HISTORICAL METAMORPHOSIS OF THE ATHENIAN AGORA: CHANGING COMMUNICATION ...

518 Pages·2009·11.6 MB·English

The Pennsylvania State University
The Graduate School
College of Communications

HISTORICAL METAMORPHOSIS OF THE ATHENIAN AGORA:
CHANGING COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
AND THE ENDURING QUEST FOR AN IDEAL PUBLIC SPHERE

A Dissertation in
Mass Communications
by
Juraj Kittler
© 2009 Juraj Kittler
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

May 2009
ii

The dissertation of Juraj Kittler was reviewed and approved* by the following:
Ronald V. Bettig
Associate Professor of Mass Communications
Dissertation Adviser
Chair of Committee
Jorge R. Schement
Distinguished Professor of Mass Communications
Amit M. Schejter
Assistant Professor of Mass Communications
Deryck W. Holdsworth
Professor of Geography
John S. Nichols
Professor of Mass Communications
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research
College of Communications
* Signatures are on file in the Graduate School.
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Abstract
Ever since archeologists discovered the site of the ancient Athenian Agora in the 1930s, the term
captured Western imagination. In its abstract form, the agora became a synonym of a perfect
public space which was, by the sheer power of its existence, able to produce a democratic society
of utopian qualities. But historical evidence shows that ancient Greek democracy was - similar to
our own experience with the public sphere - riddled with partisan politics and personal interests.
The normative ideal necessarily collided with social reality on the ground. Starting with classical
Athens, this study explores different historical metamorphoses of the agora as its heritage was
gradually passed to us through the urban communes of the High Medieval period, Renaissance
Venice, and London in the golden age of its coffeehouses. The historical-empirical excursion
ends in Philadelphia, tracing its transformation from a colonial town to an early industrial
metropolis. In collecting historical-empirical evidence, this study relies exclusively on primary
sources. In each studied case, the public sphere is conceptualized as the synergetic confluence of
information flows mediated through evolving communication technologies and face-to-face
encounters which take place within the physical container of various urban forms. In conclusion,
the comparative analysis presents two archetypes of Western democracies and implicitly two
corresponding archetypical public spheres as they gradually evolved in the West: (a) the classical
republican ideal which was originally conceived in Athens and reached its full bloom in the
historical reality of Renaissance Venice; and (b) mass democracy which was ushered in
gradually through the experience of „early modern‟ London, finding its fulfillment in the post-
Revolutionary Philadelphia, and as an ideal still holds normative power over Western political
imagination. In tracing the historical metamorphosis of the agora, this study focuses on the
evolving concept of public opinion; examines the way different societies attempted to solve the
conflict of private and public interests within the public sphere; analyzes spatial relationships
between dominant urban centres and their local and global peripheries; sheds more light on the
social determination of communication technologies; and reveals the historical roots of the
articulation of democratic ideals with capitalism.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………… viii
Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………………. x
Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………… xi

INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………..……......
1
Methodological Outline and the Use of Historical Sources…………………. 4
The Inclusive Concept of the Public Sphere: A Multidisciplinary Approach.. 8
The Unit of Analysis: A World-System ……………..……………………… 10
The Study of Large Social Structures: A Dialectic Concept of
History and Society………………………………………………………….. 13
The Sequence of Dominant Cities and the Organization of the Study ……… 16

Chapter 1: A CRITIQUE OF HABERMAS’ GENESIS OF THE BOURGEOIS
PUBLIC SPHERE ……………………………….……………………….. 29

I. The Heritage of Greek City-State Democracies ...……………………………..… 32
The Social Role of the Athenian Agora.....…………………….…….…...…. 33
The Welfare State and Greek Democracy …………………………..………. 37
The Emphasis on Republican Virtues ………………………………..…..…. 38
Aristotle‟s Two Agoras ………………………………………………....…... 39
Issues of Gender and Class in Classical Athens…….……………..…..…….. 41
The Size of an Ideal Polity ………………………..…………………..…….. 44
Partial Conclusions ………………………………………………………….. 47

