Building Democracy in Late Archaic Athens


Book Description

The Akropolis: Monuments and Military Dominance -- The Agora: Form, Function, and Ideology -- The Astu: The Architectural Matrix of the Polis -- The Demes: Delineation and Interconnectivity -- Buildings and Democracy -- Appendix I: Building Chronology in Athens and Attika, 508/7 - 480/79 B.C.E. -- Appendix II: IG I3 4B, The Hekatompedon Decree: Text, Translation, and Brief Commentary -- Appendix III: Dating the Old Bouleuterion and Stoa Basileios.




Building Democracy in Late Archaic Athens


Book Description

In 508/7 B.C.E., after years of chaos and uncertainty, the city of Athens was rocked by a momentous occurrence: the passage of a series of reforms that resulted in what has come to be known as the world's first democracy. Exactly how the Athenians did this is still a fundamental question 2,500 years later. The results of the reforms transformed the very nature of what it meant to be Athenian and their far-reaching effects would come to leave their mark on nearly every aspect of society, including the structures at which they prayed and in which they debated legislation. By attending to the built environment broadly, and monumental architecture specifically, this book investigates the built environment of ancient Athens precisely during this time, the late Archaic period (ca. 514/13 - 480/79 B.C.E.). It was these decades, filled with transition and disorder, when the Athenians transformed their political system from a tyranny to a democracy. Concurrent with the socio-political changes, they altered the physical landscape and undertook the monumental articulation of the city and countryside. Interpreting the nature of the fledgling democracy from a material standpoint, this book approaches the questions and problems of the early political system through the lens of buildings. The focus on monumental structures erected during this particular time period demonstrates how the built environment worked to facilitate the functioning of the nascent political regime. While Athenian democracy--its institutions, ideology, and capabilities--has been intensively studied, little attention has been paid to the intersection between built structures and the political system during its earliest phases. This book draws attention to a pivotal period of Athenian political history through the built environment, thereby exposing the richness of the material record and illustrating how it participated in the creation of a new democratic Athenian identity.




Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece


Book Description

"A balanced, high-quality analysis of the developing nature of Athenian political society and its relationship to 'democracy' as a timeless concept."—Mark Munn, author of The School of History




The Athenian Experiment


Book Description

This book rewrites the political and public history of Athens




Democracy


Book Description

From the team behind the international phenomenon Logicomix -which was on the New York Times bestseller list for ten weeks, won numerous international prizes, and to date has been sold into more than twenty-five languages-comes a new graphic novel, Democracy, written and illustrated by Alecos Papadatos and in collaboration with Abraham Kawa. Democracy opens in 490 B.C., when Athens is at war. The hero of the story, Leander, is trying to rouse his comrades for the morrow's battle against a far mightier enemy. Leander begins to recount his own life, bearing direct witness to the evils of the old tyrannical regimes and to the birth of a new political system. The story that emerges, of the death of the gods and the tortuous birth of democracy, is crammed with extraordinary characters and tells in incident and vivid detail how this greatest of civic inventions came about. We see that democracy was born through a combination of chance and historical contingency-but also through the cunning, courage, and willful action of a group of highly talented and driven individuals.




Democracy and Goodness


Book Description

Proposes a new democratic theory, rooted in activity not consent, and intrinsically related to historical understandings of power and ethics.




The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens


Book Description

This book is a comprehensive introduction to ancient Athens, its topography, monuments, inhabitants, cultural institutions, religious rituals, and politics. Drawing from the newest scholarship on the city, this volume examines how the city was planned, how it functioned, and how it was transformed from a democratic polis into a Roman urbs.




Democracy


Book Description

"Democracy: A Life holds out three unique research aims: a proper understanding of the origins and variety of ancient Greek democracies; a detailed account of the fate of democracy - both the institution and the word - in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds from the fifth century BCE to the 6th century CE; and a nuanced exploration of the ways in which all ancient Greek democracies differed from all modern so-called 'democracies'"--




Civic Rites


Book Description

Civic Rites explores the religious origins of Western democracy by examining the government of fifth-century BCE Athens in the larger context of ancient Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. Deftly combining history, politics, and religion to weave together stories of democracy’s first leaders and critics, Nancy Evans gives readers a contemporary’s perspective on Athenian society. She vividly depicts the physical environment and the ancestral rituals that nourished the people of the earliest democratic state, demonstrating how religious concerns were embedded in Athenian governmental processes. The book’s lucid portrayals of the best-known Athenian festivals—honoring Athena, Demeter, and Dionysus—offer a balanced view of Athenian ritual and illustrate the range of such customs in fifth-century Athens.




Living in Networks


Book Description

Innovative study examining how relationships and personal networks evolve throughout life, and how these connect individuals and society.