Ancient Athens, the Delian League and Corruption (original) (raw)
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Rethinking Athenian imperialism: Sub-hegemony in the Delian League
2010
This dissertation examines the territorial possessions of the members of the Delian League, which I refer to as sub-hegemonies, since these regional hegemonies existed under the overarching control of Athens. Specifically, this study focuses on the administrative processes of syntely (grouping of tributaries often headed by a regional hegemonic state) and apotaxis (dissolution of tributary groupings) as a means of illuminating wider questions of fiscal administration, clashing imperialisms, and the coherence of tributary polities. Traditionally, scholars of the Delian League have mainly focused on Athens' role as the hegemonic state of an empire stretching throughout the Aegean and Ionia. Canonical studies such as the Athenian Tribute Lists and Russell Meiggs' Athenian Empire have traced the development of Athens from the head of an alliance to the ruthless mistress of an empire. Much scholarship was devoted to charting the ways in which Athens exerted her will over her imperial subjects. Little attention was focused on the allies themselves outside of generalizations about the disenchantment with Athenian rule and periodic revolts. In place of an analysis of this kind, I examine the various subhegemonies that many allies in the league controlled, such as the peraiai ('coastal strips') possessed by the large insular allies, including Thasos and Rhodes, as well as the regional v
Rethinking Anti-Corruption Reforms: The View from Ancient Athens
2011
The ancient Athenian democracy was a model of economic and political development. This paper looks at Athens' various legal and institutional reforms for combating bribery. Unlike contemporary anti-corruption agendas, the Athenians treated anti-corruption reform as a process in democratization. Although it is impossible to measure the efficacy of their reforms, the historical record suggests that they were successful insofar as they fostered less disruptive patterns of corruption over time. To account for why this might have been the case, I examine one design feature essential to these reforms: the creation of a private right of action for "anyone who wanted" to prosecute a bribery suit. As I argue, this feature could have established a 'political' level of enforcement that eliminated the most disruptive patterns of corruption over time.
The Delian and Second Athenian Leagues: The Perspective of Collective Action
This paper reconsiders the Delian and Second Athenian Leagues from the perspective of the theory of collective action. It looks at the leagues as groups formed for the purpose of providing certain public goods, mainly security. And it finds that the leagues illustrate a number of the tendencies of such groups, not least the tendency to vest increasing powers in a hegemon.
An oligarchic democracy: Manipulation of democratic ideals by Athenian oligarchs in 411 BC
This paper explores the stratagems of the Athenian oligarchs on their way to power in 411 BC. It focuses on political propaganda-- the cynical manipulation of democratic ideals, principles and procedures for the purpose of promoting oligarchy as a different form of democracy. The study challanges the widely accepted view of a moderate Theramenist faction in an attempt to demonstrate that until the oligarchs have usurped power there is no justification for differentiating between extremists and moderates among them. As to the historiography of the revolution, the paper argues that, for all its weaknesses and deficiencies, on the whole Thucydides' account is a genuine attempt to free history from the distortion of propaganda, whereas the parallel account of the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia , despite recent attempts at its rehabilitation and validation, appears by and large to have achieved precisely the opposite effect -- perpetuating by means of systematic omission and commission the historical distortion generated by propaganda.
Revelations on How the Athenian Empire Reincorporated Revolting Cities
As leader of the Delian League, which after 454 BC is often considered the Athenian Empire, Athens frequently has been seen as overbearing and imperialistic in many areas including how it dealt with cities that attempted to leave the confederation. But was this actually the case? Much of this perception can be attributed to Thucydides’ description of the reincorporation of Naxos after 471 (I.98.4), which according to the ancient historian set the precedent for how Athens treated other cities. The nature of Thucydides’ despotic Athens is also evident in the treatment of Thasos after 465 (I.101.3), as well as the admission by his historical figures, e.g., Cleon (III.37.2) and Pericles (II.63.2), that Athens was a “tyranny” (τυρρανίς). Ostwald’s (2002) observation that the Athenians showed tolerance in their imperialistic reintegration of Chalcis after the city revolted in 446-5 has challenged this notion of an overbearing, despotic Athens. But while the re-absorption of Chalcis demonstrates a somewhat tolerant Athens, the treatment of Erythrae after 453 seems to indicate the existence of a more sensitive manner of reconsolidation. The OCD’s entry on “Erythrae” reflects the view of a tyrannical Athens by interpreting an inscription from Erythrae (ML 40) as Athens “brazenly regulating her [Erythrae’s] affairs to suit Athenian interests.” Yet upon closer inspection this inscription does not portray Athens as oppressive, but in fact it reveals a friendly nature in the relationship of the two cities first recognized by Highby (1936). By examining the inscription’s delineated format for Erythrae’s participation in the Greater Panathenaea, reconstitution of her government, and oaths taken by the members of her boule; this paper will argue not only the existence of a close relationship between the two city-states, but more importantly an inclusive, reconciliatory method of reincorporation occasionally implemented by the Athenians.
Detailed account of the Confederacy of Delos, including its nature, scope, origins, and history from the Thirty Years Peace between Athens and Sparta down to the start of the Ten Year's War. As with my other general articles on this site, I wrote this for the Encyclopedia of Ancient History, because I find most encyclopedia entries inadequate.
Development and Political Theory in Classical Athens
Analyzing the birth of political thought in Greece uniquely as a response to democracy in Athens overlooks the economic, social and legal aspects of the profound transformation that Athens underwent in the classical period. That transformation did not merely affect political structures. Without understanding this larger transformation, we cannot adequately explain the development of Greek political thought. Between the late 6 th and 4 th centuries BC, Athens transitioned from an undeveloped limited access, "natural state" toward a developed open access society -a society characterized by impersonal, perpetual and inclusive political, economic, legal and social institutions that protected individual rights and sustained the polis' exceptional growth.
Detailed account of the Confederacy of Delos, including its nature, scope, origins, and history from inception down to the Thirty Years Peace between Athens and Sparta. As with my other general articles on this site, I wrote this for the Encyclopedia of Ancient History, because I find most encyclopedia entries inadequate.