Topography of Athens

Classics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Hurwit ◽  
Ioannis Mitsios
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
History Of ◽  
City States ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

The ancient city-state (or polis) of Athens was contiguous with the region known as Attica, a large, triangular peninsula extending southeastward from the Greek mainland into the Aegean Sea. In the western angle of Attica, on a coastal plain surrounded by four mountains (Hymettos, Pentelikon, Parnes, and Aigaleos), lay the city itself. Although the modern city has thickly spread up the slopes of the mountains as well as to the sea, the study of Athenian topography concentrates on the monuments, buildings, and spaces of the ancient urban core, an area roughly 3 square kilometers surrounding the Acropolis and defended in the Classical period by a wall some 6.5 kilometers in length. Athens is the ancient Greek city that we know best, and it is unquestionably the Greek city whose art, architecture, literature, philosophy, and political history have had the greatest impact on the Western tradition and imagination. As a result, “Athenian” is sometimes considered synonymous with “Greek.” It is not. In many respects, Athens was exceptional among Greek city-states, not typical: it was a very different place from, say, Thebes or Sparta. Still, the study of Athens, its monuments, and its culture needs no defense, and the charge of “Athenocentrism” is a hollow indictment when one stands before the Parthenon or holds a copy of Sophocles’ Antigone. This article will refer to the following periods in the history of Athens and Greece (the dates are conventional): late Bronze, or Mycenaean, Age (1550–1100 bce); Dark Age (1100–760 bce); Archaic (760–480 bce); Classical (480–323 bce); Hellenistic (323 –31 bce); and Roman (31 BCE–c. 475 ce).

Civic Institutions

2009 ◽  
pp. 196-210
Author(s):  
Sara Forsdyke
Keyword(s):  
Parallel Evolution ◽  
Formal Institutions ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Cultural Legacy ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Rich ◽  
City State ◽  
The City ◽  
Civic Institutions

This article looks at the parallel evolution of civic institutions, all of which culminated in the polis, the ‘city-state’, as the backdrop to the rich cultural legacy of the fifth and fourth centuries. Historians have demonstrated that the formal institutions of the Greek city-state are best understood as emerging from, but still very much embedded within, a much broader range of collective practices and discourses. Nevertheless, it is the dynamic interplay between the institutional structures of the state and these broader practices and discourses that has been the focus of much of the most fruitful scholarship on the ancient Greek city-state over the past thirty years. The discussion then turns to some of the most interesting areas of investigation in current scholarship on the interaction between formal institutions and broader cultural activities and norms in the Greek city-state.

The Athenian Empire

2009 ◽  
pp. 64-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polly Low
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Imperialism ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
City State ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

This article argues that problems of terminology also plague the study of the Athenian Empire, drawing attention to the many ancient Greek words that have been translated as ‘empire’. Arriving at the right terms to describe Athenian ‘imperialism’ would go hand in hand with the larger process of understanding other features of Athens' hegemony. For example, while the financial aspects of the Athenian Empire are heavily discussed, the cultural imperialism of the city-state still needs to be analysed more fully. Further study may well show that the major importance of the empire lies in its role as the transmitter of Hellenic culture during the period of Athens' dominance and not in its place as a decisive moment in the history of imperialism.

Urbanizing Islands: A Critical History of Singapore's Offshore Islands

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110510
Author(s):  
Creighton Connolly ◽  
Hamzah Muzaini
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Urban Political Ecology ◽  
Critical History ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
City State ◽  
The City ◽  
Environmental Inequalities ◽  
Over Time

While Singapore is often considered an island city in the singular sense, the city-state actually consists of many islands, with the Singapore mainland being by far the largest. While most of these islands traditionally had thriving indigenous communities, all have since been displaced over time as the islands were developed to service Singapore's economic and metabolic needs as a rapidly urbanizing and developing nation. Some of the islands have also undergone considerable transformation (through reclamation) which has had significant impacts on the ecologies of the offshore islands. This simultaneously allowed for the ‘ruralization’ of mainland Singapore to provide more green space for nature conservation, recreation and leisure. This paper will provide a brief history of these transformations, drawing on specific examples which serve to illustrate how Singapore's offshore islands have been redeveloped over time to service the nation-state and in response to the changing needs of the urban core. In doing so, the paper examines how spaces on the urban periphery are deeply bound up with processes of ‘urbanization’, given their important role in processes of urban metabolism. In this way, the paper contributes to recent work in urban political ecology which has sought to trace processes of urbanization beyond the city and render visible the socio-environmental inequalities produced therein.

Plato’s Phaedrus on Philosophy and the City

2018 ◽  
pp. 101-105
Author(s):  
Brian Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Class Struggle ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

This paper offers an interpretation of the dramatic setting of Plato’s Phaedrus as an allegory of the situation of the philosopher within Plato’s Athens. Following Jean-Pierre Vernant’s work on the place of class struggle and warfare within the ancient Greek city-state in his Myth and Society in Ancient Greece I decipher key passages on the Phaedrus as implicit responses to Plato’s experience of the city. The key themes that emerge are: the relation between the country and the city; the connection between leisure, luxury, and territorial expansion; the prospects for philosophical rule in the city; and the assessment of writing as a product of urban and commercial development. In my concluding paragraphs I suggest that Plato’s dialogues should more generally be regarded as a confrontation with the social conditions of the city-state as Plato experienced them. I also suggest that Platonic writings such as the Phaedrus are best interpreted allegorically as well as literally to ensure that multiple levels of meaning are drawn out through close analysis.

