The political economy of the Hellenistic polis: comparative and modern perspectives (original) (raw)
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Electrum, 2019
Studies of the history of ancient cities, an important part of historical research on ancient Greece and Rome, have developed their own research methods. These are determined by the varied types of historical evidence: literary, narrative, epigraphical, numismatic, iconographic and archaeological. Since these come from diverse historical periods and different areas of the ancient world, two concepts are usually applied in studies of ancient cities: the Greek polis and its Roman counterpart. These concepts serve to emphasise their varying legal status, organisation of socio-political life, urban structure etc. For some time, one further concept has been emerging and growing in popularity in this field: that of the Hellenistic polis. Much attention has been devoted in recent years to the history of cities in the Hellenistic period, as demonstrated by numerous publications and academic conferences. The materials from two such conferences are published in the recent volume: The Polis in the Hellenistic World. The first took place in 2014 at the University of Konstanz, and the second in 2015 at Princeton University. The objective of the conferences was to showcase selected issues from the history of Hellenistic poleis. The book presents these problems in ten articles. Some of these concern issues and phenomena appearing in a large part of the Hellenistic world. Others concern questions of a more local scope, related to the history of a particular city or region or an especially interesting phenomenon. Among the subjects that go beyond the narrow framework of local history is that of the economic life of Hellenistic poleis, the prevailing social conditions, and the political relations between them. The economic life of these cities is investigated by G. Oliver ("People and Cities: Economic Horizons Beyond the Hellenistic Polis," pp. 159-179). Discussion of this subject is particularly significant since the views on the issue formed by A. Bresson and M. I. Finley, in the light of the source data collected following the publication of their studies, provides a different perspective today on the economic foundations of the Hellenistic poleis. This is especially true because this new angle highlights elements that were previously not fully appreciated, or overlooked entirely. This applies in particular to the question of the impact of the political and social context in which the cities functioned in the Hellenistic period. The need to adjust to the new political realities was the greatest challenge they faced, especially smaller ones. The author analyses the problem in three dimensions: continuation and change, from the point of view of the poleis' trading and political activity, and the mobility of their inhabitants and their ability to form networks of mutual connections (pp. 161-176). Residents' economic activity within the situation that the political system of their home cities stipulated became an
Studies of the history of ancient cities, an important part of historical research on ancient Greece and Rome, have developed their own research methods. These are determined by the varied types of historical evidence: literary, narrative, epigraphical, numismatic, iconographic and archaeological. Since these come from diverse historical periods and different areas of the ancient world, two concepts are usually applied in studies of ancient cities: the Greek polis and its Roman counterpart. These concepts serve to emphasise their varying legal status, organisation of socio-political life, urban structure etc. For some time, one further concept has been emerging and growing in popularity in this field: that of the Hellenistic polis. Much attention has been devoted in recent years to the history of cities in the Hellenistic period, as demonstrated by numerous publications and academic conferences. The materials from two such conferences are published in the recent volume: The Polis in the Hellenistic World. The first took place in 2014 at the University of Konstanz, and the second in 2015 at Princeton University. The objective of the conferences was to showcase selected issues from the history of Hellenistic poleis. The book presents these problems in ten articles. Some of these concern issues and phenomena appearing in a large part of the Hellenistic world. Others concern questions of a more local scope, related to the history of a particular city or region or an especially interesting phenomenon. Among the subjects that go beyond the narrow framework of local history is that of the economic life of Hellenistic poleis, the prevailing social conditions, and the political relations between them. The economic life of these cities is investigated by G. Oliver ("People and Cities: Economic Horizons Beyond the Hellenistic Polis," pp. 159-179). Discussion of this subject is particularly significant since the views on the issue formed by A. Bresson and M. I. Finley, in the light of the source data collected following the publication of their studies, provides a different perspective today on the economic foundations of the Hellenistic poleis. This is especially true because this new angle highlights elements that were previously not fully appreciated, or overlooked entirely. This applies in particular to the question of the impact of the political and social context in which the cities functioned in the Hellenistic period. The need to adjust to the new political realities was the greatest challenge they faced, especially smaller ones. The author analyses the problem in three dimensions: continuation and change, from the point of view of the poleis' trading and political activity, and the mobility of their inhabitants and their ability to form networks of mutual connections (pp. 161-176). Residents' economic activity within the situation that the political system of their home cities stipulated became an
A Political Economy Perspective of Direct Democracy in Ancient Athens
Using a political economy framework the paper argues that in ancient Athens direct democracy, absence of political parties and appointment to office by lot were inextricably linked. Direct rather than representative democracy was in the interest of the constitutional framer at the time of the transition to democracy. Deciding directly each policy issue under majority rule diminished the intermediation function of political parties, a tendency possibly reinforced by an integrative ideology of defending the polis. In the absence of political parties to fight elections and distribute rents from office, appointment of office-holders by lot randomized their selection, a process which yielded an accurate representation of individual preferences, and distributed rents irrespective of the private wealth of individual citizens.
