The Bases of Periclean Power: The Orator

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Azoulay
Keyword(s):  
Public Speaking ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
The Masses

This chapter examines another base of Pericles' political power: as orator. In Athens, a city rapidly moving toward democratization, persuasive oratory played a key role. Pericles was a master not only of public speaking but also of the art of remaining silent or, to be more precise, of getting his political allies to speak in his place. The chapter first considers the nature of Pericles' rhetoric and his mastery of the art of persuasion in the context of Athenian democracy before discussing the two complementary facets of Pericles' oratorical skill, authority and pedagogy, through a reading of The Peloponnesian War. It also describes how Pericles limited the number of his public interventions by delegating power in order to strengthen his own authority. The chapter argues that Pericles' measured appearances impressed the masses because they evoked not just an imperial ceremony, but possibly even a form of religious epiphany.

CATALYSTS OF BARBARIZATION AND DEBARBARIZATION IN CLASSICAL ATHENS

2021 ◽  
pp. 151-168
Author(s):  
И.Е. СУРИКОВ
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Radical Democracy ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Reverse Motion

В качестве факторов, способствовавших нарастанию варваризации в Афинах второй полвины V в. до н.э., в статье указываются создание Афинской морской державы, движение софистов, конфликт поколений, Пелопоннесская война, наступление «эры демагогов». Обратное же движение в сторону деварваризации (с самого конца Vв. до н.э.) было связано в первую очередь с возрождением уважения к законности, с укреплением стабильности и порядка. Новая афинская демократия IV в. до н.э., которую одни специалисты считают «усовершенствованным» вариантом по сравнению с демократией предшествующего столетия, а другие, напротив, ее упадком, кризисом, была в основном свободна как от охлократических, так и от олигархических тенденций; она может с полным основанием быть определена как умеренная демократия, в отличие от радикальной демократии второй половины V в. до н.э. Конфликтов не то чтобы не было, но их старались разрешать мирным путем, по возможности достигая компромисса и избегая насилия. The article cites as factors, which promoted the growth of barbarization in Athens in the last half of the 5thcentury B.C., the following ones: the emergence of the Athenian Empire, the sophistic movement, the conflict of generations, the Peloponnesian War, and the coming of the “era of demagogues”. As to the reverse motion towards debarbarization (from the very end of the 5th century B.C.), it was connected, in the first instance, with revival of the lawfulness’ authority and with strengthening order and stability. The new Athenian democracy of the 4thcentury B.C. (which is considered by some scholars an “improved” version as compared with democracy of the previous century, but by other scholars, on the contrary, its decline and crisis) was in general free from both ochlocratic and oligarchic tendencies; it may be with good reason defined as a moderate democracy, as distinct from the radical democracy of the last half of the 5thcentury B.C. It is not to say that there were no conflicts, but people sought to solve them by peaceful way, as far as possible, to reach compromises and to avoid violence.

scholarly journals From Illiberal Democracy to Military Authoritarianism: Intra-Elite Struggle and Mass-Based Conflict in Deeply Polarized Thailand

2018 ◽  
Vol 681 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prajak Kongkirati
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Major Part ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Class Structure ◽  
Social Cleavages ◽  
Illiberal Democracy ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Popular Nationalism ◽  
The Masses

Thailand fits the pattern of pernicious polarized politics identified in this volume, where a previously excluded group successfully gains political power through the ballot box, governs unilaterally to pursue radical reforms, and produces a backlash from the traditional power elites. In Thailand, elite conflict has been a major part of the story, but this article argues that political polarization there cannot be merely understood as “elite-driven”: conflict among the elites and the masses, and the interaction between them, produced polarized and unstable politics. Violent struggle is caused by class structure and regional, urban-rural disparities; elite struggle activates the existing social cleavages; and ideological framing deepens the polarization. While the Yellow Shirts and traditional elites want to restore and uphold the “Thai-style democracy” with royal nationalism, the Red Shirts espouse the “populist democracy” of strong elected government with popular nationalism and egalitarian social order.

