Victoria Wohl
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691166506
- eISBN:
- 9781400866403
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691166506.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
How can we make sense of the innovative structure of Euripidean drama? And what political role did tragedy play in the democracy of classical Athens? These questions are usually considered to be ...
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How can we make sense of the innovative structure of Euripidean drama? And what political role did tragedy play in the democracy of classical Athens? These questions are usually considered to be mutually exclusive, but this book shows that they can only be properly answered together. Providing a new approach to the aesthetics and politics of Greek tragedy, this book argues that the poetic form of Euripides' drama constitutes a mode of political thought. Through readings of select plays, the book explores the politics of Euripides' radical aesthetics, showing how formal innovation generates political passions with real-world consequences. Euripides' plays have long perplexed readers. With their disjointed plots, comic touches, and frequent happy endings, they seem to stretch the boundaries of tragedy. But the plays' formal traits—from their exorbitantly beautiful lyrics to their arousal and resolution of suspense—shape the audience's political sensibilities and ideological attachments. Engendering civic passions, the plays enact as well as express political ideas. The book draws out the political implications of Euripidean aesthetics by exploring such topics as narrative and ideological desire, the politics of pathos, realism and its utopian possibilities, the logic of political allegory, and tragedy's relation to its historical moment. Breaking through the impasse between formalist and historicist interpretations of Greek tragedy, the book demonstrates that aesthetic structure and political meaning are mutually implicated—and that to read the plays poetically is necessarily to read them politically.Less
How can we make sense of the innovative structure of Euripidean drama? And what political role did tragedy play in the democracy of classical Athens? These questions are usually considered to be mutually exclusive, but this book shows that they can only be properly answered together. Providing a new approach to the aesthetics and politics of Greek tragedy, this book argues that the poetic form of Euripides' drama constitutes a mode of political thought. Through readings of select plays, the book explores the politics of Euripides' radical aesthetics, showing how formal innovation generates political passions with real-world consequences. Euripides' plays have long perplexed readers. With their disjointed plots, comic touches, and frequent happy endings, they seem to stretch the boundaries of tragedy. But the plays' formal traits—from their exorbitantly beautiful lyrics to their arousal and resolution of suspense—shape the audience's political sensibilities and ideological attachments. Engendering civic passions, the plays enact as well as express political ideas. The book draws out the political implications of Euripidean aesthetics by exploring such topics as narrative and ideological desire, the politics of pathos, realism and its utopian possibilities, the logic of political allegory, and tragedy's relation to its historical moment. Breaking through the impasse between formalist and historicist interpretations of Greek tragedy, the book demonstrates that aesthetic structure and political meaning are mutually implicated—and that to read the plays poetically is necessarily to read them politically.
Deborah Kamen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691138138
- eISBN:
- 9781400846535
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691138138.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Ancient Greek literature, Athenian civic ideology, and modern classical scholarship have all worked together to reinforce the idea that there were three neatly defined status groups in classical ...
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Ancient Greek literature, Athenian civic ideology, and modern classical scholarship have all worked together to reinforce the idea that there were three neatly defined status groups in classical Athens—citizens, slaves, and resident foreigners. But this book—the first comprehensive account of status in ancient democratic Athens—clearly lays out the evidence for a much broader and more complex spectrum of statuses, one that has important implications for understanding Greek social and cultural history. By revealing a social and legal reality otherwise masked by Athenian ideology, the book illuminates the complexity of Athenian social structure, uncovers tensions between democratic ideology and practice, and contributes to larger questions about the relationship between citizenship and democracy. Each chapter is devoted to one of ten distinct status groups in classical Athens (451/0–323 BCE): chattel slaves, privileged chattel slaves, conditionally freed slaves, resident foreigners (metics), illegitimate children, privileged metics, disenfranchised citizens, naturalized citizens, female citizens, and male citizens. Examining a wide range of literary, epigraphic, and legal evidence, as well as factors not generally considered together, such as property ownership, corporal inviolability, and religious rights, the book demonstrates the important legal and social distinctions that were drawn between various groups of individuals in Athens. At the same time, it reveals that the boundaries between these groups were less fixed and more permeable than Athenians themselves acknowledged. The book concludes by trying to explain why ancient Greek literature maintains the fiction of three status groups despite a far more complex reality.Less
