Solon 638-539 B.C
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Who Freed Athens? J
Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources Edited by Eric W. Robinson Copyright © 2004 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd The Beginnings of the Athenian Democracv: Who Freed Athens? J Introduction Though the very earliest democracies lildy took shape elsewhere in Greece, Athens embraced it relatively early and would ultimately become the most famous and powerful democracy the ancient world ever hew. Democracy is usually thought to have taken hold among the Athenians with the constitutional reforms of Cleisthenes, ca. 508/7 BC. The tyrant Peisistratus and later his sons had ruled Athens for decades before they were overthrown; Cleisthenes, rallying the people to his cause, made sweeping changes. These included the creation of a representative council (bode)chosen from among the citizens, new public organizations that more closely tied citizens throughout Attica to the Athenian state, and the populist ostracism law that enabled citizens to exile danger- ous or undesirable politicians by vote. Beginning with these measures, and for the next two centuries or so with only the briefest of interruptions, democracy held sway at Athens. Such is the most common interpretation. But there is, in fact, much room for disagree- ment about when and how democracy came to Athens. Ancient authors sometimes refer to Solon, a lawgiver and mediator of the early sixth century, as the founder of the Athenian constitution. It was also a popular belief among the Athenians that two famous “tyrant-slayers,” Harmodius and Aristogeiton, inaugurated Athenian freedom by assas- sinating one of the sons of Peisistratus a few years before Cleisthenes’ reforms - though ancient writers take pains to point out that only the military intervention of Sparta truly ended the tyranny. -
The Roles of Solon in Plato's Dialogues
The Roles of Solon in Plato’s Dialogues Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Samuel Ortencio Flores, M.A. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Bruce Heiden, Advisor Anthony Kaldellis Richard Fletcher Greg Anderson Copyrighy by Samuel Ortencio Flores 2013 Abstract This dissertation is a study of Plato’s use and adaptation of an earlier model and tradition of wisdom based on the thought and legacy of the sixth-century archon, legislator, and poet Solon. Solon is cited and/or quoted thirty-four times in Plato’s dialogues, and alluded to many more times. My study shows that these references and allusions have deeper meaning when contextualized within the reception of Solon in the classical period. For Plato, Solon is a rhetorically powerful figure in advancing the relatively new practice of philosophy in Athens. While Solon himself did not adequately establish justice in the city, his legacy provided a model upon which Platonic philosophy could improve. Chapter One surveys the passing references to Solon in the dialogues as an introduction to my chapters on the dialogues in which Solon is a very prominent figure, Timaeus- Critias, Republic, and Laws. Chapter Two examines Critias’ use of his ancestor Solon to establish his own philosophic credentials. Chapter Three suggests that Socrates re- appropriates the aims and themes of Solon’s political poetry for Socratic philosophy. Chapter Four suggests that Solon provides a legislative model which Plato reconstructs in the Laws for the philosopher to supplant the role of legislator in Greek thought. -
Marathon 2,500 Years Edited by Christopher Carey & Michael Edwards
MARATHON 2,500 YEARS EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SUPPLEMENT 124 DIRECTOR & GENERAL EDITOR: JOHN NORTH DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS: RICHARD SIMPSON MARATHON – 2,500 YEARS PROCEEDINGS OF THE MARATHON CONFERENCE 2010 EDITED BY CHRISTOPHER CAREY & MICHAEL EDWARDS INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL STUDIES SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2013 The cover image shows Persian warriors at Ishtar Gate, from before the fourth century BC. Pergamon Museum/Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin. Photo Mohammed Shamma (2003). Used under CC‐BY terms. All rights reserved. This PDF edition published in 2019 First published in print in 2013 This book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. More information regarding CC licenses is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Available to download free at http://www.humanities-digital-library.org ISBN: 978-1-905670-81-9 (2019 PDF edition) DOI: 10.14296/1019.9781905670819 ISBN: 978-1-905670-52-9 (2013 paperback edition) ©2013 Institute of Classical Studies, University of London The right of contributors to be identified as the authors of the work published here has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Designed and typeset at the Institute of Classical Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory note 1 P. J. Rhodes The battle of Marathon and modern scholarship 3 Christopher Pelling Herodotus’ Marathon 23 Peter Krentz Marathon and the development of the exclusive hoplite phalanx 35 Andrej Petrovic The battle of Marathon in pre-Herodotean sources: on Marathon verse-inscriptions (IG I3 503/504; Seg Lvi 430) 45 V. -
