An Athenian in Crete

Plato's Caves ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 161-196
Author(s):  
Rebecca LeMoine

This chapter examines Plato’s depiction in the Laws of an Athenian abroad, specifically in the land of Crete, roughly during the time leading up to the Peloponnesian War. Challenging traditional readings of the Laws as offering a blueprint for Plato’s second-best or more practical political regime, it argues that the dialogue depicts an Athenian Stranger’s attempt to help two old men from the “armed camps” of Crete and Sparta recognize the contradiction in their laws’ singular focus on war against foreigners yet neglect of the conflict within the souls of their own citizens. It takes a foreigner to expose this internal contradiction because Cretans and Spartans value tradition so deeply that they encourage their citizens to sing in unison, rather than cultivate the harmony that derives from the informed acceptance of a belief. Ultimately, the city in speech of Magnesia represents a compromise between Athenian and Spartan and Cretan culture.

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25
Author(s):  
Anna Marie Aagaard
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
Old Men ◽  

AbstractThe word of the Lord of Hosts came to me: These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: I have been jealous for Zion, fiercely jelous for her. Now, says the Lord, I have come back to Zion and I will dwell in Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts shall be called the Holy Montain. These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: Once again shall old men and old women sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each leaning on a stick because of their great age; and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls, playing in the streets. These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: Even if it may seem impossible to the survivors of this nation on that day, will it also seem impossible to me? This is the very words of the Lord of Hosts. These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: See I will rescue my people from the countries of the east and the west, and bring them back to live in Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and justice. Zechariah 8,1-8 (NEB)


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 3487-3494
Author(s):  
Milene Maria Saalfeld de Oliveira ◽  
Jerônimo Costa Branco ◽  
Luciano Dias de Mattos Souza ◽  
Ricardo Azevedo da Silva ◽  
Diogo Rizzato Lara ◽  
...  

This article aims to assess the prevalence of fatherhood in adolescence (FA) and associated factors in a community sample of 14 to 35 year-old men. Cross-sectional population-based study realized in the urban area of the city of Pelotas-RS, Brazil. The sample was selected by clusters, according to the city census. This sub-study only comprised sexually active men. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire in the participants’ homes. The sample was composed for 934 men. The prevalence of fatherhood in adolescence was 8% (n = 75). We verified higher prevalence of FA among those that reported paternal absence (p < 0.001), those that had lived with stepfather (p = 0.044), and among those that had sexual debut before the age of 14 (p = 0.011). Paternal absence, have lived with a stepfather, and early sexual experience are associated factors to fatherhood in adolescence.


1972 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Geoffrey Arnott

At the beginning of 405 b.c., fourteen or fifteen months before the final catastrophe overtook Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Aristophanes produced the Frogs. It is the last extant play of Old Comedy proper. Its plot is at times discursive, its subject-matter is passionately tied to the city in which the play was conceived, and its structure is largely controlled by such traditional and formal Old Comedy elements as the agon and parabasis. The Frogs won first prize. In 316 b.c., just eighty-nine years later, if we accept a plausible emendation in the Bodmer papyrus, Menander in his turn won the first prize at the same festival with his Dyskolos. The Dyskolos is the first extant play of the New Comedy to which we can give a firm date. Its plot is tightly knit, its subject-matter is universal, and its structure is largely governed by a new set of formal elements. Aristophanes' Frogs had a chorus of initiates, who charmed the audience by their nostalgic evocation of the old annual procession to Eleusis, suspended at the time because of the Spartan occupation of Decelea. This chorus of initiates sang and danced between the dialogue scenes a series of specially composed, memorable lyrics which were relevant to the plot, to the city, and to the period; they and their leader also delivered the parabasis. This vivid, lively, functional chorus is replaced in Menander by only a dim shadow: a κ⋯μος of tipsy young men who have no function whatever in the plot, who serve merely to entertain the audience in the intervals between the five acts with a song-and-dance routine whose words are not preserved and possibly were not even specially composed for the play by its author.


