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.
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.
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.
Paul Cartledge
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263235
- eISBN:
- 9780191734328
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263235.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines whether Greek civilization was based on slavery. The silence of classicists on the subject is not surprising. The discussion here is limited to Anglo-American scholarship, in an ...
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This chapter examines whether Greek civilization was based on slavery. The silence of classicists on the subject is not surprising. The discussion here is limited to Anglo-American scholarship, in an attempt to achieve a manageable focus, though a great deal of the last half-century's work on ancient Greek slavery has been written in French and German. Slavery may cover very different types of unfreedom, such as the chattel slave system of Athens and the helotage that was the predominant form of servitude practised by Sparta. Whether slaves, especially chattel slaves, are to be seen principally as living property or as socially dead outsiders evokes further levels of definition, which are also contested.Less
This chapter examines whether Greek civilization was based on slavery. The silence of classicists on the subject is not surprising. The discussion here is limited to Anglo-American scholarship, in an attempt to achieve a manageable focus, though a great deal of the last half-century's work on ancient Greek slavery has been written in French and German. Slavery may cover very different types of unfreedom, such as the chattel slave system of Athens and the helotage that was the predominant form of servitude practised by Sparta. Whether slaves, especially chattel slaves, are to be seen principally as living property or as socially dead outsiders evokes further levels of definition, which are also contested.
T. P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263235
- eISBN:
- 9780191734328
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263235.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
For the twentieth century, the political history of Athens was essentially ideological, involving great issues of freedom and tyranny, while that of the Roman Republic was merely a struggle for ...
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For the twentieth century, the political history of Athens was essentially ideological, involving great issues of freedom and tyranny, while that of the Roman Republic was merely a struggle for power, with no significant ideological content. But why should that be? The Romans were perfectly familiar with the concepts and terminology of Greek political philosophy and used them to describe their own politics, as Cicero explains in writing in 56 bc. Not surprisingly. Greek authors who dealt with Roman politics used the concepts of democracy and oligarchy, the rule of the many or the rule of the best, without any sense that it was an inappropriate idiom.Less
For the twentieth century, the political history of Athens was essentially ideological, involving great issues of freedom and tyranny, while that of the Roman Republic was merely a struggle for power, with no significant ideological content. But why should that be? The Romans were perfectly familiar with the concepts and terminology of Greek political philosophy and used them to describe their own politics, as Cicero explains in writing in 56 bc. Not surprisingly. Greek authors who dealt with Roman politics used the concepts of democracy and oligarchy, the rule of the many or the rule of the best, without any sense that it was an inappropriate idiom.
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.
Jonathan Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199542833
- eISBN:
- 9780191594359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199542833.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter explains some key features of how the thinkers in question viewed the relation between reason and revelation, and between God and human beings. The respect in which Saadia, Bahya, and ...
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This chapter explains some key features of how the thinkers in question viewed the relation between reason and revelation, and between God and human beings. The respect in which Saadia, Bahya, and Maimonides understood reason and religion to have a common object is centrally important. They understood Judaism to involve commands to cultivate the intellect and to strive for perfection through a mutually reinforcing spiral of intellectual and ethical activity. The main outline of the relation between understanding and ethical activity is described. That issue is placed in the overall context of the relation between ‘Athens’ (rational philosophy) and ‘Jerusalem’ (revelation and faith).Less
This chapter explains some key features of how the thinkers in question viewed the relation between reason and revelation, and between God and human beings. The respect in which Saadia, Bahya, and Maimonides understood reason and religion to have a common object is centrally important. They understood Judaism to involve commands to cultivate the intellect and to strive for perfection through a mutually reinforcing spiral of intellectual and ethical activity. The main outline of the relation between understanding and ethical activity is described. That issue is placed in the overall context of the relation between ‘Athens’ (rational philosophy) and ‘Jerusalem’ (revelation and faith).