II. Medieval Urban Revival – The Blind Spot of Habermas‟ Inquiry ……………... 48
Pirenne‟s Challenge to Habermas‟ Thesis …………………………………... 52
The Rise of Municipal Governments ……………………………………..…. 56
Medieval City Walls and Their Symbolic Unifying Function ……………… 59
Leonardo Bruni‟s Renaissance Florence ……………………………………. 62
Rational-Critical Argumentation and the Growth of Literacy …….………... 64
News Publication and the Early Modern Public Postal Service ……….....… 73
Partial Conclusions ………………………………………………………….. 75

Chapter 2: LA SERENISSIMA: THE VENETIAN QUEST FOR
A WELL-ORDERED REPUBLIC …………………………..…………... 79

I. Making a Case for Venice: Ex oriente lux ……………………………………..… 81

II. A State Better Than Plato Ever Imagined ….………………………………….... 86
A Republic Run by Merchants ..…………………………………………….. 93
The State-Corporatist Nature of the Venetian Government ……………….... 96
Maintaining Social Stability ………………………………………………… 99
A Democracy Without Deliberation? ……………………………………….. 105
The Venetian Broglio and the Selling of Offices …………………….…...… 111
Social Clubs in Venice and Their Influence on Politics …………………….. 117
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The Danger of Popular Opinion …………………………………………….. 118

III. Official State Propaganda and Venetian Hegemony ……………….…….……. 122
Subversive Message Publishing and the Birth of the Political Cartoon ….… 125

IV. The Early Roots of an Information Society ……………………………………. 131
The Aristocratic Republic and Its Obsession with Secrecy …………………. 136
Recordkeeping and the Bureaucratization of the State ……………………… 137
Globally-Connected Markets …………………………………………...…… 146
Early Venetian Couriers and the Early Postal System ………………....…… 150
From Private Merchant Letters to Commercially Traded Avvisi ……………. 154

V. The Cityscape of an Ideal Republic …………………………………………….. 159
The Quest for Permanence in Spatial Organization ………………………… 167
Getting Around the City …………………………………………………….. 168
The Rialto and San Marco: A Manifestation of the Basic
Structural Contradiction ……………………………………………….…..... 170
Xenophobic Tendencies Imprinted into the Urban Layout …………………. 176

VI. The State and Religion …………………………………………………….…… 182
The Church and Venetian Civic Structure …………………………….…….. 187
The Venetian Spirit of Capitalism …………………………………………... 195

VII. Book Print: Evolution Rather Than Revolution …………...………………….. 201
Bessarion, Erasmus, Aldus Manutius and the Spread
of Aristotelian Thought …………………………………………………..…. 206

VIII. Venice and the Political Education of the Western World …….……….……. 212
Venetian Republicanism and English Political Thought ……………………. 214
Political Thinking Across the Alps …………………………………….……. 217
The U.S. Founding Fathers and the Heritage of the Venetian Renaissance 220

Chapter 3: DEFOE’S LONDON: THE CHANGING WORLD
OF AN ENGLISH MERCHANT ………………………………………… 223

I. Making a Case for London: The Monstrous City ….……..……………………… 224
Daniel Defoe: A True Londoner...………………………………………...…. 227

II. The Rise of the New Aristocracy: News, Money and Politics ……………..…… 231
Traditional Commodity Traders and the Flow of Information ……………… 232
From the Commodity Trade to Stock
Exchange…………….……………………………………………….……… 236
Financial Interest and the Manipulation of Information ………………..….. 240
The Stock Exchange and the System of Representative Government ……… 243

III. The Intricate Life of London‟s Coffeehouses ………………………………….. 246
The Londoner‟s True Home ………………………………………...………. 252
IV. An Alternative Public Sphere of London Workers ....………………………..… 257

V. Transportation Networks ………………………..………………………..…...… 258

VI. A City on Steroids ………………………………………………………........… 264
The Early Symptoms of Suburban Sprawl ………………………………….. 272
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Chapter 4: THE ATHENS OF AMERICA: CLASSICAL REPUBLICANISM
ENCOUNTERS DEMOCRACY IN THE STREETS
OF PHILADELPHIA …………………………………………………….. 276

I. Making a Case for Philadelphia: A Republican Ideal in Brick and Mortar …..….. 277
Urban Paradox: A City Without Defending Walls .……………………....…. 290

