DOCSLIB.ORG

When Was Themistocles Last in Athens? Author(S): P

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
When Was Themistocles Last in Athens? Author(S): P When Was Themistocles Last in Athens? Author(s): P. N. Ure Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 41, Part 2 (1921), pp. 165-178 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/625492 . Accessed: 04/01/2015 18:51 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 4 Jan 2015 18:51:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WHEN WAS THEMISTOCLES LAST IN ATHENS ? THEtwenty-fifth chapter of the Aristotelian Constitutionof Athens contains a circumstantial account of the overthrow of the Areopagus, which differs from the accepted version of the same affair in ascribing an important, though not the foremost, part in the attack to Themistocles. The newly discovered version does not, it is true, stand entirely by itself. But it is found elsewhere only in an argument to the Areopagiticus of Isocrates,' written probably by a sixth-century Christian.2 As between the argument and the papyrus, it is the latter that alone can give any serious historical value to the former. But what is the historical value of the account in the Constitution? If it is true, then, as was recognised at once by Kenyon in his editio princeps, it revolutionises the history of the later part of Themistocles' career.3 But it was at once recognised also that the version of the Constitution was difficult to reconcile with the accounts of Themistocles to be found in Thucydides, Plutarch, and other writers.4 These all say that the trial that drove Themis- tocles to Persia took place while he was living ostracised from Athens at Argos. The ostracism of Themistocles took place before the condemnation and death of Pausanias, with whom the Athenian statesman was accused of having intrigued during his period of ostracism. As the downfall and death of Pausanias have generally and with good reason been dated about 468 B.c., it has been inferred that Themistocles cannot have been in Athens after about 469 B.c.5 This reckoning, again, has been thought to be confirmed by the accounts. of the flight to Persia. Themistocles is said by Thucydides to have reached Persia when Artaxerxes was 'newly' on the throne: Artaxerxes succeeded his father Xerxes in the year 465 B.c. Even on the loosest interpretation of 'newly,' 6 it is hard to see how even a Themistocles can have got through all the adventures that befell him between his ostracism and his arrival at the Persian court if the former event took place during or after the attack of Ephialtes on the Areopagus and the latter shortly after the accession of Artaxerxes. Furthermore, Themistocles is said by Thucydides to have fallen 'Epldzr-'s TlS KialeaEL-7roKICXfs XPEro-0T'VTS 3 Kenyon, ad loc. " r n7rO'- XIp" ara Kai EiSdr Oi" Ia'O-WO-V Thuc. i. 135-8; Plut. Them. 22 f.; ot 'ApoowayyTrat,rvrws a7ro5cO-OOv, KaraAoi'ai Diod. xi. 54-59 (Ephorus); Corn. Nep. aurous E7rtorav 7vy dAty ... 6 y'p 'ApworoT'rN7's Them. 8-10 (mainly Thucydides). 5 ALyL EEv 7r 7oALrELN TnV 'AJvalwYv b'rI Ki 6 E.g. Holm Hist. Gr. ii. p. 94; E. Meyer, OeqToroKXis a ,7LAos 7v 11 Vrad Ka KcEL- rov s Ges. d. Alt. III. i. p. 519. 'ApeowayiLas. 6 See Lelow, p. 171, n. 27. 2 Rose, Ath. Pol. p. 423, accepted by Sandys, Ath. Po12. p. 107. J.H.S.-VOL. XLI. 165 N This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 4 Jan 2015 18:51:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 166 P. N. URE in on the way to Persia with the Athenian fleet blockading Naxos. The date of this blockade is not quite certain; but it preceded the battle of Eurymedon, which in turn preceded the siege of Thasos, which last event can be dated with some certainty as having begun in 465 B.c., or, at the latest, early in 464. If Themistocles was on the way to Persia at the time of the siege of Naxos, he cannot have been in Athens in 462 B.c. The effect of all these considerations has been to discredit very seriously the narrative which states that he was in Athens at the later date. It has been commonly assumed that there is a flat contradiction between the writer of the Constitutionand Thucydides, and that the earlier authority must be accepted. The narrative of Chapter XXV. of the Constitution is stated by two English scholars to reach the acme of absurdity. To take it seriously, so we are told by a leading German scholar, is a 'Zeichen philologischer Unmiindigkeit.' 