1986
The magistrates, priests and families attested between 167/6 B.C. and A.D. 13/4 belong to a governing class which may be regarded as a large civic class and several partly overlapping elites: a political elite, comprised of the members of the Areopagus, as well as a religious elite, a liturgical elite, a military (or ephebic elite) and a cultural-educational elite. The political elite is the most exclusive segment of the governing class. The other elites and the civic class form a descending hierarchy of peripheral families. In the course of seven chapters, the following conclusions are presented: (1) the governing class is in a constant state of flux as new families are recruited from below or through the admission of new citizens to Athens; (2) the analysis of the careers (or sequence of offices held by the members of the governing class) shows that certain types of offices are usually held at a particular age or point in an individual's public life, and changes in the number and type of offices available to an individual reflect changes in the nature of political life at Athens during this period; (3) during the generation following the acquisition of Delos in 167/6 B.C., pro-Roman families of the established aristocracy are predominant in the ranks of the governing class at both Athens and on Delos; (4) these families soon decline and the recruitment and composition of the governing class evolve during the transition to the second generation following c. 130 B.C.; (5) the revolution of 88/7 B.C. is an indirect consequence of demographic changes at Athens during the preceding generation; (6) during the Roman civil wars the governing class is found to be divided into competing factions; (7) finally, the emergence of a new and primarily hereditary governing elite may be documented during the reign of Augustus. An appendix tabulates all dated Athenian magistrates (and inscriptions) during this period. Other appendices discuss several chronological difficulties, the ephebic instructors and undated archons. i i i I must first thank Dr. D.J. Geagan, who suggested this topic for my dissertation and directed me in its completion; I especially thank him for his critical and careful reading of the final drafts. I would also like to thank Dr. J. Trueman, who chaired the supervisory committee, and Dr. T. Hoey of the Department of Classics, who has always been very helpful. The assistance of the following institutions is also gratefully acknowledged: The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a doctoral fellowship in 1983-84; the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, where, in 1984-85, the research for this dissertation was completed; the Thompson-Waisglass Fund for a bursary which paid my fees at the American School; the Program Committee of the Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens for awarding a fellowship which enabled me to reside in Athens during 1984-85; and Memorial University of Newfoundland. I would also like to mention here Dr. A.G. McKay of the Department of Classics, whose support and kindness helped make my graduate study at McMaster University both challenging and rewarding. Finally, I thank my wife, Anne-Marie Lewis, for all her help. iv Table of Contents Preface 1. The Nature of the Governing Class 2. The Offices of the Governing Class 3. Governing Families and the Cleruchy on Delos 4. The Governing Class in Transition 5. The Revolution of 88/7 B.C. 6. Athens During the Roman Civil Wars 7. Conclusion: The Governing Class Under Augustus Appendix A.
