Origins of democracy in ancient Greece
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Origins of democracy in ancient Greece
(The Joan Palevsky imprint in classical literature)
University of California Press, c2007
Available at 11 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
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  Gunma
  Saitama
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  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
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  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
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  Tokushima
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  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-223) and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This book presents a state-of-the-art debate about the origins of Athenian democracy by five eminent scholars. The result is a stimulating, critical exploration and interpretation of the extant evidence on this intriguing and important topic. The authors address such questions as: Why was democracy first realized in ancient Greece? Was democracy 'invented' or did it evolve over a long period of time? What were the conditions for democracy, the social and political foundations that made this development possible? And what factors turned the possibility of democracy into necessity and reality? The authors first examine the conditions in early Greek society that encouraged equality and 'people's power.' They then scrutinize, in their social and political contexts, three crucial points in the evolution of democracy: the reforms connected with the names of Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes in the early and late sixth and mid-fifth century. Finally, an ancient historian and a political scientist review the arguments presented in the previous chapters and add their own perspectives, asking what lessons we can draw today from the ancient democratic experience.
Designed for a general readership as well as students and scholars, the book intends to provoke discussion by presenting side by side the evidence and arguments that support various explanations of the origins of democracy, thus enabling readers to join in the debate and draw their own conclusions.
Table of Contents
About the Authors Chronology of Events List of Abbreviations 1. Introduction Kurt A. Raaflaub 2. "People's Power" and Egalitarian Trends in Archaic Greece Kurt A. Raaflaub and Robert W. Wallace 3. Revolutions and a New Order in Solonian Athens and Archaic Greece Robert W. Wallace 4. "I Besieged That Man": Democracy's Revolutionary Start Josiah Ober 5. The Breakthrough of Demokratia in Mid-Fifth-Century Athens Kurt A. Raaflaub 6. Democracy, Origins of: Contribution to a Debate Paul Cartledge 7. Power to the People Cynthia Farrar Bibliography Index of primary sources general Index
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