Ancient Greek literature, Athenian civic ideology, and modern classical scholarship have all worked together to reinforce the idea that there were three neatly defined status groups in classical Athens—citizens, slaves, and resident foreigners. But this book—the first comprehensive account of status in ancient democratic Athens—clearly lays out the evidence for a much broader and more complex spectrum of statuses, one that has important implications for understanding Greek social and cultural history. By revealing a social and legal reality otherwise masked by Athenian ideology, the book illuminates the complexity of Athenian social structure, uncovers tensions between democratic ideology and practice, and contributes to larger questions about the relationship between citizenship and democracy. Each chapter is devoted to one of ten distinct status groups in classical Athens (451/0–323 BCE): chattel slaves, privileged chattel slaves, conditionally freed slaves, resident foreigners (metics), illegitimate children, privileged metics, disenfranchised citizens, naturalized citizens, female citizens, and male citizens. Examining a wide range of literary, epigraphic, and legal evidence, as well as factors not generally considered together, such as property ownership, corporal inviolability, and religious rights, the book demonstrates the important legal and social distinctions that were drawn between various groups of individuals in Athens. At the same time, it reveals that the boundaries between these groups were less fixed and more permeable than Athenians themselves acknowledged. The book concludes by trying to explain why ancient Greek literature maintains the fiction of three status groups despite a far more complex reality.
Vincent Azoulay
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154596
- eISBN:
- 9781400851171
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154596.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Pericles has had the rare distinction of giving his name to an entire period of history, embodying what has often been taken as the golden age of the ancient Greek world. “Periclean” Athens witnessed ...
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Pericles has had the rare distinction of giving his name to an entire period of history, embodying what has often been taken as the golden age of the ancient Greek world. “Periclean” Athens witnessed tumultuous political and military events, and achievements of the highest order in philosophy, drama, poetry, oratory, and architecture. This is the first book in more than two decades to reassess the life and legacy of one of the greatest generals, orators, and statesmen of the classical world. It provides an unforgettable portrait of Pericles and his turbulent era, shedding light on his powerful family, his patronage of the arts, and his unrivaled influence on Athenian politics and culture. It takes a fresh look at both the classical and modern reception of Pericles, recognizing his achievements as well as his failings while deftly avoiding the adulatory or hypercritical positions staked out by some scholars today. From Thucydides and Plutarch to Voltaire and Hegel, ancient and modern authors have questioned the great statesman's relationship with democracy and Athenian society. Did Pericles hold supreme power over willing masses or was he just a gifted representative of popular aspirations? Was Periclean Athens a democracy in name only, as Thucydides suggests? This is the enigma that the book investigates. In doing so the book offers a balanced look at the complex life and afterlife of the legendary “first citizen of Athens” who presided over the birth of democracy.Less
Pericles has had the rare distinction of giving his name to an entire period of history, embodying what has often been taken as the golden age of the ancient Greek world. “Periclean” Athens witnessed tumultuous political and military events, and achievements of the highest order in philosophy, drama, poetry, oratory, and architecture. This is the first book in more than two decades to reassess the life and legacy of one of the greatest generals, orators, and statesmen of the classical world. It provides an unforgettable portrait of Pericles and his turbulent era, shedding light on his powerful family, his patronage of the arts, and his unrivaled influence on Athenian politics and culture. It takes a fresh look at both the classical and modern reception of Pericles, recognizing his achievements as well as his failings while deftly avoiding the adulatory or hypercritical positions staked out by some scholars today. From Thucydides and Plutarch to Voltaire and Hegel, ancient and modern authors have questioned the great statesman's relationship with democracy and Athenian society. Did Pericles hold supreme power over willing masses or was he just a gifted representative of popular aspirations? Was Periclean Athens a democracy in name only, as Thucydides suggests? This is the enigma that the book investigates. In doing so the book offers a balanced look at the complex life and afterlife of the legendary “first citizen of Athens” who presided over the birth of democracy.
Dominic J. O’Meara
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199285532
- eISBN:
- 9780191717819
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285532.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter describes the range of philosophers discussed in this book, going from Plotinus and his school in Rome to the schools of Iamblichus in Syria (Apamea) and of his successors at Athens and ...