The Bases of Periclean Power: The Stratēgos

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Azoulay
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Military Strategy ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Military Leader ◽  
Military Command ◽  
Set Up

This chapter examines one of the bases of Pericles' political power: as military leader, which rests upon the office of a stratēgos. It first considers the institutional and military mainsprings of Pericles' authority before discussing the function of a stratēgos and the reasons why the role played by this office was so crucial in Athens. It then explores how Pericles set up a veritable policy for glory, even to the point of singing the praises of his own successes. It also analyzes Pericles' military strategy in the Peloponnesian War and concludes with the argument that Pericles' success rested on military glory—as head of the Athenian armies and navies. The chapter shows that, as a stratēgos in warfare, well accustomed to military command, Pericles dominated Athenian political life for twenty or so years.

scholarly journals Socrates and Deliberative Democracy. On Socrates’ Conception of Politics in Plato’s Apology, Crito and Gorgias

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Christoph Jedan
Keyword(s):  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Ethical View

The position of Socrates in Plato’s earlier dialogues is often seen as an anticipation of contemporary political theories. This article takes issue with the claim that Socrates anticipated modern theories of deliberative democracy. It examines three early Platonic dialogues (the Apology, the Crito and the Gorgias) and argues that the Socrates presented in the dialogues is actually far more dogmatic in ethical as well as religious matters than such annexations of Socrates can acknowledge. Furthermore, Socrates does not develop a theory that would support Athenian democracy. Although politically inactive within the Athenian political framework, Socrates is nonetheless depicted in the Gorgias as formulating an “ethical” view of politics. According to this conception, true politics is always virtue‑ oriented. It is a matter of improving the characters of one’s fellow citizens, and is detached from the question of how political power should be distributed. Socrates’ political outlook is echoed in several Hellenistic philosophical schools, the Stoics in particular.

Thucydides (fl. c.400 BC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Woodruff
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Public Rhetoric ◽  
Political Views

A Greek historian with philosophical interests, Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431–404 bc). He elaborates on the decisions of war in brilliantly reconstructed debates and speeches, reflecting his training under various Sophists. Many of these speeches take for granted that people care less for justice than for their own narrow interests. This dark view of human nature influenced Hobbes, while the style of the debates and speeches has had an enduring effect on public rhetoric. His account of Athenian democracy in action is cautionary, and his conservative political views anticipated Aristotle’s in some respects.

Imperial Political Culture in the Modern Age

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Pines
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Power ◽  
New Age ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Intellectual Elite ◽  
Political Unity ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Chinese Political Culture

This chapter focuses on the modern trajectory of those major aspects of traditional Chinese political culture that discussed in the previous chapters. It shows that the concept of political unity remained the least affected by the advent of modernity. However, the principle of monarchism collapsed immediately with the advent of the new age, and the intellectual elite likewise saw a gradual erosion in their political power. Descending the traditional social ladder, the chapter arrives at two groups whose positions changed dramatically in the wake of the twentieth-century upheavals: local elites and the commoners. The first were, along with the emperor, the chief victims of China's entrance into modernity; the latter—now referred to in the modern parlance, as “the masses”—were supposed to be its major beneficiaries, and certainly gained a lot, though less than what might have been expected.

Ummidia Quadratilla: Cagey Businesswoman or Lazy Pantomime Watcher?

1999 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 330-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Sick
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Italian Family ◽  
Monetary Value ◽  
The Masses

In letter 7.24 Pliny provides his readers with a character sketch of the elderly matriarch of a distinguished and wealthy Italian family-Ummidia Quadratilla. Ummidia passed her later years as a fan of the theater; specifically, "she had pantomimes." Pliny disapproves of the shows presented by these performers, and he chastises Ummidia for her interest in pantomime. In fact he views her conduct as symptomatic of a vice among women in general: "I have heard that she herself used to relax her mind with checkers or watch her pantomimes, as women do in the idleness of their sex." We should not be surprised by these comments; there was a tradition of ambivalence among the Romans toward the professions of the theater, and when women became involved with these professions, the ambivalence could turn to contempt. Given the general disposition of Roman males toward pantomime and women, modern readers should not so readily accept Pliny's assessment. By training her slaves as pantomimes, Ummidia was greatly increasing their value. From numerous ancient sources we know that the monetary value of slaves trained in the theatrical professions was among the highest accorded any slave. Moreover, because of Ummidia's endowment of a theater in her native Casinum and the performance of Ummidia's pantomimes in public games, we might say that she was the manager of a small "theatrical empire." Finally, because of the great interest in pantomime on the part of the masses and the desire of the upper classes, including members of various imperial families, to soothe these masses with games, control of popular pantomimes might have given Ummidia access to limited political power.

scholarly journals Historiografía y participación política de masas: la "decadencia" de la democracia ateniense en el siglo IV a.C. = Historiography and the political participation of the masses: the "decay" of the Athenian democracy in fourth-century BC

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 263
Author(s):  
Diego Paiaro ◽  
Mariano Requena
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Political Incorporation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Factor ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Ancient Athens ◽  
History Of ◽  
Popular Classes ◽  
The Masses