Taking Sides: the Political Economy of Solon's Law for Civil Wars*
Taking sides: The Political Economy of Solon’s Law for Civil Wars* Soeren C. Schwuchow**, Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany George Tridimas***, Ulster University, Northern Ireland This version: 18 June 2019 Abstract In 594 BCE the Athenian statesman Solon defused a grave social crisis by introducing wide- ranging constitutional, political and economic reforms which granted various rights to a nas- cent ‘middle class’ and reduced the power of the wealthy birth aristocracy. Solon’s reforms included a law which perhaps counter-intuitively banned citizens from staying neutral in cas- es of civil conflict. After reviewing aspects of the law against neutrality debated by historians, the present paper employs the methodology of the economics of conflict to investigate the implications of the law for the stability of the constitutional order initiated by Solon. We ex- amine a stylised model of three social classes, Rich, Middle and Poor, where the former two compete for control of the government, and the Poor may decide to stay neutral or side with either the Middle or the Rich. By solving the model we identify conditions for the Rich to ac- cept the Solonian order or reject it and mount a coup. Key words: Ancient Athens; Solon; social conflict; neutrality; social stability; constitution- al choice. JEL Classification: D7: Analysis of Collective Decision making; D72: Political Processes D74: Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; N4: Economic History– Government; N93 - Europe: Pre-1913 Regional and Urban History * Paper in early stage of progress, preliminary and incomplete. Please do not circulate. ** Soeren C. Schwuchow (corresponding author), Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus-Senftenberg, Chair of Microeconomics, P.O. -
Plato Apology of Socrates and Crito
COLLEGE SERIES OF GREEK AUTHORS EDITED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE, LEWIS R. PACKARD, a n d THOMAS D. SEYMOUR. PLATO A p o l o g y o f S o c r a t e s AND C r i t o EDITED ON THE BASIS OF CRON’S EDITION BY LOUIS DYER A s s i s t a n t ·Ρι;Οχ'ε&^ο^ ι ν ^University. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 1902. I P ■ C o p · 3 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by J o h n W il l ia m s W h i t e a n d T h o m a s D. S e y m o u r , In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. J . S. C u s h in g & Co., P r i n t e r s , B o s t o n . PREFACE. T his edition of the Apology of Socrates and the Crito is based upon Dr. Christian Cron’s eighth edition, Leipzig, 1882. The Notes and Introduction here given have in the main been con fined within the limits intelligently drawn by Dr. Cron, whose commentaries upon various dialogues of Plato have done and still do so much in Germany to make the study of our author more profitable as well as pleasanter. No scruple has been felt, how ever, in making changes. I trust there are few if any of these which Dr. Cron might not himself make if he were preparing his work for an English-thinking and English-speaking public. -
Download PDF Datastream
City of Praise: The Politics of Encomium in Classical Athens By Mitchell H. Parks B.A., Grinnell College, 2008 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics at Brown University PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2014 © Copyright 2014 by Mitchell H. Parks This dissertation by Mitchell H. Parks is accepted in its present form by the Department of Classics as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date Adele Scafuro, Adviser Recommended to the Graduate Council Date Johanna Hanink, Reader Date Joseph D. Reed, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date Peter M. Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii Curriculum Vitae Mitchell H. Parks was born on February 16, 1987, in Kearney, NE, and spent his childhood and adolescence in Selma, CA, Glenside, PA, and Kearney, MO (sic). In 2004 he began studying at Grinnell College in Grinnell, IA, and in 2007 he spent a semester in Greece through the College Year in Athens program. He received his B.A. in Classics with honors in 2008, at which time he was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded the Grinnell Classics Department’s Seneca Prize. During his graduate work at Brown University in Providence, RI, he delivered papers at the annual meetings of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (2012) and the American Philological Association (2014), and in the summer of 2011 he taught ancient Greek for the Hellenic Education & Research Center program in Thouria, Greece, in addition to attending the British School at Athens epigraphy course. -
