A History of the Athenian Constitution to the End of the Fifth Century B.C. PDF
Preview A History of the Athenian Constitution to the End of the Fifth Century B.C.
ene eg ANTEe n ma AR] Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from. Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/historyofathenia0000chig A HISTORY OF THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION PSS TORY TOF THE ATHENIAN CONSTITUTION TO THE END OF THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. BY CG OIGNEA E FELLOW OF HERTFORD COLLEGE OXFORD OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1952 Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C. 4 GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI CAPE TOWN IBADAN Geoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN PREFACE HE history of the Athenian constitution has normally been the subject of disconnected chapters in a history of Greece, or of an excursus in a work on Greek constitutional anti- quities. Even the Atthis of de Sanctis, which first suggested the idea of this book, deals with the whole history of Athens to the year 445 B.C. I have here tried to confine my theme to the de- velopment of the constitution, and to include only so much of the political and general history of Athens as seemed necessary to make that development intelligible. This limitation, by re- ducing the length of the book, has enabled me to extend my survey from 445 to the end of the fifth century B.c., and thereby to exhibit the flaws which appeared in the radical democracy before and after Perikles’ death and to trace the vicissitudes to which it was exposed by the reactionary movements in the closing years of the fifth century. Some friendly critics have suggested that I ought to have carried the story down to the death of Demosthenes, but the year gor B.C., as the author of the Athenaion Politeia realized, provides a more appropriate ter- minus for an historical treatment of the Athenian constitution. By then the radical democracy, assisted by the generosity of some of its Spartan conquerors, had finally triumphed, and nothing remained but to introduce minor modifications of de- tail and adjustments to changing conditions. In his Atthis de Sanctis, following the example of certain continental scholars, notably Beloch, subjected the ancient authorities, including the Athenaion Politeta, to a severely criti- cal examination. English and French scholars (Macan was a prominent exception) have on the whole been too conservative to give their approval to this sceptical treatment of the ancient sources, and some of them have adopted, either openly or tacitly, the convenient hypothesis that the accounts of the constitutions of Solon and Kleisthenes given by the Atthidographers were derived from original documents. I have considered this hypo- thesis in my first chapter and have tried to demonstrate that it is untenable. Beloch and others certainly carried their scepti- cism too far in some directions, but in some, as I shall attempt to show, they failed to carry it far enough, for they were still unconsciously dominated by misconceptions which had become vi PREFACE firmly established. As the works of Beloch and de Sanctis have never been translated into English, I hope that this book will serve to introduce some of their ideas to readers who are unable to consult them in the original. In general I have been less concerned to cite the latest publi- cation than to rescue meritorious works of the past from unde- served oblivion (a Roman historian recently told me that in his opinion the most illuminating treatment of a question under discussion was a paper written by Zumpt before 1860). For my chapters on the fifth century I have made extensive use of the works of Edouard Meyer. Although on many topics, for example the revolutions of 411 and 404 B.C., Meyer elucidated the prob- lems and provided convincing solutions, his conclusions seem often to be less well known than more recent but less probable hypotheses. I have therefore made it one of my aims to revive suggestions put forward by Meyer and other able scholars of his time and to give them a wider currency. Like all others who have worked in this field, I owe a great debt to the Aristoteles und Athen of Wilamowitz. Naturally I do not imply that there is nothing of value to be found in more recent writings. I have obtained much help from Ferguson, Kahrstedt, and other contemporaries cited in the Bibliography, especially from the Adthis of Jacoby, to which I have repeatedly referred in my earlier chapters. I have read it more than once, and always with renewed admiration for the wide range of its author’s erudition and the soundness of his judgements. Although Jacoby’s commentary on his text of the Atthidographers has not appeared in time to be used by me, I was privileged some years ago to attend a seminar held by him on this subject. But the modern scholar to whom I am most deeply indebted is Professor Wade-Gery. In the following pages I have sometimes dissented from his views, but I have never done so without careful consideration and many misgivings, and even when I have been unable to agree with his conclusions I have never failed to profit from his examination of a problem. His numerous papers have been a constant source of enlighten- ment and inspiration, and he has generously discussed several questions with me both orally and in writing. I have also learnt much from two classes held by him, on Athenian Families and on the Strategoi. I take this opportunity to acknowledge my great obligations
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