Assos

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish
Keyword(s):  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Delian League ◽  
City States ◽  
The Village ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town ◽  
Steep Hill

With its acropolis perched on a steep hill overlooking the Aegean Sea, the city of Assos provides a spectacular view for the visitor. From the acropolis one can look down on the ruins of the ancient buildings on the slope and also see the remains of the city’s harbor in the Aegean. On a clear day the island of Lesbos is visible approximately 7 miles south across the Bay of Edremit. From this island came the first settlers of ancient Assos. The site of ancient Assos is located in the southern part of the Troad area of Turkey, on the modern highway that runs along the Aegean coast and connects the towns of Geyikli and Ayvacïk. Assos was in the ancient region of Mysia. Today the village of Behramkale occupies the site of ancient Assos. During the 7th century B.C.E. Aeolian Greeks from the town of Methymna (modern Molivos) on the island of Lesbos crossed the Edremit Bay and founded the city of Assos. During the first half of the 6th century, King Croesus of Lydia (whose capital was at Sardis) captured and controlled Assos. Lydian domination ended in 546 B.C.E., when Cyrus of Persia defeated Croesus and brought this area of Asia Minor under Persian control. During the following century Assos gained its freedom when a coalition of Greek city-states defeated the Persians. Assos then became a part of the Delian League under the leadership of Athens. One of the rulers of Assos in the 4th century was Hermias, who had been a student, along with Aristotle, of the philosopher Plato. At the invitation of Hermias, Aristotle went to Assos and lived there from 348 to 345 B.C.E., marrying Hermias’ niece. The Persians recaptured the city and killed Hermias, but their control ended with the conquests of Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s untimely death the Seleucids ruled Assos. In 241 B.C.E. the city became a part of the Pergamene kingdom and remained under the control of the kings of Pergamum until the death of Attalus III in 133 B.C.E., at which time the city passed into Roman hands.

scholarly journals Retrospectives: What Did the Ancient Greeks Mean by Oikonomia?

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dotan Leshem
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Short History ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Active Participant ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

Nearly every economist has at some point in the standard coursework been exposed to a brief explanation that the origin of the word “economy” can be traced back to the Greek word oikonomia, which in turn is composed of two words: oikos, which is usually translated as “household”; and nemein, which is best translated as “management and dispensation.” Thus, the cursory story usually goes, the term oikonomia referred to “household management” and while this was in some loose way linked to the idea of budgeting, it has little or no relevance to contemporary economics. This article introduces in more detail what the ancient Greek philosophers meant by “oikonomia.” It begins with a short history of the word. It then explores some of the key elements of oikonomia, while offering some comparisons and contrasts with modern economic thought. For example, both Ancient Greek oikonomia and contemporary economics study human behavior as a relationship between ends and means which have alternative uses. However, while both approaches hold that the rationality of any economic action is dependent on the frugal use of means, contemporary economics is largely neutral between ends, while in ancient economic theory, an action is considered economically rational only when taken towards a praiseworthy end. Moreover, the ancient philosophers had a distinct view of what constituted such an end—specifically, acting as a philosopher or as an active participant in the life of the city-state.

The Institutions of the Domestic Market

2018 ◽  
pp. 225-259
Author(s):  
Alain Bresson
Keyword(s):  
Private Property ◽  
Domestic Market ◽  
Market System ◽  
Informational Asymmetry ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Legal Space ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
City States ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

This chapter examines the institutions of the domestic market system in the Greek city-states. It begins with a discussion of private property in relation to trade, noting that, in the framework of the kind of collective appropriation constituted by the city-state, citizens were free to use their property as they wished. It then considers the city-states' law and legal practices relating to transactions, with particular emphasis on the law of sale and contracts, before exploring the agora as a legal space and as a marketplace connected with other official places of exchange that were also institutionalized. The chapter goes on to describe buying and selling in the agora, legal constraints on the agora, supervision of contracts and production, and the authority of the agoranomoi (magistrates). It concludes with an analysis of informational asymmetry and guarantee of sales in commercial trade, along with price control policies for commodities on sale.

The Formation of Greek City-States: Status, Class, and Land Tenure Systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (04) ◽  
pp. 615-657
Author(s):  
Julien Zurbach
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Essential Feature ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Greek City ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
City States ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The City

Recent scholarship has often remarked on the opposition between two conceptions of Archaic Greek societies, relating either to a legal and static definition of status or to a notion of status as personal and fluid, linked to diversified strategies for obtaining social distinction. This article seeks to move beyond this opposition by examining the history of status groups in the Archaic period. After analyzing the key stages within the complex historiography devoted to this subject, it goes on to provide a history of status groups during the formative period of the city-states. The creation of new status groups was an essential feature of the city-states’ history and was primarily linked to indebtedness and war. Although statuses were collective and often imposed from the outside, they nevertheless display a historical development that is central to the formation of city-states. In the seventh century BCE, new groups were created in response to the aristocracy’s need for a workforce. The resulting conflict led to an evolution of the systems regulating access to land and food. This reorganization of entitlement, which was how communities responded to the social and economic crisis they faced, was in turn based on the creation of new status groups. Social conflict led to the definition of a new system of status groups.

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