7 Of those who hold such views as have just been quoted, it is not surprising that some have proceeded to excise the offending passage, partly as being inherently improbable, partly because it is not reproduced in Plutarch's life of Themistocles.8 Most scholars do not go so far as this. They regard the narrative as genuine but unauthentic, and quote other cases where our author makes mistakes in his history.9 But if these other mistakes are compared with those that are alleged to occur in Chapter XXV., we shall find that they are of a quite different order; either slips in points of fact or chronology that have no important bearing on the narrative, or mistakes on difficult questions of ancient con- stitutional history (of which the most noticeable is the much disputed fourth chapter on the Draconian constitution), or lapses into partisanship, as when 7 Mitchell and Caspari in their edition of stance of this paper will make it unnecessary Grote, p. 283, n. 1; F. Cauer, Deutsch. to revert to them in detail. Literaturzeit. 1894, p. 942. Cp. also (inter 9 See the list given by Th. Reinach, Rep. alios) Berard, Rev. Hist. xlix. (1892) p. 296; Ath. pp. xxvi-xxvii (Cimon 'youngish' in Botsford, Cornell Stud. Class. Phil. 1893, 462 B.c., c. 26; Spartan peace proposals p. 220, n. 2; Busolt, Gr. 02. III. i. p. 29; put after Arginusae instead of Cyzicus, c. Costanzi, Rivista di Fil. 1892, pp. 353-5; 34, cp. Philoc. F.H.G. i. fr. U17-8; all the Dufour, Const. d'Ath. p. 113; Giles, Eng. generals put to death after Arginusae Hist. Rev. 1892, pp. 332-3; E. Meyer, Ges. instead of all who were put on trial and d. Alt. III. i. p. 519; Niese in Sybels Hist. appeared before the court, c. 34; confu- Zeits. xxxiii. (1892), p. 43; Th. Reinach, sions or contradictions in the accounts of Rev. Et. Gr. 1891, pp. 149-151; Ruehl the -E~ol-c0XEa, c. 6, and Aoyp-TraL, c. 54, Rhein. Mus. 1891, p. 431; De Sanctis, cp. c. 48). For the Ath. Pol. drawing Stud. Costituz. d'Atene, pp. 4-6, and Rivista inferences, sometimes wrong, as to early di Fil. 1892, pp. 108 f.; Sandys, Const. of constitution-usages, see Swoboda, Arch. Ath2. p. lxix.; Walker, C.R. vi. pp. 95-99; Epig. Mitt. xvi. pp. 57 f. on Ath Pol. 16. 10. Wilamowitz, Aristot. u. Athen. i. pp. It is, of course, easy to find in the Con- 140 f. stitution's account of the fifth century 8 Th. Reinach, C.R. Acad. Inscr. June much that is 'palpably legendary,' De 1891, and Rev. Et. Gr. 1891, pp. 149-151, Sanctis, Studi Cost. Aten. p. 11, if we regard ep. Repub. Athe'nienne, p. 46; Buseskul, as such any new information that disagrees Aristot. Ath. Pol. Their arguments are with our preconceived conceptions of the answered by Politis, Parnassos, 1893, pp. period. For a good protest against this 95-6, and Schoeffer, Jahresber. Fortschr. cl. attitude, see Politis, Aristot. Ath. Pol. in Alt. lxxxiii. (1895), pp. 220-1. The sub- Parnassos, 1893, p. 13. This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Sun, 4 Jan 2015 18:51:24 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WHEN WAS THEMISTOCLES LAST IN ATHENS ? 167 Themistocles is described as merely a soldier 10as contrasted with the statesman Aristides. Mistakes and slips of these kinds are inevitable in any historical writing, ancient or modern. The mistakes laid to the charge of the writer of Chapter XXV. of the Constitution are of a different and much more damning order. It is one thing to sum up the Duke of Wellington as a distinguished statesman, or George Washington as an eminent soldier. It would be an entirely different thing if a modern historian should be found assigning, let us say, a prominent and circumstantial part to John Hampden in the trial of Charles I.- This latter is the sort of mistake that is alleged to occur in Chapter XXV. of the Constitution, but nowhere else in the whole work. The prevalent attitude that has just been described seems, therefore, on the whole, less tenable than that of the extremists who resort to excision or abuse.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Prosecutors of Socrates and the Political Motive Theory
    Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 2-1981 The prosecutors of Socrates and the political motive theory Thomas Patrick Kelly Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Intellectual History Commons, and the Political History Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Kelly, Thomas Patrick, "The prosecutors of Socrates and the political motive theory" (1981). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 2692. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.2689 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Thomas Patrick Kelly for the Master of Arts in History presented February 26, 1981. Title: The Prosecutors of Socrates and The Political Motive Theory. APPROVED BY MEMBERS OF THE THESIS CO~rnITTEE: ~~varnos, Cha1rman Charles A. Le Guin Roderlc D1man This thesis presents a critical analysis of the histor- ical roles assigned to the prosecutors of Socrates by modern historians. Ancient sources relating to the trial and the principles involved, and modern renditions, especially those of John Burnet and A. E. Taylor, originators of the theory that the trial of Socrates was politically motivated, are critically 2 analyzed and examined. The thesis concludes that the political motive theory is not supported by the evidence on which it relies. THE PROSECUTORS OF SOCRATES AND THE POLITICAL MOTIVE THEORY by THOMAS PATRICK KELLY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in HISTORY Portland State University 1981 TO THE OFFICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH: The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Thomas Patrick Kelly presented February 26, 1981.
    [Show full text]
  • The Structural Integrity of Thucydides' History
    Digital Commons @ Assumption University Political Science Department Faculty Works Political Science Department 2013 The Incomplete Whole: The Structural Integrity of Thucydides' History Bernard J. Dobski Assumption College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/political-science-faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons, and the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Dobski, Bernard J. "The Incomplete Whole: The Structural Integrity of Thucydides' History." Socrates and Dionysus: Philosophy and Art in Dialogue. Edited by Ann Ward. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. Pages 14-32. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science Department at Digital Commons @ Assumption University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Department Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Assumption University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CHAPTER TWO THE INCOMPLETE WHOLE: THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THUCYDIDES’HISTORY BERNARD J. DOBSKI The History of Thucydides concludes in the middle of a sentence about the 21st year of a war that spanned 27 years. We can resist the temptation to conclude that Thucydides’ work is unfinished not only because our author informs us that he lived several years after the war ended (V.26, II.65.12, I.1)*, but because the structural outline of his work shows why its abrupt and apparently incomplete conclusion is necessary. Careful attention to the broader architecture of Thucydides’ work reveals a dialectical movement from the tensions within political justice as the Greeks understood it to a presentation of nature as a standard for morality and politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of the Plague in Ancient Greece M.A
    Infect Dis Clin N Am 18 (2004) 45–51 Impact of the plague in Ancient Greece M.A. Soupios, EdD, PhD Department of Political Science, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, 720 North Boulevard, Brookville, NY 11548, USA The Peloponnesian War is not an isolated incident in the social and military history of ancient Greece. It is better understood as the most spectacular example of a bloody internecine instinct that plagued Hellas throughout most of its history. In the absence of the generalized threat posed by the Great King’s army, the grand alliance that successfully had repulsed the Persian juggernaut in 480 to 479 BC soon began to unravel. Spurred by Athenian adventurism, the Greeks quickly reverted to their traditional jealousies and hatreds. The expansive lusts of Athens convinced Sparta and her allies that the Athenians were a menace to Hellas’ strategic balance of power and that conflict was necessary and inevitable. Formal hostilities commenced in 431 BC and continued intermittently for the next 27 years, during which time much of the luster of the Golden Age of Greece was tarnished irreversibly. War and disease In the 5th century BC, an infantry unit known as the phalanx dominated Greek warfare. This formation was comprised of hoplites, citizen–soldiers who took their name from a large wooden shield (hoplon) that they carried into battle [1]. The killing efficiency of the phalanx had been field-tested thoroughly in the struggles against Persia. In 431 BC, the Greeks redirected their war machine toward fratricidal ends. The Spartans, with their iron discipline and ready willingness to sacrifice all, were the acknowledged masters of this infantry combat.