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This chapter describes the range of philosophers discussed in this book, going from Plotinus and his school in Rome to the schools of Iamblichus in Syria (Apamea) and of his successors at Athens and Alexandria. The relations between these schools and the situation of the various philosophers in time, place, and social context are briefly sketched.Less
This chapter describes the range of philosophers discussed in this book, going from Plotinus and his school in Rome to the schools of Iamblichus in Syria (Apamea) and of his successors at Athens and Alexandria. The relations between these schools and the situation of the various philosophers in time, place, and social context are briefly sketched.
Craig T. Borowiak
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199778256
- eISBN:
- 9780199919086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199778256.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, International Relations and Politics
This chapter turns to the participatory democracy of ancient Athens to summon alternative possibilities for realizing democratic accountability in contemporary life. For the Athenians, democratic ...
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This chapter turns to the participatory democracy of ancient Athens to summon alternative possibilities for realizing democratic accountability in contemporary life. For the Athenians, democratic accountability was valuable not only for negative, protective reasons relating to the corruptibility of citizens and the tendency of officials to subvert the public good. It also played a vital role in generating political community and, thereby, in the constitution of the public good. Virtually every male citizen served in public office at some time. And everyone who served in public office faced public accountability proceedings before, during, and after their term in office. Gaps existed between rulers and the ruled such that public power could be abused, but those gaps were mobilized to spread both accountability and power among citizens. Entering into public view and being held publicly accountable were part of the process through which citizens were gathered together and related to one another as political equals in what Hannah Arendt called a “common world.” Such an understanding of mutual accountability as constitutive of community offers an instructive contrast to shallower treatments of accountability within recent debates.Less
This chapter turns to the participatory democracy of ancient Athens to summon alternative possibilities for realizing democratic accountability in contemporary life. For the Athenians, democratic accountability was valuable not only for negative, protective reasons relating to the corruptibility of citizens and the tendency of officials to subvert the public good. It also played a vital role in generating political community and, thereby, in the constitution of the public good. Virtually every male citizen served in public office at some time. And everyone who served in public office faced public accountability proceedings before, during, and after their term in office. Gaps existed between rulers and the ruled such that public power could be abused, but those gaps were mobilized to spread both accountability and power among citizens. Entering into public view and being held publicly accountable were part of the process through which citizens were gathered together and related to one another as political equals in what Hannah Arendt called a “common world.” Such an understanding of mutual accountability as constitutive of community offers an instructive contrast to shallower treatments of accountability within recent debates.
Peter Liddel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199226580
- eISBN:
- 9780191710186
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226580.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
By developing a notion of civic obligation, this book attempts to re‐interpret the nature of individual liberty in ancient Athens. Its primary concern is to elucidate how the considerable obligations ...
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By developing a notion of civic obligation, this book attempts to re‐interpret the nature of individual liberty in ancient Athens. Its primary concern is to elucidate how the considerable obligations of the citizen to the city‐state (polis) and community (known here as civic obligations) were reconciled with ideas about individual liberty, and how this reconciliation was negotiated, performed, and presented in the oratory of the Athenian law‐courts, assembly, and through the publication of inscriptions. This work assesses the extent to which Rawls' model of liberty, consisting of his advocacy of renewed conventional modes of justice and liberty, might be used to elucidate the kind of liberty that existed in the ancient Greek city. The historical context is late 4th‐century Athens, during which period it is possible to observe a growing concern, expressed in the oratorical and epigraphical sources, for the performance by citizens of obligations, epitomized in the notion of good citizenship which emerges in Lycurgus' speech Against Leocrates. The core of the work analyses the ways in which the civic obligations were negotiated in oratorical and epigraphical modes of expression, examines comprehensively the substance of those obligations, and the ways in which their virtuous performance was recorded and used as a tool of self‐promotion. The final chapter measures the survey of Athens with that gleaned from the theory of Rawls: notwithstanding certain historical peculiarities, it is suggested that the model may be a useful one for thinking about city‐states and other organizations beyond fourth‐century Athens.Less
By developing a notion of civic obligation, this book attempts to re‐interpret the nature of individual liberty in ancient Athens. Its primary concern is to elucidate how the considerable obligations of the citizen to the city‐state (polis) and community (known here as civic obligations) were reconciled with ideas about individual liberty, and how this reconciliation was negotiated, performed, and presented in the oratory of the Athenian law‐courts, assembly, and through the publication of inscriptions. This work assesses the extent to which Rawls' model of liberty, consisting of his advocacy of renewed conventional modes of justice and liberty, might be used to elucidate the kind of liberty that existed in the ancient Greek city. The historical context is late 4th‐century Athens, during which period it is possible to observe a growing concern, expressed in the oratorical and epigraphical sources, for the performance by citizens of obligations, epitomized in the notion of good citizenship which emerges in Lycurgus' speech Against Leocrates. The core of the work analyses the ways in which the civic obligations were negotiated in oratorical and epigraphical modes of expression, examines comprehensively the substance of those obligations, and the ways in which their virtuous performance was recorded and used as a tool of self‐promotion. The final chapter measures the survey of Athens with that gleaned from the theory of Rawls: notwithstanding certain historical peculiarities, it is suggested that the model may be a useful one for thinking about city‐states and other organizations beyond fourth‐century Athens.