Two Notes on Cercidas of Megalopolis
TWO NOTES ON CERCIDAS OF MEGALOPOLIS Few figures in the Hellenistic world were more impressively versatile than Cercidas of Megalopolis, who combined the roles of statesman, military commander, legislator, poet, and Cynic philosopher. It is a pleasure and a privilege to offer some observations on Cercidas to Manuel Fernández-Galiano, whose own energy and versatility have done so much for the study of Greek both in Spain and abroad, and who may fittingly be described in the words Cercidas used of himself: ziv Sdcpsvye xahh oi>SÉv zoxa. závza zsoZoi S' Uzo onháyxvoi< Eox' &Ppa Mouofiv xvóSahae KiispíSov 8' &hisuza< Exhso ... xai ixvsuzaq ¿ipiozoq. (fr. 7.6-10 Powell) Severa1 sources refer to the legislative activities of a Cercidas of Megalopolis l: only one offers any evidence for the content of that legisla- tion. It is a fragment of Porphyry preserved in Eustathius' commentary on Homer (B 494): zapaoqpsiofi~atSE xai ó iiopcpúpio< ~ovópqpixov xazáhoyov zfioav nspiÉxeiv &hflesiav Ev TE ~opoypacpíaxai zóhsov iOiópaoiv, IozopOv xai ozi vópovq nvE< E&~EVTO &noozopazi<eivrob< naiSevopÉvo~zov 'Opfipov xazáhoyov, O< xai 6 KspSia~vopo9szbv zij zazpiSi. (p. 212.33 Stallbaum; p. 401 Van der Valk) 1 Stephanus Byzantius S.V.hl~yáhq nohiq speaks of K~pxí6aqapw~oq v01100Érqq xai ~~hiáp(J~vnoiq~jlq: Ptolemy Chennos, in Photius, Bibl. 151a Bekker (vol. 3, p. 65 of the edi- tion by R. Henry, Paris, 1962) relates that 6 ... vouoOÉ~qq'ApxáGov KEpxiGaq ordered that the first two books of the Zliad should be buried with him. 1 suspect that the death-bed anec- dote preserved by Aelian, V.H. -
Solon and His Πόλις: the Afterlife of an Archaic Personage in Late Democratic Athens This Paper Investigates the Afterlif
Solon and his πόλις: The Afterlife of an Archaic Personage in Late Democratic Athens This paper investigates the afterlife of archaic literary legacy in political discourses of fourth-century Athens. It does so through juxtaposition of two literary tradition concerning Solon: Solonian fragments, and the courtroom speeches of Demosthenes and Aeschines. This paper argues that in Sol. 4, Solon perceives the populace as threat to the πόλις and its constitution: both the elites and the general public are source of moral corruption that puts the polis in danger, and both suffer the consequences of civil strife when Dike enacts the divine revenge. The word choices of Sol. 4 form parallels between the fate of the commoners and that of the elites, while the dichotomy between the πόλις and its populace is established through the scenes such as the private citizens plundering public property and the divine revenge entering the private household (Irwin, 2006; Noussia-Fantuzzi, 2010). Next, this paper discusses the implications of this reading of Sol. 4. First, I point out that the overlap of the divine and the mortal forms the political hub of the Solonian Weltanschauung: the people live in the physical space of πόλις; the gods maintain their presence with their sanctuary and ensure the survival of the πόλις with Dike’s revenge as a deterrent. This answers the long-debated question of whether the political realm in Sol. 4 is secular or supernatural (Anhalt, 1993; Blaise, 2006). I also argue that the dichotomy between the πόλις and its populace undermines the legitimacy of “the people” (Ober, 2018). -
Public Finance and Democratic Ideology in Fourth-Century BC Athens by Christopher Scott Welser BA, Sw
Dēmos and Dioikēsis: Public Finance and Democratic Ideology in Fourth-Century B.C. Athens By Christopher Scott Welser B.A., Swarthmore College, 1994 M.A., University of Maryland, 1999 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. May, 2011 © Copyright 2011 by Christopher Scott Welser This dissertation by Christopher Scott Welser is accepted in its present form by the Department of Classics as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date________________ _______________________________________ Adele C. Scafuro, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date________________ _______________________________________ Alan L. Boegehold, Reader Date________________ _______________________________________ David Konstan, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date________________ _______________________________________ Peter M. Weber, Dean of the Graduate School iii CURRICULUM VITAE Christopher Scott Welser was born in Romeo, Michigan in 1971. He attended Roeper City and Country School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and in 1994 he graduated from Swarthmore College, earning an Honors B.A. in Economics (his major) and Biology (his minor). After working for several years at public policy research firms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he decided to pursue the study of Classics, an interest of his since childhood. Upon earning an M.A. with Distinction in Latin and Greek from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1999, he enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Classics at Brown University. While working on his Ph.D., he spent two years as Seymour Fellow (2002-2003) and Capps Fellow (2004-2005) at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and participated in the summer program of the American Academy in Rome (2000). -