    [Show full text]
  • Theopompus' Homer
    Haverford College Haverford Scholarship Faculty Publications Classics 2020 Theopompus’ Homer: Paraepic in Old and Middle Comedy Matthew C. Farmer Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.haverford.edu/classics_facpubs THEOPOMPUS’ HOMER: PARAEPIC IN OLD AND MIDDLE COMEDY MATTHEW C. FARMER T IS A STRIKING FACT that, out of the twenty titles preserved for the late fifth- and early fourth-century comic poet Theopompus, three directly reference I Homer’s Odyssey: Odysseus, Penelope, and Sirens. In one fragment (F 34) preserved without title but probably belonging to one of these plays, Odysseus himself is the speaking character; he quotes the text of the Odyssey, approv- ingly.1 Another fragment (F 31), evidently drawn from a comedy with a more contemporary focus, mocks a politician in a run of Homeric hexameters. Theo- pompus was, it seems, a comic poet with a strong interest in paraepic comedy, that is, in comedy that generates its humor by parodying, quoting, or referring to Homeric epic poetry. In composing paraepic comedy, Theopompus was operating within a long tra- dition. Among the earliest known Homeric parodies, Hipponax provides our first certain example, a fragment in which the poet invokes the muse and deploys Homeric language to mock a glutton (F 128). The Margites, a poem composed in a mixture of hexameters and trimeters recounting the story of a certain fool in marked Homeric language, may have been composed as early as the seventh cen- tury BCE, but was certainly known in Athens by the fifth or fourth.2 In the late
    [Show full text]
  • Rhetoric and the Architecture of Empire in the Athenian Agora
    Rhetoric and the Architecture of Empire inthe Athenian Agora Submitted by John Vandenbergh Lewis B.Arch., University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona May, 1992 Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Architecture Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June, 1995 John Vandenbergh Lewis, 1995. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. I A A Signature of the Author Jo Vandenbergh Lewis Depa* ent of Architecture, May 12, 1995 Certified by IrP u Julian Beinarl Professor of Architecture I Accepted by I I Roy Strickland Chairman, Department of Architecture Committee on Graduate Students MASSACHUSETTS INSTJTUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUL 251995 4ROtd Rhetoric and the Architecture of Empire inthe Athenian Agora by John Vandenbergh Lewis Submitted to the Department of Architecture May 12, 1995 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science inArchitecture Studies Abstract The various political regimes of ancient Athens established and legitimated their power through civic architecture and public rhetoric in the agora. A study of the parallel developments of architectural and rhetorical form, supported by previously published archaeological evidence and the well documented history of classical rhetoric, demonstrates that both served to propel democracy and, later, to euphemize the asymmetrical power structures of the Hellenistic and Roman empires. In addition, civic architecture and rhetoric worked in unison following analogous patterns of presentation in civic space. Civic imperial architecture in the agora may be thus understood to function as the stageset and legitimator of imperial political rhetoric in the agora.
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Attitudes to Judicial Activity in the Age of Aristophanes
    Popular Attitudes to Judicial Activity in the Age of Aristophanes Angus Julian Dewar Crichton PhD Thesis University College London ProQuest Number: 10017252 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10017252 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract The aim of the thesis is to understand popular attitudes in Athens to judicial activity in the late fifth and early fourth centuries, the period in which Aristophanes wrote and performed his plays. Within the Aristophanic world, characters are frequently portrayed as engaging in litigation and jury service. Moreover, this portrayal of judicial activity is decidedly ambivalent, with the comic hero often fleeing from judicial activity into a fantastical paradise within which judicial activity is consciously banished. And yet as the play continues, judicial activity often resurfaces within the fantastical paradise. These on-stage images of judicial activity are compared with portraits which litigants paint of themselves and their opponents in the Attic Orators. Litigants characteristically present themselves as inexperienced and reluctant to engage in judicial activity, while portraying their opponents as experienced to the point of sycophancy.