2002 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 102-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polly Low

In 395 BC, after just under a decade of (nominal) peace between Athens and Sparta, the Corinthian War broke out, and, for the first time since the end of the Peloponnesian War, forces of Athenian cavalry were despatched to fight on behalf of their own city. The surviving historical narratives of the events at Haliartus in that year, and at Corinth and Coronea the next, are often incomplete, inconsistent, or both; the detail of what contribution – if any – was made by the cavalry to the campaign is no exception to that pattern. My aim in what follows, however, is not to attempt to reach the truth of what really happened in those engagements, but rather to look at a small group of material produced by and about members of the cavalry forces involved in the campaign, and to explore some of the ways in which the military exploits of this stereotypically rich and élite section of Athenian society are represented in the city – especially in contexts with particularly democratic associations. In doing so, I want to investigate the idea that Athenian attitudes to the cavalry undergo a significant, and hostile, shift at the end of the Peloponnesian War: the claim, that is, that the cavalry had always been a distinct group in Athens, but, in the 390s, that distinction comes in the form of infamy rather than fame. But I also hope to demonstrate the necessity of adopting a more nuanced approach to the study of the formation of these (positive or negative) attitudes: the image of the cavalry is shaped by the views of those outside that class, but also by the cavalry themselves; moreover, the cavalry are not necessarily simply reactive in their self-presentation, but can be allowed a more proactive role in the shaping of their own self-image.


Author(s):  
Edmund M. Burke

Chapter 11 examines the finances of Classical Athens. Following its defeat at the hands of the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, Athens had to deal with a number of longer-term fiscal challenges. Most immediately, the loss to Sparta put an end to wealth drawn from the empire in tribute and other sources. By war’s end, the city had exhausted the large reserves it once commanded. Another major challenge was the loss in revenues from the Laurium mines with the flight of the slave labour force. After discussing the challenges and responses of the Athenian state with regards to public finance during the fourth century, the article considers Demosthenes’ views on Athenian state finance as articulated in his speeches.


Urban History ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIPPA JACKSON

ABSTRACT:In Renaissance Italy clothing, particularly of women, was strictly regulated; individuals were regularly denounced when walking through the city. Modesty was a virtue in a republican state and dress played a major part in urban identity, reflecting social values and those of the political regime. Sumptuary laws were a major mode of control, particularly of patrician women, whose dress reflected both their own and their family's wealth and status. Despite increased availability of luxurious fabrics encouraged by urban policies, legislation was used to prohibit new forms of dress and raise money for state coffers. At the end of the fifteenth century Pandolfo Petrucci (1452–1512) took control of Siena. The inner elite of his regime, particularly its female members, were given exemptions from the strict legislation and were able to flaunt their elevated status and the new social order.


Author(s):  
David Recondo

The popular movement that emerged on June the 14th, 2006, in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez and the opposition’s victor y on the elections held on July the 2nd of the same year are connected. Both processes reflect the terminal crisis of a political regime based on traditional clientele and authoritarian relationships as forms of domination. However, the electoral shift that favored the opposition during the last presidential and legislative elections isn’t entirely new. After a detailed analysis of the evolution of the electoral results in the 570 districts of Oaxaca, one can conclude that the PRI (Institutional Revolutionar y Party) has been loosing votes since the end of the eighties decade . The opposition (PRD, PAN, and recently the Convergencia) have gained ground during the last 20 years. Oaxaca has gradually ceased to be a stronghold of the PRI.


Author(s):  
Vincent Azoulay

This chapter examines the role that Pericles played in the establishment of Athenian imperialism. It asks whether Pericles tried to check the imperial dynamic or whether he acted as its catalyst, and whether it is possible to speak already of Athenian imperialism at the time when Pericles was exercising a decisive influence on the destiny of the city. The discussion begins with an analysis of Pericles' role in the Delian League's development and its transformation into an empire. The chapter then considers Pericles' cruelty in crushing the revolts of the allied cities, as is shown by the expulsion of the Aeginetans during the Peloponnesian War in 431. It also explores Pericles' efforts to lend legitimacy to the power of Athens by means of monuments that gave material expression to the city's new imperial status, the most famous of which was the Parthenon.