Slavery, Freedom and Citizenship in Classical Athens: Beyond a Legalistic Approach
Slavery, Freedom and Citizenship in Classical Athens: Beyond a Legalistic Approach Kostas Vlassopoulos* In a seminal article written over four decades ago M. I. Finley made the memo- rable statement that ‘one aspect of Greek history is the advance, hand in hand, of freedom and slavery’.1 Finley explained that Greek communities, and in par- ticular places like Athens, passed during the archaic period through a process whose endpoint was a social division into two exclusive categories, the slave and the free. It was not that the distinction between slave and free did not exist in earlier periods or in other, earlier or contemporary, societies. But ear- lier Greek communities, and the older civilisations of the Near East, usually incorporated this distinction within a wider spectrum of statuses, with varying degrees of freedom and dependence from the monarch at the top to the lowest slave at the bottom. It was only in certain Greek communities that the interme- diate statuses were abolished and the social body divided into two polar oppo- sites. Finley offered his own interpretation for this unique development. It was the result of a struggle between the aristocracy and the peasantry during the archaic period, in which the lower classes were victorious and destroyed the bonds of dependency on the aristocracy by political means: the lower classes were incorporated into the body politic as citizens with equal rights. Athens was, for Finley, the case par excellence in this development. The leg- islation of Solon in the early sixth century bc cancelled previous debts and prohibited the enslavement of Athenian citizens for debts incurred.2 This cre- ated a significant manpower problem for the elite, which could no longer count on exploiting the peasants to produce the necessary surplus. -
Athenaeus' Reading of the Aulos Revolution ( Deipnosophistae 14.616E–617F)
The Journal of Hellenic Studies http://journals.cambridge.org/JHS Additional services for The Journal of Hellenic Studies: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here New music and its myths: Athenaeus' reading of the Aulos revolution ( Deipnosophistae 14.616e–617f) Pauline A. Leven The Journal of Hellenic Studies / Volume 130 / November 2010, pp 35 - 48 DOI: 10.1017/S0075426910000030, Published online: 19 November 2010 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0075426910000030 How to cite this article: Pauline A. Leven (2010). New music and its myths: Athenaeus' reading of the Aulos revolution ( Deipnosophistae 14.616e– 617f). The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 130, pp 35-48 doi:10.1017/S0075426910000030 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/JHS, IP address: 147.91.1.45 on 23 Sep 2013 Journal of Hellenic Studies 130 (2010) 35−47 DOI: 10.1017/S0075426910000030 NEW MUSIC AND ITS MYTHS: ATHENAEUS’ READING OF THE AULOS REVOLUTION (DEIPNOSOPHISTAE 14.616E−617F) PAULINE A. LEVEN Yale University* Abstract: Scholarship on the late fifth-century BC New Music Revolution has mostly relied on the evidence provided by Athenaeus, the pseudo-Plutarch De musica and a few other late sources. To this date, however, very little has been done to understand Athenaeus’ own role in shaping our understanding of the musical culture of that period. This article argues that the historical context provided by Athenaeus in the section of the Deipnosophistae that cites passages of Melanippides, Telestes and Pratinas on the mythology of the aulos (14.616e−617f) is not a credible reflection of the contemporary aesthetics and strategies of the authors and their works. -
Durham Research Online
Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 11 April 2016 Version of attached le: Published Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Miles, Sarah (2011) 'Gods and heroes in comic space : a stretch of the imagination?', Dionysus ex machina., 2 . pp. 109-133. Further information on publisher's website: http://www.dionysusexmachina.it/?cmd=articoloid=42 Publisher's copyright statement: Additional information: Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk Sarah Miles Gods and heroes in comic space. A stretch of the imagination? Abstract The article explores the stage movement of gods, heroes and mythical figures in Aristophanic stage space. All four of the Aristophanic comedies that contain these characters ( Peace , Birds , Frogs and Wealth ) are found to adhere to the same patterns of stage movement whereby the comic protagonist must be the first to initiate contact with a divine, heroic or mythical character and will do so by undertaking a journey away from the city to find that character.