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.
- Offers a picture of Athenian democracy that situates the working of democratic institutions into the context of the whole experience of Athenian life
- Emphasises the importance of reading texts in conjunction with material culture, and of analysing material culture in the context of sophisticated analysis of texts
- Includes end of chapter reviews of scholarship since each paper was originally published
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Product details
- Date Published: May 2010
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521844215
- length: 484 pages
- dimensions: 235 x 158 x 26 mm
- weight: 0.89kg
- contains: 30 b/w illus. 4 maps 4 tables
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Changing visions of democracy
Part I. Making Athenian Democracy Work:
2. Athenian democracy: something to celebrate?
3. The demos and its divisions in Classical Athens
4. Inscribing performance
Part II. Athenian Democracy and the Athenian Economy:
5. The economics and politics of slavery at Athens
6. Pride and prejudice, sense and subsistence: exchange and society in the Greek city
7. 'Is it a farm?' The definition of agricultural sites and settlements in ancient Greece
8. The potential mobility of human populations
Part III. Athenian Democracy and the Athenian Legal System:
9. Law in action in classical Athens
10. Vexatious litigation in classical Athens: sykophancy and the sycophant
11. Religion, imperial politics, and the offering of freedom to slaves
12. Law, the democratic citizen, and the representation of women in classical Athens
13. Changing the discourse
Part IV. Athenian Democracy on Display:
14. The viewing and obscuring of the Parthenon frieze
15. Democracy and imperialism in the Panathenaic procession: the Parthenon frieze in its context
Part V. Athenian Democracy and the Gods:
16. Competitive festivals and the polis: a context for dramatic festivals at Athens
17. The erection and mutilation of the hermai
18. The ecstasy and the tragedy: varieties of religious experience in art, drama, and society
Coda: from ritual to politics, and back again.
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Author
Robin Osborne, University of Cambridge
Robin Osborne is Professor of Ancient History 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 (Cambridge, 2007).