Via Latgalica ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Aīda Razumovska ◽  
Anastasija Cepina ◽  
Ņikita Jefimovs

<p>Yury Tynyanov is an outstanding scientist, writer, translator, one of the founders of the formal school in literary criticism. The article is devoted to the role of two cities – Rēzekne and Pskov – in the destiny of Tynyanov. These are place, where the writer spent his childhood and youth. Kaverin’s statement refers to both cities: “Tynyanov paid attention to his childhood, which was following him slowly but steadily.”</p><p>Tynyanov’s memoirs, reminiscences of his friends and contemporaries provide an interesting material for analysis. Child’s impressions are reflected in writer’s autobiography. It is connected with daily life of Rezhitsa (Rēzekne) and its inhabitants. Primarily, author’s attention was drawn to people – the representatives of different nationalities and social stratums, who retained their cultural traditions and mode of life: “The town was small, hilly and very different.</p><p>On the hill there were the ruins of Livonian castle, Jewish alleys were below, and beyond the river there was a schismatic skit. At the same time there lived Jews, Belarusians, Great Russians and Latvians, and there were several centuries and countries. Old Believers were like Surikov archers. In the skit there was celebrated a wedding on rabid horses.</p><p>Russian people of the 17th century were walking there; old men were wearing long coats, wide-brimmed hats; beards were like sharp, long icicles. Drunkenness was archaic and often ended up with riding.”</p><p>Tynyanov strived to understand thoughts, characters and essence of people. Drawing portraits of townspeople from memory, the writer noted some details, which are important for understanding human’s nature. These descriptions can be called psychological.</p><p>With such a desire to cognize human’s soul it is no wonder that little Tynyanov mostly was interested in people, who were out of the crowd, standing below the norm not only socially, but also psychologically. Rezhitsa gave him amazing material for observation: “There were a lot of crazy and eccentric people in the town. They amused everyone. One young Jew stamped his feet in front of the photoshop’s showcase which he stared at, yelling: “My dear, look straight at me!” A crazy woman was driving a brood of her children – they grew in number from year to year. Went without Karamazov.”</p><p>Tynyanov described a lot of astonishing people, remembering his hometown. He remembered the names of many of them: Kolia Topolev, who wasted all money on cabs and became a tramp, Mishka Posadskii – terrible, one-handed, looked like a cautious, confident beast of unknown breed, and Crazy Nikolay – so exact that hostess checked on him, whether it is time to start preparing porridge.</p><p>From his childhood’s observations Tynyanov began his way to become one of the most extraordinary researchers and a peerless writer. He had an amazing ability to take the shape of another person like an actor. He could see what he feels, what he is thinking about and what the matters of his behaviour are. He could become this person for a while, whether it is tramp or Pushkin himself or Griboyedov. Taking into consideration the fact, which can be observed in reality or taken from a historical document, Tynyanov was able to go further, to go under the surface, to feel intuitively the condition of a person. He formulated his method this way: “I start where the document ends.”</p><p>The role of Pskov in Tynyanov’s life has also played a significant role, because places had always had a great impact on the writer and had shaped the identity, future, as well as the literary taste of the philologist. In Pskov, during the years of studying at school, Tynyanov gained his first friends, began to learn Russian and foreign literature. Everyday life of the city itself, i. e., its weekdays and holidays influenced the philologist’s future: “Since that time I got to know Russian province.” A particular attention in the autobiography is paid to prisons and convicts, but still the determining factor in the perception of the city is an amazing atmosphere of intellectual and artistic freedom.</p>


1985 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  

If the picture of the Athenian empire after 446/5 given in the previous chapter is correct, we may accept Thucydides’ judgement that the truest reason for the Peloponnesians’ going to war against Athens was the growth of Athenian power and Sparta’s fear of it (1.23.6, 88, 118.2). Sparta demanded that Athens should leave the Greeks autonomous (1.139.3), and Thucydides remarks that most men favoured the Spartans, ‘particularly as they proclaimed that they were going to liberate Greece’ (2.8.4).The Spartans’ initial strategy was to invade Attica in the hope that the Athenians would come out of the city to fight; the Athenians’ was to stay inside the city when Sparta invaded, and to rely on their naval power – for ultimate survival, according to Thucydides (1.143.4–5, 2.13.3, 65.7), but the scale of the expeditions mounted and of the running-down of Athens’ financial reserves in the early years of the war suggests that in fact they hoped to win a quick victory by demonstrating their invulnerability. Corcyraean ships were used in 431 and Chian and Lesbian in 430 (2.25.1, 56.2); soldiers from tribute-paying allies are first encountered in 425 (4.7, 42). The allies’ tribute was spent on the war: there seemed no need to increase the general level of the tribute in 430, but there were substantial increases in 428 and 425 – to an optimistic assessment of over 1,460 talents, as compared with prewar figures of 600 talents given by Thucydides, 430 talents calculated from the tribute lists.


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