David A. Teegarden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691156903
- eISBN:
- 9781400848539
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691156903.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This is the first comprehensive study of ancient Greek tyrant-killing legislation—laws that explicitly gave individuals incentives to “kill a tyrant.” The book demonstrates that the ancient Greeks ...
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This is the first comprehensive study of ancient Greek tyrant-killing legislation—laws that explicitly gave individuals incentives to “kill a tyrant.” The book demonstrates that the ancient Greeks promulgated these laws to harness the dynamics of mass uprisings and preserve popular democratic rule in the face of anti-democratic threats. It presents detailed historical and sociopolitical analyses of each law and considers a variety of issues: What is the nature of an anti-democratic threat? How would various provisions of the laws help pro-democrats counter those threats? And did the laws work? The book argues that tyrant-killing legislation facilitated pro-democracy mobilization both by encouraging brave individuals to strike the first blow against a nondemocratic regime and by convincing others that it was safe to follow the tyrant killer's lead. Such legislation thus deterred anti-democrats from staging a coup by ensuring that they would be overwhelmed by their numerically superior opponents. Drawing on modern social science models, the book looks at how the institution of public law affects the behavior of individuals and groups, thereby exploring the foundation of democracy's persistence in the ancient Greek world. It also provides the first English translation of the tyrant-killing laws from Eretria and Ilion. By analyzing crucial ancient Greek tyrant-killing legislation, the book explains how certain laws enabled citizens to draw on collective strength in order to defend and preserve their democracy in the face of motivated opposition.Less
This is the first comprehensive study of ancient Greek tyrant-killing legislation—laws that explicitly gave individuals incentives to “kill a tyrant.” The book demonstrates that the ancient Greeks promulgated these laws to harness the dynamics of mass uprisings and preserve popular democratic rule in the face of anti-democratic threats. It presents detailed historical and sociopolitical analyses of each law and considers a variety of issues: What is the nature of an anti-democratic threat? How would various provisions of the laws help pro-democrats counter those threats? And did the laws work? The book argues that tyrant-killing legislation facilitated pro-democracy mobilization both by encouraging brave individuals to strike the first blow against a nondemocratic regime and by convincing others that it was safe to follow the tyrant killer's lead. Such legislation thus deterred anti-democrats from staging a coup by ensuring that they would be overwhelmed by their numerically superior opponents. Drawing on modern social science models, the book looks at how the institution of public law affects the behavior of individuals and groups, thereby exploring the foundation of democracy's persistence in the ancient Greek world. It also provides the first English translation of the tyrant-killing laws from Eretria and Ilion. By analyzing crucial ancient Greek tyrant-killing legislation, the book explains how certain laws enabled citizens to draw on collective strength in order to defend and preserve their democracy in the face of motivated opposition.
Aneurin Ellis-Evans
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198831983
- eISBN:
- 9780191869808
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198831983.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter considers the human factors which promote regional integration by examining the regional identity of Hellenistic Ilion from three distinct perspectives. Firstly, I consider the narrative ...
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This chapter considers the human factors which promote regional integration by examining the regional identity of Hellenistic Ilion from three distinct perspectives. Firstly, I consider the narrative of the city’s history embedded in Strabo’s account of the Troad. This has been highly influential on modern scholarship, but needs to be treated with considerable scepticism given Strabo’s intellectual priorities in the Geography. Secondly, I look at the phenomenon of cities producing coinages with the posthumous types of Alexander and Lysimachos in the first half of the second century BC. This indicates that the Troad was not, as Strabo wanted to believe, a natural unity, but rather divided between a northern half orientated towards the Bosporos (to which Ilion belonged) and a southern half orientated towards the coast of western Asia Minor. Finally, I examine the koinon of Athena Ilias, a religious confederation which organized the annual Panathenaia festival for Athena Ilias at Ilion from the late fourth century BC down to the second century AD. The creation of this institution not only greatly benefited Ilion, but also served to stitch together the northern and southern halves of the Troad into a more coherent whole.Less
This chapter considers the human factors which promote regional integration by examining the regional identity of Hellenistic Ilion from three distinct perspectives. Firstly, I consider the narrative of the city’s history embedded in Strabo’s account of the Troad. This has been highly influential on modern scholarship, but needs to be treated with considerable scepticism given Strabo’s intellectual priorities in the Geography. Secondly, I look at the phenomenon of cities producing coinages with the posthumous types of Alexander and Lysimachos in the first half of the second century BC. This indicates that the Troad was not, as Strabo wanted to believe, a natural unity, but rather divided between a northern half orientated towards the Bosporos (to which Ilion belonged) and a southern half orientated towards the coast of western Asia Minor. Finally, I examine the koinon of Athena Ilias, a religious confederation which organized the annual Panathenaia festival for Athena Ilias at Ilion from the late fourth century BC down to the second century AD. The creation of this institution not only greatly benefited Ilion, but also served to stitch together the northern and southern halves of the Troad into a more coherent whole.
