A Cultural History of Democracy in Antiquity

281 Pages·2022·4.617 MB·English

by  Paul Cartledge, Carol Atack

A CULTURAL HISTORY OF
DEMOCRACY
VOLUME 1
A Cultural History of Democracy
General Editor: Eugenio F. Biagini
Volume 1
A Cultural History of Democracy in Antiquity
Edited by Paul Cartledge and Carol Atack
Volume 2
A Cultural History of Democracy in the Medieval Age
Edited by David Napolitano and Kenneth J. Pennington
Volume 3
A Cultural History of Democracy in the Renaissance
Edited by Virginia Cox and Joanne Paul
Volume 4
A Cultural History of Democracy in the Age of Enlightenment
Edited by Anna Plassart and Michael Mosher
Volume 5
A Cultural History of Democracy in the Age of Empire
Edited by Tom Brooking and Todd M. Thompson
Volume 6
A Cultural History of Democracy in the Modern Age
Edited by Eugenio F. Biagini and Gary Gerstle
A CULTURAL HISTORY OF
DEMOCRACY
IN
ANTIQUITY
VOLUME 1
Edited by
Paul Cartledge and Carol Atack
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First published in Great Britain 2021
Copyright © Paul Cartledge, Carol Atack, and contributors, 2021
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Cover image: Acropolis Museum, 2014. Photo © Socratis Mavrommatis
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CONTENTS
List of iLLustrations vii
GeneraL editor’s Preface x
AcknowLedGments xiii
abbreviations xiv
Introduction 1
Carol Atack and Paul Cartledge
1 Sovereignty 15
Andrew Monson and Carol Atack
2 Liberty and the Rule of Law 37
Valentina Arena
3 The Common Good 57
Dhananjay Jagannathan
4 Economic and Social Democracy 77
Emily Mackil
5 Religion and the Principles of Political Obligation 95
Georgia Petridou
6 Citizenship and Gender 115
Carol Atack
vi CONTENTS
7 Ethnicity, Race, and Nationalism 137
Denise Eileen McCoskey
8 Democratic Crises, Revolutions, and Civil Resistance 155
Paul Cartledge
9 International Relations 175
Carol Atack with Paul Cartledge
10 Beyond the Classical Polis 197
Benjamin Gray
notes 218
references 224
notes on contributors 249
index 252
ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 Decree passed by the Athenian Assembly in 337/6 bce, showing
Demokratia crowning Demos (“the people”) with a wreath 20
1.2 Sixth-century bce rock-cut inscription at Bisitun (or Behistun)
in Iran showing King Darius I receiving captives 23
1.3 Kylix (wine cup used at the symposium) depicting the labors
of Theseus, 440–430 bce 25
1.4 Silver Athenian “owl” tetradrachm, dated to the 450s bce 27
1.5 The Erechtheion on Athens’ Acropolis, fifth century bce 31
2.1 The Tyrannicides, version of statues from Athenian Agora 42
2.2 Detail of man wearing a pilleus from the Cista Ficoroni 46
2.3 This silver denarius, issued by C. Egnatius Maxsumus in 75 bce,
depicts on its reverse a temple with Jupiter and Libertas,
identified by their symbols of a thunderbolt and pilleus 47
2.4 Silver denarius, issued by Brutus in 43/42 bce 51
2.5 Maenad, depicted on first-century copy of a relief attributed to the
Greek sculptor Kallimachos, c. 425–400 bce 52
3.1 Athens’ Acropolis seen from the Pnyx, home of the Assembly 58
3.2 Raphael, The School of Athens, 1509–11 59
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
3.3 Bust of Socrates 62
3.4 Vase for storage of public property, fifth-century Athens 64
3.5 Bust of Cicero 71
4.1 Bronze pinakion from the Athenian Agora, fourth century bce 84
4.2 Lead tokens from the Athenian Agora, Hellenistic period 85
4.3 The bema (speakers’ platform) at the Pnyx, Athens 86
4.4 Detail of a relief on the Arch of Trajan at Beneventum
depicting support for children 89
4.5 Lysicrates monument, Athens, 334 bce 92
5.1 Attic red-figure kylix depicting Athena and Erichthonios 98
5.2 Roman statue of Athena Promachos 100
5.3 Honorary decree for Rheboulas the Odrysian 105
5.4 Red-figure wine jug, 470–460 bce 113
6.1 Athena and Hera shake hands, confirming an alliance between
Athens and Samos 121
6.2 Women engaged in working with wool and weaving 123
6.3 Boreas abducting Oreithyia 124
6.4 Older men interacting with youths; one offers a hare as a gift 130
6.5 Older man propositioning a younger man 132
7.1 Political activist Malcolm X, pictured in Detroit in 1964 138
7.2 Medea’s revenge on Jason, Antonio Tempesta 144
7.3 Silver mines at Laureion in Attica 152
8.1 The Athenian Agora seen from the Areopagus hill 156
8.2 Tragic hero as tyrannicide 161
8.3 Ostraka used in votes to exile politicians, Athens 163
ILLUSTRATIONS ix
8.4 Orestes as a heroic figure associated with democracy 170
8.5 Joseph Benoîs Suvée, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, 1795 172
9.1 Amazonomachy scene 178
9.2 Eurymedon vase (side a) 181
9.3 Eurymedon vase (side b) 182
9.4 Polis dedications at the sanctuary of Apollo on Delos 190
9.5 Panathenaic prize amphora 191
10.1 Votive plaque from the Piraeus offered to the Thracian goddess
Bendis 199
10.2 Sebastiano Ricci, Meeting between the Cynic Philosopher
Diogenes and Alexander the Great 201
10.3 Silver coin of Seleucus I Nicator, Antiochus I Soter,
Ai Khanoum/Bactra, 285–281 bce 207
10.4 Bronze tablet containing the regulations for reconciliation in
Nakone 211
10.5 Inscription documenting the political union of Cos and
Calymna, later third century bce 215