Athens and Athenian Democracy

by Robin Osborne

• ISBN13: 9780521605700
• ISBN10: 0521605709
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-07
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

These collected papers construct a distinctive view of classical Athens and of Athenian democracy, a view which takes seriously the evidence of settlement archaeology and of art history. This evidence both casts new light on traditional questions and enables new questions to be asked, questions concerning the experience of being an Athenian citizen, how the institutions of democracy affected the Athenian economy, and how the rituals of religion related to the rituals of democratic politics. Unlike books on Athenian democracy which focus on the Assembly and Council, this book gives full weight to women as well as men, slave as well as free, and the rural worker as well as the leisured man about town. Robin Osborne's work has been in the forefront of the resurgence of interest in Athenian law and Athenian religion; these essays are each placed in their scholarly context, and point the direction for future research.

Author Biography

Robin Osborne is Professor of Ancient History in the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He has written and edited numerous works on ancient history, including Greek history (2004); Rethinking revolutions through Classical Greece (co-edited with Simon Goldhill, Cambridge, 2006); and Debating the Athenian cultural revolution: art, literature, philosophy and politics 430-380 BC (edited, Cambridge, 2007).

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. vii
List of tables and appendices	p. xi
Preface	p. xii
List of abbreviations	p. xv
List of places of original publication	p. xviii
Changing visions of democracy	p. 1
Making Athenian Democracy Work	p. 25
Athenian democracy: something to celebrate?	p. 27
The demos and its divisions in classical Athens	p. 39
Inscribing performance	p. 64
Athenian Democracy and the Athenian Economy	p. 83
The economics and politics of slavery at Athens	p. 85
Pride and prejudice, sense and subsistence: exchange and society in the Greek city	p. 104
'Is it a farm?' The definition of agricultural sites and settlements in ancient Greece	p. 127
The potential mobility of human populations	p. 139
Athenian Democracy and the Athenian Legal System	p. 169
Law in action in classical Athens	p. 171
Vexatious litigation in classical Athens: sykophancy and the sykophant	p. 205
Religion, imperial politics and the offering of freedom to slaves	p. 229
Law, the democratic citizen and the representation of women in classical Athens	p. 244
Changing the discourse	p. 267
Athenian Democracy on Display	p. 289
The viewing and obscuring of the Parthenon frieze	p. 291
Democracy and imperialism in the Panathenaic procession: the Parthenon frieze in its context	p. 306
Athenian Democracy and The Gods	p. 323
Competitive festivals and the polis: a context for dramatic festivals at Athens	p. 325
The erection and mutilation of the hermai	p. 341
The ecstasy and the tragedy: varieties of religious experience in art, drama and society	p. 368
Coda: From ritual to politics, and back again	p. 405
References	p. 419
Index	p. 449
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