вопросы о том, что такое афинская демократия, когда она возникла и какую роль в ее появлении сыграли те или иные социальные слои, остаются дискуссионными на протяжении длительного времени. В книге показано, что одним из значимых стимулов возникновения демократии становится борьба за власть и влияние внутри слоя аристократии, к участию в которой нередко привлекался и афинский демос. В процессе этой борьбы, с одной стороны, создавались равные условия для «лучших» (eunomia, isonomia), а с другой-происходило расширение политических прав простого народа. Результатом этих процессов становится государственное устройство, в котором значительную роль играют коллегиальные политические институты, прежде всего народное собрание, избиравшее должностных лиц, и гелиэя (народный суд), осуществлявшая контроль за ежегодно избиравшимися магистратами. Тем не менее афинскую демократию нельзя считать народоправством или «властью народа». Сами афиняне характеризовали ее как коллективное правление или власть «большинства»-тех, кто обладал политическими правами. Книга адресована как специалистам, так и широкому кругу читателей, интересующихся греческой историей. ИСТОРИЯ / ПОЛИТОЛОГИЯ

Published by Lexington Books (October, 2019). All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher

After the final defeat of the Persians in the mid-fifth century BCE, the Delian League was gradually transformed into an Athenian empire. The transformation was accompanied by an accumulation of power over other city states by Athens; associated with certain claims of political corruption. This essay describes the transformation process, how Athenians justified it, and how they responded to the claims of corruption. It also examines the claims in terms of the different ancient and modern perspectives of corruption.

Course Description:
This course offers an introduction to the history of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to Alexander the Great, drawing on both source materials and modern works. This is a student-driven seminar based on readings and in-class discussions on the societal, religious, and political developments of the Greek world in antiquity. Students will become familiar with the Bronze, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic ages of Greek history. The foundation of this course is the geopolitical history of the expanding Greek world; however, students also will engage the importance of ancient Greek culture, literature, religion, art, and gender roles. Through the investigation of texts, architecture, and archaeology, students will gain an appreciation of not just the ruling classes of the ancient Greek world, but also of the daily lives of normal Greeks and Hellenized native peoples.