Athens, 403 BC
A Democracy in Crisis?
Published on 20. March 2025
Book
Hardback
392 pages
978-1-009-49096-2 (ISBN)
Description
At the end of the fifth century BC, the Peloponnesian War resulted in Athens' shattering defeat by Sparta. Taking advantage of the debacle, a commission of thirty Athenians abolished the democratic institutions that for a century had governed the political life of the city and precipitated a year-long civil war. By autumn 403 BC, democracy was restored. Inspired by the model of the ancient chorus, this strikingly innovative book interprets a crucial moment in classical history through the prism of ten remarkable individuals and the shifting groups which formed around them. The former include more familiar names like the multifaceted Sokrates, the oligarch Kritias and the rhetorician Lysias, but also lesser-known figures like the scribe Nikomachos, the former slave Gerys and the priestess Lysimakhe. What leads a community to tear itself apart, even disintegrate, then rebuild itself? This question, explored through profound reflection on the past, echoes our tormented present.
Reviews / Votes
'In Athens 403BC Azoulay and Ismard have produced a superb study of the critical period defined by the brief ascendancy and rapid fall of the Thirty in the aftermath of Athens' defeat in 403 BC. This is an original study with a distinctive voice and a compelling thesis.' Jeremy McInerney, University OF Pennsylvania 'Homonoia (Unanimity) and Diallage (Reconciliation) were 5th-century BCE Athenian democratic catchwords but they still resonate today, as perhaps never before. How timely then is this brilliant collaborative investigation of plurality, polyphony and dissonance in the world's first democracy. Let me only add my voice to the chorus of praise that is its due.' Paul Cartledge, University of CambridgeMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 3 Maps; 2 Line drawings, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
714 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-49096-2 (9781009490962)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
VINCENT AZOULAY is Director of Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He is a former member of the Institut Universitaire de France and the current director of the international bilingual journal of the Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. He has been awarded several prizes, including the Prix du livre d'histoire du Senat (2011). He is the author of several books already translated in English: Pericles of Athens (2014), The Tyrant-Slayers of Ancient Athens (2017) and Xenophon and the Graces of Power (2018). PAULIN ISMARD is Professor of Ancient Greek History at Aix-Marseille University. He is a former member of the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies and of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He has received several awards: the Prix du livre d'histoire du Senat (2014), Grand Prix des Rendez-Vous de l'Histoire de Blois (2016) and Prix Francois Millepierres de l'Academie Francaise (2016). He is also the author of Democracy's Slaves. A Political History of Ancient Greece (2017), La cite et ses esclaves (2019) and Les mondes de l'esclavage. Une histoire comparee (2021).
Content
Introduction. Towards a choral history; 1. Critias and the oligarchs; 2. Thrasybulus and the democratic resistance; 3. Archinus or the victory of the 'moderates'; 4. Socrates and the voices of neutrality; 5. Lysimache: the priestess of Athena and her doubles; 6. Eutherus and the precarious workers; 7. Hegeso or the family torn asunder; 8. Gerys and the world of the merchant agora; 9. Nicomachus and the servants of the city; 10. Lysias, a multi-faceted man; Conclusion. The city in chorus.