    [Show full text]
  • Graphe Paranomon" in Fourth-Century Athens , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 29:4 (1988:Winter) P.361
    YUNIS, HARVEY, Law, Politics, and the "Graphe Paranomon" in Fourth-Century Athens , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 29:4 (1988:Winter) p.361 Law, Politics, and the Graphe Paranomon in Fourth-Century Athens Harvey Yunis N FOURTH-CENTURY Athens, when a dikasterion was convened to I hear a graphe paranomon, the jurors naturally heard the prosecu­ tor argue that the defendant's decree ("'~«j>Lup.a) was 7rapavop.ov or 7rapa TOUs voP.OV!;, that is, in conflict with some one or more statutes (VOP.OL) of the inscribed law code} The jurors were also likely to hear the plea that the decree under indictment was inexpedient (o.UVIJ.­ «j>opov) for the Athenian people, and the defendant ought to be con­ victed for that reason too, in addition to the conflict with statute law. If the decree under indictment was a grant of honors or citizenship, the jurors were likely to hear the further plea that the person named in the decree as the beneficiary of the grant was unworthy (o.va,to!;) of the honors or citizenship. This plea too would be advanced as reason to convict the original mover of the decree. For the sake of convenience, I will call the plea of paranomon the 'legal plea', and the latter two pleas, concerning inexpediency and unworthiness, 'political pleas'. In this paper I wish to consider the status of these two types of pleas. Are the political pleas to be counted among those numerous irrelevant ' arguments and considerations, such as the opponent's family back­ ground, that Athenian orators commonly introduced in an attempt to prejudice the jurors against the opponent? Or were the political pleas, as well as the legal plea, viewed by Athenian pleaders and jurors as I Throughout this paper the word 'decree' will be used to translate "'~tpHrp.a, and the word 'statute' to translate vop.os, in the senses these words bear in the statutes passed in 403/2 following the decree of Tisamenus (Andoc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1943 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle Edmund P. Burke Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Burke, Edmund P., "The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle" (1943). Master's Theses. 77. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/77 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1943 Edmund P. Burke THE THEORY OF GREEK DEMOCRACY BEFORE ARISTOTLE • BY EDMUND P. BURKE, S.J. A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL li'ULFIT.IMENT OF THE REQ,UIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LOYOLA UNIVERSITY JULY 1943, VITA Edmund P. Burke, S.J., was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 4, 1916. He moved to Oak Park, Illinois, and graduated from Ascension Grammar School in 1930. The following three years, from 1930 to 1933, he attended ~uigley Preparatory Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in that city in 1934. In September of that year he entered the Milford Novitiate of the Society of Jesus, attending the Arts College of Xavier Univer­ sity, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1934 to 1938. In 1938 he transferred to West Baden College of Loyola University, where he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1939.
    [Show full text]
  • Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens: Sophistication, Diversity, and Innovation
    Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics Epistemic democracy in classical Athens: Sophistication, diversity, and innovation. Version 1.0 August 2009 Josiah Ober Stanford University Abstract: Analysis of democracy in Athens as an “epistemic” (knowledge-based) form of political and social organization. Adapted from Ober, Democracy and Knowledge, chapters 1-4. Jon Elster (ed.), volume on “Collective Wisdom” (to be published in English and French). © Josiah Ober. [email protected] 1 Epistemic democracy in classical Athens: Sophistication, diversity, and innovation. Josiah Ober. Stanford University ([email protected]). 1. Introduction: A successful epistemic democracy A democracy may be said to be “epistemic” to the degree to which it employs collective wisdom to make policy.1 Scott Page (this volume) offers a formal model of collective wisdom, in the sense of accurately predicting or characterizing an outcome, that is produced by two factors: the individual sophistication of participants and the diversity of their perspectives. The city-state of Athens, from the late sixth through the late fourth century B.C. is a case study of a participatory epistemic democracy: an intensively-studied historical example of a community whose remarkable success can, at least in part, be explained by Page’s two factors of sophistication and diversity. Democratic Athens depended directly and self-consciously on actively deploying the epistemic resources of its citizenry to hold its place in a highly competitive multi-state environment. While the Athenian case cannot, in and of itself, prove the general validity of Page’s model, it may offer some insight into how, in the real world, increased sophistication and sustained diversity of participants produces positive results over time.