F. S. Naiden
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195183412
- eISBN:
- 9780199789399
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183412.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This is the first book-length treatment of supplication, an important social practice in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Despite the importance of supplication, it has received little attention, ...
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This is the first book-length treatment of supplication, an important social practice in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Despite the importance of supplication, it has received little attention, and no previous study has explored so many aspects of the practice. This book investigates the varied gestures made by the suppliants, the types of requests they make, the arguments used in defense of their requests, and the role of the supplicandus, who evaluates and decides whether to fulfill the requests. Varied and abundant sources invite comparison between the societies of Greece, especially Athens, and the Roman Republic and Principate and also among literary genres such as epic and tragedy. Additionally, this book formulates an analysis of the ritual in its legal and political contexts.Less
This is the first book-length treatment of supplication, an important social practice in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Despite the importance of supplication, it has received little attention, and no previous study has explored so many aspects of the practice. This book investigates the varied gestures made by the suppliants, the types of requests they make, the arguments used in defense of their requests, and the role of the supplicandus, who evaluates and decides whether to fulfill the requests. Varied and abundant sources invite comparison between the societies of Greece, especially Athens, and the Roman Republic and Principate and also among literary genres such as epic and tragedy. Additionally, this book formulates an analysis of the ritual in its legal and political contexts.
Alfonso Moreno
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199228409
- eISBN:
- 9780191711312
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228409.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This study shows how Classical Athens, the largest and historically most important of the Greek city‐states, depended for its survival on a supply of grain from overseas sources, especially (in the ...
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This study shows how Classical Athens, the largest and historically most important of the Greek city‐states, depended for its survival on a supply of grain from overseas sources, especially (in the fifth century bc) the conquered territories of its Aegean empire, and (in the fourth century) the distant steppes of Scythia (modern Ukraine and southern Russia). This trade was central to Athenian politics, and is here found to have been organized and controlled by powerful elites, a conclusion that challenges prevailing interpretations of Athenian democracy. New light is also cast on the nature of Athenian imperialism; the relationship of the city of Athens and its countryside; the relevance to the Athenian economy of fourth‐century rhetorical and philosophical schools (particularly that of Isocrates) and other elite networks; and the history of the Bosporan Kingdom in the northern Black Sea. A wealth of ancient textual evidence (from history, oratory, and drama) is presented alongside archaeology, aerial photography, epigraphy, and iconography. Revolutionary new discoveries, like the Grain‐Tax Law of 374/3 bc, and the vast building complexes lining the Crimean coast of the Azov Sea, are discussed comprehensively with older evidence, like the golden treasures from Graeco‐Scythian graves. Decades of foreign scholarship and discovery (especially in Russian) are synthesized and made accessible to English readers. Moving from the edges of the Greek world, to the islands of the Aegean, to the prosperous demes of Attica and the courtrooms and popular assemblies of Athens, this book presents a sweeping reinterpretation of Athenian economy and society.Less
