Tyranny in Athens

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinzia Arruzza
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Democratic Citizen ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Theory Of Democracy

This chapter offers a thorough analysis of both the literary tropes surrounding tyranny and the tyrant in fifth-century Greek literature—with some reference to fourth-century and later texts—and the function they played in democratic self-understanding. The chapter addresses the ongoing debate about the existence of a democratic theory of democracy in fifth- and fourth-century Athens, arguing that a proper democratic theory did not exist. Within the context of this debate, the chapter draws on theses of Diego Lanza, Giovanni Giorgini, and James F. McGlew that the depictions of tyranny in anti-tyrannical literature served the purpose of offering to the democratic citizen an inverted mirror with which he could contemplate the key features of democratic practice, by way of opposition. In other words, hatred for a highly stylized discursive representation of tyranny played a key role in democratic self-understanding.

Helen in the Fifth Century and After

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lowell Edmunds
Keyword(s):  
Southern Italy ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Literature

This chapter explores the fifth-century strands of reception of Helen. The Helens discussed in this chapter are a selection made to illustrate the postepic narrative as presupposed by various writers in various media. In addition to these fifth-century strands, the chapter also turns to the fourth century, which is another important strand of reception. The fourth century traces a strand which begins with the Pythagoreans in Croton in southern Italy and leads on to Goethe by way of Simon Magus. Another strand begins with the first fictional Helen, which can be found in Ovid. The chapter accompanies this discussion with an introduction into the concept of fiction. Finally, this chapter provides an example of the parallel phenomenon in Greek literature.

Fortuna in Translation, Fortuna as Translation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Miano
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Magna Graecia ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the relationship between Fortuna and Tyche as one of translatability. The first half of the chapter focuses on Tyche, with the aim of determining semantic and structural elements common with Fortuna. The second part of the chapter looks at instances in which Fortuna is translated in Greek. The appearance of bronze strigils bearing the epithet soteira from Praeneste in the fourth century BC seems to presuppose this translation, and also points to the salvific meanings of Fortuna as a base for the process of translation. This process of translation had probably occurred through early contacts between Latium, Sicily, and Magna Graecia, where Tyche seems to be associated with salvation already from the fifth century BC. Other instances of translations of Fortuna and Tyche are studied across the Aegean.

The Athenian Hoplite Force in 431 B.C.

1927 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 142-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Gomme
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Arbitrary Assumption

There is still something to be said about these figures for the Athenian hoplite force, the more so as the most reasonable discussion of them, Meyer's, is spoilt by some unsound inferences and has in consequence not found support. Their difficulty is apparent: a muster πανσημει in 338 meant calling up all classes up to the age of 50 (Lycurg. c. Leocr. 39), and since Socrates fought at Delion and Amphipolis when he was in his late forties, and not at Mantineia when he was over 50, we may assume that it meant the same in the fifth century; we also assume (though this is by no means proved) that ‘the youngest’ are those in their nineteenth and twentieth years, as in the fourth century, certainly after the reform of the Ephebeia, perhaps earlier (Aeschin. II. 167); military service ceased at 60. But how could the number of men in these twelve classes, 19-20 and 51-60, stand in the proportion of 13: 17 (16,000 less 3,000 metics, 13,000 plus 1,000 cavalry and 3,000 metics) to the men between 21 and 50 ? They could not be more than a third, and might be less. (Beloch, 1923, tries to make the problem more difficult by the arbitrary assumption that the 13,000 citizen hoplites are all the men of 21-60, instead of 21-50. Meyer, who accepts Thucydides’ figures, forgets that there must have been ‘oldest and youngest’ metics, besides the 3,000 who marched into Megara. Busolt and Meyer also argue that the classes 51-60 will have suffered specially heavy losses in the battles of 459-445, while the eight youngest classes would have seen no fighting;

The Material Circumstances

2019 ◽  
pp. 15-50
Author(s):  
Lucy C. M. M. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century

Chapter 1 brings together the evidence for when and where dramatic choruses danced in the fourth century, providing an historical base for the later discussions of fourth-century dramatic choral activity. After establishing the certain and likely locations for dramatic performances in Athens, Attica, and the wider ancient Mediterranean (and beyond), the chapter considers the question of who the choral performers were, and what their choral training might have involved. Through this focus on the choral performer, and the practicalities of producing so many dramatic productions in each year, the chapter can begin to draw together a new picture of choral industry in the fourth century, an industry that clearly had its roots in the fifth century. Considering the theory that ‘local’, ‘amateur’ choruses would be recruited for travelling groups of actors, it suggests that the evidence supports, instead, a class of skilled choral performers in line with the industry’s professionalizing turn.

Ethics and democracy

2018 ◽  
pp. 156-178
Author(s):  
Mark Bevir ◽  
Jason Blakely
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Interpretive Approach ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ethical Critique ◽  
Ethical Significance ◽  
Theory Of Democracy

An anti-naturalist approach overcomes the strict dichotomy between facts and values. Social scientists are free to take up ethically engaged research projects if they are so inclined. This chapter shows how political scientists working within an interpretive, anti-naturalist framework can legitimately take an interest in ethical critique, critical sociologies, and democratic theory. Indeed, anti-naturalist and interpretive philosophy offers social scientists: a better account of the status of values within social reality; an understanding of the ethical significance of the human past; and a critique of technocratic forms of political organization. Interpretive approaches are also linked to a more deliberative theory of democracy. All this implies social scientists have ethical and not just conceptual reasons for adopting an interpretive approach.

The Eudemian Theogony and Early Orphic Poetry

2018 ◽  
pp. 87-118
Author(s):  
Dwayne A. Meisner
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third

The third chapter is about a theogony that had been known to the philosopher Eudemus (fourth century BC), and all of the other fragments that modern scholars have associated with this theogony. The Neoplatonist Damascius (fifth century AD) says that the theogony started with Night, but modern scholars have tried to link this to other early fragments of Orphic poetry. This chapter discusses Aristophanes in the first section, and Plato and Aristotle in the second section, arguing that their scattered references to Orphic poems might not have been from the same theogony. The third section introduces the Orphic Hymn(s) to Zeus that appear in different variations, the earliest of which are from around the same time as these other fragments. The fourth section suggests that early Orphic fragments about Demeter and Dionysus are not from the Eudemian theogony.

Greco-Roman Surgical Instruments

2018 ◽  
pp. 554-590
Author(s):  
Lawrence J. Bliquez
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Surgical Instruments ◽  
First Century ◽  
Bladder Stones ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Fourth Century Bce

The chapter looks at Greek and Roman surgical instruments. The survival of Greco-Roman surgical instruments falls into two divisions: tools available in Hippocratic times (fifth to fourth century bce), and instruments at the disposal of surgeons, mostly Greek, from the late Republic through the Empire (first century bce to fifth century ce). From the former, most survivals are cupping vessels from graves. The texts suggest the Hippocratic physician often created his tool on the spot or had a tool prepared for an immediate need, whereas most of an Imperial surgeon’s repertoire consisted of instruments professionally made and sold by smiths. The various kinds of instruments are described, explained, and illustrated: cupping vessels, scalpels, phlebotomes (for phlebotomy), lithotomes (for bladder stones), needles, probes, cauteries, hooks, forceps, saws, drills, chisels, files, levers, tubes, douches, specula, and abortives.

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