    [Show full text]
  • Individual Philia As a Source of Athenian Demagogues' Power
    Individual Philia as a Source of Athenian Demagogues’ Power Robert H Simmons (University of North Carolina, Greensboro) Following Pericles’ death in 429, Athenian politics changed distinctly, with politicians of modest backgrounds, later to be called demagogues, assuming the sort of influence that only individuals from prominent families and who were part of powerful hetaereiae did up to that point. While for decades Athenian politicians rose to power with the help of family and friends and openly returned the favor with legislation favorable to them (e.g., Calhoun 1913; Chroust 1954; Atkins 1960), Cleon broke that pattern, renouncing his friends as a hindrance to his political service to Athens (Plut. Mor. 806f9-13; cf. Isoc. 8.126), and setting a trend that saw outsiders like him, Hyperbolus, and Cleophon dominate the Athenian assembly for a quarter-century. How could this approach have worked? The demagogues were all considered charismatic speakers (Arist. Pol. 1305a12-13), which would have been effective in the Athenian assembly, and their support was likely bolstered by their tendency to support measures that primarily benefited the poor, who far outnumbered the rich (e.g., Thuc. 2.65.10, 3.19.1; Ar. Eq. 773-776; Xen. Hell. 1.7.2; Finley 1962; Munn 2000; Rosenbloom 2002). Expertise in management gained from running their families’ businesses may also have given them credibility (Andrewes 1962; Davies 1981; pace Thompson 1981). Connor (1971), though, sees old-school Athenian political methods in these new politicians, and it is through an elaboration of Connor’s point of view that a neglected part of the demagogues’ power can be explained.
    [Show full text]
  • Busybody Athenians, Meddlesome Citizenship, and Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens
    Bowdoin College Bowdoin Digital Commons Honors Projects Student Scholarship and Creative Work 2016 Political Polupragmones: Busybody Athenians, Meddlesome Citizenship, and Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens Harry D. Rube Bowdoin College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, and the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Rube, Harry D., "Political Polupragmones: Busybody Athenians, Meddlesome Citizenship, and Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens" (2016). Honors Projects. 46. https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/honorsprojects/46 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship and Creative Work at Bowdoin Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of Bowdoin Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Political Polupragmones: Busybody Athenians, Meddlesome Citizenship, and Epistemic Democracy in Classical Athens An Honors Paper for the Department of Classics By Harry David Rube Bowdoin College, 2016 ©2016 Harry David Rube Table of Contents Acknowledgements p.iii Introduction p.1 Chapter One: “Minding One’s Own Business” in Homeric and Archaic Greek Literature p.11 Chapter Two: Being a Busybody in Fifth-Century Athens p.28 Chapter Three: From Rhetoric to the Republic: Polypragmosune in the Orators and Plato p.52 Chapter Four: Epistemic Democracy and the Polypragmon p.90 Conclusion p.128 Works Cited p.132 ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank a number of individuals and organizations that have supported me in carrying out this research project over the last year.
    [Show full text]
  • Aristophanes on Alcibiades , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 29:4 (1988:Winter) P.345
    MOORTON, RICHARD F., JR, Aristophanes on Alcibiades , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 29:4 (1988:Winter) p.345 Aristophanes on Alcibiades Richard F. Moorton, Jr T Frogs 1425 Dionysus tells Euripides that Athens desires, A hates, and wishes the return of the exiled Alcibiades. I argue here that Aristophanes' own comedies reveal a similar ambiva­ lence. My thesis is that (1) the plays predating the Deceleian War re­ veal both criticism and approval of the rising politician; (2) criticism of Alcibiades' political intentions and, implicitly, of the man himself predominates (as others have seen) in the two comedies of 411, Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae; but (3) by 405 altered conditions prompted Aristophanes to advocate cautiously the recall of A1cibia­ des in Frogs, a much debated point on which this paper offers a new VIew. Most of the references to Alcibiades in the early comedies concern either his sexual behavior or his facile eloquence. Rhetorical prowess can imply intellectual ability and activity in the courts and the ekkle­ sia, and both are attributed to A1cibiades in the plays from the period of the Archidamian War. In Banqueters Alcibiades is mentioned by a disapproving father as one of the sources of his corrupt son's turns of speech (fr.120S.Sf).1 At the time Alcibiades was in his twenties. That he is mentioned as one of the sophists and lawyers who have corrupted the old man's son is evidence that he had already acquired a reputation for that rhetori­ cal facility and avant-garde intellectualism which characterized him throughout his life.
    [Show full text]