Resumen: Las características de la democracia y, especialmente, las implicancias de la participación política plena de los «pobres» han sido objeto de una profunda atención por parte del pensamiento político e histórico moderno con respecto a la historia de Atenas. Principalmente preocupados por las consecuencias asociadas al desarrollo de la soberanía popular y por la influencia progresiva de las clases populares como fuerza política, la tradición historiográfica y la filosofía política moderna tendieron a vincular a la incorporación política de las masas con la “crisis” y el “declive” de Atenas. En el presente trabajo se analiza críticamente dicha tradición interpretativa desde nuestra situación contemporánea.Palabras clave: Atenas Antigua, Democracia, Crisis, Historiografía.Abstract: The features of the Athenian democracy and particularly the implications of the full political incorporation of the «poor» have been subjected to the full attention of several modern intellectuals interested in the history of Athens. Mainly concerned with the consequences related to the development of the popular sovereignty and by the growing influence of the popular classes as a relevant political factor, modern political philosophy and traditional historiography have tended to relate the political incorporation of the masses with the Athenian “crisis” and its “decline”. In this paper, this interpretative tradition is critically analysed from our contemporary context.Key words: Ancient Athens, Democracy, Crisis, Historiography.

Exile, Ostracism and the Athenian Democracy

2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 232-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Forsdyke
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Political Problem ◽  
Democratic Rule

This paper addresses the question of the role of ostracism in democratic Athens. I argue that the frequent expulsion of aristocrats by rival aristocrats in the predemocratic polis is the key to understanding the function of ostracism in the democratic polis. I show that aristocratic "politics of exile" was a fundamental political problem in the archaic polis and that democratic political power, symbolized by the institution of ostracism, was the polis' solution to the problem. In the archaic polis, the expulsion of aristocrats often led to an endless cycle of exiles and returns and consequent political instability. In 508/7, the Athenian demos usurped the power over decisions of exile by banishing Isagoras and recalling Cleisthenes from exile. By taking control of decisions of exile, the Athenian demos took over political power insofar as power over decisions of exile had become synonymous with political power. The creation of the institution of ostracism, whereby the people decided collectively whether to banish a single citizen for ten years, provided not only a mechanism for the symbolic expression of democratic power, but also a means for the practical and ideological distinction between oligarchic and democratic rule. While aristocrats had banished their opponents without limit in numbers and duration of exile, the Athenian democracy decided each year whether to banish a single individual for a limited time period. In most years, the Athenian demos chose not to exercise the power of exile. Nevertheless, the annual question in the assembly served to remind aristocrats that the demos held the fundamental political power, and hence deterred aristocrats from attempting to overthrow the democracy. The limited nature of ostracism further deterred exiled aristocrats from attempting to return by force. Finally, the infrequent and moderate use of exile as a means of resolving political conflict helps to explain the extraordinary stability of the Athenian democracy.

The Population of Athens Again

1959 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 61-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Gomme
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
European Country ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Peloponnesian War ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Active Service ◽  
The Subject

Professor A. H. M. Jones in the appendix to his new book (pp. 161–80), Athenian Democracy (see below, p. 182), tackles afresh the problem of the population of Athens during the Peloponnesian war, and introduces three novelties: that the 13,000 hoplites of Thucydides ii 13.6 mean hoplites of the age-classes 20 to 39, not 20 to 49 as most of us, if not all, have assumed from Lykourgos, Leokrates 39–40, and some other evidence; that klerouchoi (but not apoikoi) remained in Athens, drawing rents from their kleroi in the subject states, all now within the hoplite census and included in the 13,000; and, the most important of the three, that to get a true picture of mortality rates and so of the relative strengths of different age-classes we must liken the Athenians to certain groups of persons in the Roman Empire between the first and third centuries A.D. and to India at the beginning of the present century, not to any European country during the last hundred years.Jones takes me to task for suggesting that the at first sight surprising number of ‘oldest and youngest’ in the reserve to whom during the war was allotted the defence of the walls (Thuc. ii 13.7) was in part to be accounted for by the inclusion of all those in the classes 20 to 49 who were not fit for active service in the hoplite ranks, who would be a source of weakness rather than of strength to an army. ‘There are serious objections to this theory’, he says (p. 162). ‘It is in the first place not what Thucydides says. Secondly, it is pure speculation, unsupported by any evidence.’ ‘Let us then’, he adds, ‘set aside this theory and examine the facts afresh.’ This promises well.

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