II. A City of Work, Not of Leisure ..…………………………………………....….. 293
Public Squares and Gardens ………………………………………………… 298

III. The Protestant Mindset Imprinted on the Urban Landscape …………...….…… 301
The Quaker Spirit of Capitalism ………………………………………….…. 305

IV. The Semi-Public Space of Philadelphia‟s Taverns and Coffeehouses…….…… 310

V. Newspapers, Postal Service and the Spread of Information ……………….…… 319
Early Media Moguls: The Economic Interest behind Colonial Newspapers... 326
Join, or Die: The Imperial Management of Information ……………..…..…. 328
The Printed Word and Early Notions of „Media Effects‟…..…………….…. 332

VI. The Oratorical Tradition and the American Republican Culture ……..…….….. 334

VII. The Triumph of Mass Democracy over Classical Republicanism ……..…..…. 339
Partisan Politics and the Vanishing Dream of Republican Unity ……….…... 345

VIII. A Communication Revolution? …………………………………….…..…...... 348

IX. The Athens of America ……………….…………………………………..…..... 352

X. A Republic on a Continental Scale …….………………….………………..…... 364
Growing Urban Communities and the Binding Power of Communication .... 368
The Nation-State as an Imagined Community ………………………..…..… 369
The Tyrant-Printers and the Roots of Media Localism ………….….…..…... 372
The Implications of Newspaper Mass Circulation …………….…..……..…. 375
XI. The Alternative Public Spheres of Philadelphia Working Classes ……..…..….. 376
Industrialization, Immigration and the Urban Jungle………………..…..…... 382

XII. Art, Luxury, Conspicuous Consumption and Republican Virtues …...….......... 383
Virtuous Homespun Makes Way for Luxury ……………………..……........ 389

XIII. Transportation Technologies and the Binding Power of Infrastructure …....… 392
The Vehicles of Republican Citizenship …….……………………….....…... 395
The Frontier Myth, Industrial Outsourcing and Land Speculation …………. 398
The Deep Social Roots of the Postmodern Space of Flows …………..…..… 402

XIV. A „Telegraphic‟ Postscript to Philadelphia …………………………..….….... 408

Chapter 5: FINAL ANALYSIS: THE LONG JOURNEY FROM ATHENS TO
PHILADELPHIA …….………………………………………………........ 412

I. The Primary Structural Contradiction and its Reflection in the Public Sphere….... 415
The Historical Roots of the Struggle between the „Private‟ and the „Public‟… 416
Classical Republicanism and the Ideals of Privilege and Secrecy…………… 418
The „Invention‟ of Public Opinion……………………………………………. 419
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The Rise of Mass-Democracy………………………………………………… 423
The Era of Representative Publicity and Propaganda Society……………….. 426
The „Frightful Engine‟ of the Profit-Driven Press System…………………… 429

II. The Primary Existential Contradiction and its Reflection in the Public Sphere …. 432
Urban Space as a Material Representation of Social Values …………..……. 433
Dialectic Tension between the Center and its Local and Global Periphery…... 444
The Impact of the Relationship with the „Proximate‟ ……………………….. 445
The Impact of the Relationship with the „Remote‟ ……….………………….. 445
Spatial Relations and the Spread of the Democratic Ideal …………………. 451

III. Technological Advancement and the Pubic Sphere …………………………...... 453

Chapter 6: CONCLUSIONS ……………..…………………………………………….. 463

Bibliography ………………………………………………………...………………......... 468
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LIST OF FIGURES