Constitutional Political Economy, 2006
From a beginning of small isolated settlements around 1000 B.C., the city-state (polis) emerged in Greece in the course of four centuries as a political, geographical and judicial unit, with an assembly, council, magistrates and written laws. Using a rational-actor perspective, it is shown how this process was driven by competition among the members of the elite. A crucial ingredient was the gradual consolidation of boundaries, which contributed to population growth, interstate conflicts, colonisation and competition for power. Variations over time in the conditions for competition explain both the introduction of formal political institutions and their overthrow by tyrants.
Polis and Oikos: the Art of Politics in the Classical Greek City-State
European Legacy 25(4), 2020
The Greek city-state has traditionally been viewed as an entity that was divided into two distinct spheres (oikos and polis) and governed by two distinct arts (oikonomia and politikê technê). The aim of this article is to show that this image of the Greek city-state is not very accurate. The relationship between the oikos and the polis was not exclusive in classical poleis. Particularly in Athens during the democratic period, the polis was depicted as a family writ large, and to the extent that oikos was seen as an entity of its own, it was a part of the polis, not excluded from or opposed to it. My aim is to show that the art of the household and the art of politics were not distinct arts as has been claimed in modern political theory. Furthermore, although the collapse of the classical city-state during the Hellenistic era entailed a privatization of the household, it was not until modern times, from the late eighteenth century onwards—when the concept of the natural right to life and property became firmly established in juridical and political discourses—that the private sphere attained genuine autonomy.
Review of M. Simonton Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History
The Classical Review, 2018
Simonton (M.) Classical Greek Oligarchy. A Political History. Pp. xviii + 355, map. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2017. Cased, £37.95, US$45. ISBN: 978-0-691-17497-6. Oligarchy has long been the odd-man-out in the study of ancient Greek constitutional history. Democracy, as the form of government of the city which produced the majority of extant Classical literature, comes with a plethora of evidence on which modern scholars can draw. Tyranny and kingship were objects of fascination for Classical writers, and have received major attention from historians of Greek politics and thought. Oligarchy, however, has received far less scholarly attention. The paucity of evidence for oligarchic politics, coupled with the fact that much of the evidence that does exist comes from hostile, pro-democratic writers make it difficult to create a coherent picture of how oligarchic states actually functioned. With this book, Matthew Simonton (henceforth 'S') sets out to remedy this ommission by providing a political history of Classical Greek oligarchy. By 'political history', S explains, is meant a focus on the institutions, both legal and extralegal, by which oligarchic poleis kept the governing minority in power and ensured that the poorer majority remained docile (p. 3). S's first thesis is that Classical oligarchy should not be seen simply as a continuation of Archaic elite rule; rather, it represented a new, more exclusive and more repressive type of regime, created in reaction to the threat posed by democracy to elite dominance. S's second contention comes as a result of this historical perspective: oligarchy should be seen as a form of authoritarianism, in which the governing wealthy minority relied heavily on force and the threat of force to check any aspirations by the majority for greater political access. Finally, S argues, oligarchy was a fundamentally unstable system. Not only did oligarchic regimes face threats from a discontented demos, but also from within their own ranks. Individual oligarchs, eager for status and mistrustful of each other, might well be tempted to abandon their comrades and champion the interests of the demos, perhaps with an eye to eventual tyranny. Individual oligarchs thus found themselves trapped in the the famous Prisoners' Dilemma, obliged to choose between the certain, but smaller, benefits brought by intra-elite cooperation , and the larger, but much more risky prizes that came from abandoning the regime in quest of personal power. As a result of this instability, S concludes, the period in which oligarchies flourished was actually very short: the fifth century BCE marked the high-water mark of oligarchy in Ancient Greece; the fourth century saw a steady decline in oligarchies, and by the high Hellenistic period, democracy, not oligarchy, was the standard form of government in the majority of poleis.
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.