This study shows how Classical Athens, the largest and historically most important of the Greek city‐states, depended for its survival on a supply of grain from overseas sources, especially (in the fifth century bc) the conquered territories of its Aegean empire, and (in the fourth century) the distant steppes of Scythia (modern Ukraine and southern Russia). This trade was central to Athenian politics, and is here found to have been organized and controlled by powerful elites, a conclusion that challenges prevailing interpretations of Athenian democracy. New light is also cast on the nature of Athenian imperialism; the relationship of the city of Athens and its countryside; the relevance to the Athenian economy of fourth‐century rhetorical and philosophical schools (particularly that of Isocrates) and other elite networks; and the history of the Bosporan Kingdom in the northern Black Sea. A wealth of ancient textual evidence (from history, oratory, and drama) is presented alongside archaeology, aerial photography, epigraphy, and iconography. Revolutionary new discoveries, like the Grain‐Tax Law of 374/3 bc, and the vast building complexes lining the Crimean coast of the Azov Sea, are discussed comprehensively with older evidence, like the golden treasures from Graeco‐Scythian graves. Decades of foreign scholarship and discovery (especially in Russian) are synthesized and made accessible to English readers. Moving from the edges of the Greek world, to the islands of the Aegean, to the prosperous demes of Attica and the courtrooms and popular assemblies of Athens, this book presents a sweeping reinterpretation of Athenian economy and society.
L. A. Swift
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577842
- eISBN:
- 9780191722622
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577842.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses the role that choral performance and lyric poetry held in fifth‐century Athenian life. It begins by examining the evidence for choral performance in Athens, and goes on to ...
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This chapter discusses the role that choral performance and lyric poetry held in fifth‐century Athenian life. It begins by examining the evidence for choral performance in Athens, and goes on to discuss how lyric poetry was known and circulated. Since many ‘high’ forms of poetry were known by elite means, this leads to a discussion of elite poetic material in democratic society, looking at the institution of the symposium and deriving evidence from oratory and comedy, as well as evidence from material culture. The chapter argues that Athenian attitudes to elite poetry were aspirational and that large sections of the tragic audience would have responded to lyric references. The chapter concludes with a discussion of tragedy's relationship to democracy and to Athenian civic ideology.Less
This chapter discusses the role that choral performance and lyric poetry held in fifth‐century Athenian life. It begins by examining the evidence for choral performance in Athens, and goes on to discuss how lyric poetry was known and circulated. Since many ‘high’ forms of poetry were known by elite means, this leads to a discussion of elite poetic material in democratic society, looking at the institution of the symposium and deriving evidence from oratory and comedy, as well as evidence from material culture. The chapter argues that Athenian attitudes to elite poetry were aspirational and that large sections of the tragic audience would have responded to lyric references. The chapter concludes with a discussion of tragedy's relationship to democracy and to Athenian civic ideology.
L. A. Swift
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577842
- eISBN:
- 9780191722622
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577842.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes epinician poetry. The chapter begins with a discussion of epinician as a genre, drawing on both Pindar and Bacchylides. In particular, it explores how ...
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This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes epinician poetry. The chapter begins with a discussion of epinician as a genre, drawing on both Pindar and Bacchylides. In particular, it explores how epinician was regarded in fifth‐century Athens: a society whose democratic values are frequently believed to be at odds with the aristocratic and individualistic values of epinician. The second part of the chapter explores how tragedy makes use of epinician motifs, using two case‐studies: Euripides' Heracles, and Electra. It is argued that in both these plays the clustering of epinician language is used to explore problematic values associated with epinician poetry: in particular, questions about what constitutes aretē (excellence), and the relationship between individual and community.Less
This chapter explores how Greek tragedy evokes epinician poetry. The chapter begins with a discussion of epinician as a genre, drawing on both Pindar and Bacchylides. In particular, it explores how epinician was regarded in fifth‐century Athens: a society whose democratic values are frequently believed to be at odds with the aristocratic and individualistic values of epinician. The second part of the chapter explores how tragedy makes use of epinician motifs, using two case‐studies: Euripides' Heracles, and Electra. It is argued that in both these plays the clustering of epinician language is used to explore problematic values associated with epinician poetry: in particular, questions about what constitutes aretē (excellence), and the relationship between individual and community.