1.1. The Braudelian sequence of leading cities …………………………...…..……. 21
2.1. The Agora in Athens at the peak of the classical era in the 5th century BCE …..
34
2.2. Wenceslaus Hollar, The World is Ruled and Governed by Opinion, 1641 …..... 72
3.1. Vittore Carpaccio, The Lion of St. Mark, 1516 ………………………………… 80
3.2. The electoral process underway in the Venetian Great Council ……………….. 107
3.3. The Venetian Piazzetta, also called the Broglio ……………………………….. 112
3.4. Giacomo Franco, The Procession at the Occasion of the Publication of the
Holy League of 1571 in Venice ………………………………………………… 124
3.5. Jacopo de‟Barbari, Venice, 1500 ………………………………………………. 132
3.6. Canaletto, The Campo di Rialto, c. 1758-1763 .................................................... 140
3.7. Lazzaro Basitani (attributed), The Piazzetta, c. 1488 .......................................... 141
3.8. Marble slot for secret denunciations ………………………………..…………. 144
3.9. Canaletto, Campo Saint Apostoli, 1735 ……………………………..………… 162
3.10. Bolognino Zaltieri, Venice, 1565 ……………………………………..……….. 165
3.11. Matthaeuse Merian, Venice, c.1650 …………………………………..……….. 172
3.12. Antonello da Messina, Saint Jerome in His Study, c. 1475 ……………...…….. 174
3.13. The totem of Venetian civil religion - the winged lion of Saint Mark ……….... 185
3.14. Matteo Pagan, Procession of the Doge and Patriarch of Venice, 1560 ……...... 188
3.15. Domenico Morone, St.Vincent Ferrer Preaching in Front of the Church of
St. Eufemia in Verona, c. 1490 ………………………………………………… 192
4.1. Unknown Author, Map of London, c.1580 …………………………………….. 225
4.2. Jan Kip, Map of London, 1724 ………………………………………………… 226
4.3. Anonymous, The Bubbler’s Medley, or A Sketch of the Times: Being Europe’s
Memorial for the Year 1720 ………………………………………………….… 238
4.4. Thomas Rowlandson, London’s Royal Exchange, c. 1809 …………………….. 248
4.5. The Royal Exchange floor-plan with the various merchant walks …………….. 2 49
4.6. Exchange Alley - the City of London ………………………………...………... 250
4.7. James Carter, The South-Sea Bubble, c. 1720 ………………………..………... 251
4.8. Anonymous, The Interior of a Coffeehouse, ca. 1700 ………………………..... 255
4.9. Unknown Author, London’s Custom House, c. 1753 …………..…………….... 261
4.10. London squares ……………………………………………………………..…. 268
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4.11.a Sutton Nichols, The Prospect of Lincoln Fields, c.1750 ………………….…… 269
4.11.b Unknown Author, St. James Square in London, c.1754 ……………………….. 270
4.11.c Sutton Nichols, Devonshire Square, c.1750 ………………………………..….. 271
5.1. Thomas Holmes, A Portraiture of the City of Philadelphia, 1682 …………...... 279
5.2. The City of London at the time of Great Fire in 1666 and Robert Hooke‟s
proposal for rebuilding the city ………………………………………………… 280
5.3. John Birch, Plan of the City of Philadelphia, c.1800 ………………………...... 282
5.4. John Birch, High Street, from Ninth Street, c.1800 ………………………...….. 288
5.5. J. Bachman, Bird’s-Eye View of Philadelphia, 1850 …………………...…….... 289
5.6. After Goerge Heap, The East Prospect of the City of Philadelphia, 1754 ..…… 292
5.7. The London Coffeehouse on the corner of Front and Market Street ………..…. 316
5.8. High (Market) Street ……………………………………………………..……. 336
5.9.a John Birch, (The First) Bank of the United States, in Third Street, c.1800 ….... 357
5.9.b The Jacksonian „Monster Bank‟, the Second Bank of the United States ……… 358
5.9.c President Andrew Jackson brandishes an "Order for the Removal of the Public
Money Deposited in the United States Bank" …………………………………. 359
5.10. John Birch, The Water Works in Centre Square Philadelphia, c.1800 …...…… 362
5.11. Fenderich and Wild, Fairmont Waterworks Near Philadelphia, c.1830 …...….. 363
5.12. Charles Willson Peale, Self-Portrait, 1822 ……………………………...……... 386
5.13. John Birch, Goal, in Walnut Street Philadelphia, c.1800 …………………….... 405
5.14. John Birch, High Street, with the First Presbyterian Church, c.1800 …………. 407
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ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXTS
ASV Archivio di Stato, Venice
BCV Biblioteca Correr, Venice
ASM Archivio di Stato, Mantua
BL British Library, London
BMV Biblioteca Marciana, Venice