Unity and Diversity in Greek Art

Chapter 6 looks at some of the roles played by the domestic buildings of the wealthier and more powerful members of society in Greek communities, particularly during the fourth and third centuries BCE. Over time there was a dramatic growth in the size and opulence of the largest houses. It seems to be the case that the symbolic role of the house began to shift, with owners using their properties as statements of personal power and wealth to an extent which had not been acceptable before. Such changes are most obvious in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods at royal cities such as Vergina and Pella (Greek Macedonia), where monumental palatial buildings covered thousands of square metres. It is argued that, to some extent, their emergence can be viewed as the continuation of a trend already visible by the earlier fourth century BCE in cities like Olynthos and Priene.

This chapter examines the power dynamics which can exist in processes of regional integration. While regional integration can be pursued in such a way that it is mutually beneficial to all participants, economies of scale and political unification can equally be achieved at the expense of the political sovereignty, economic advantage, and communal identity of less powerful communities. This was the case with the communities of the middle Scamander valley in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods: a region of the Troad which had supported up to seven small to medium-sized cities in the Classical period was carved up by Ilion and Alexandreia Troas in the course of the Hellenistic period, leaving only Skepsis independent by the second century BC. This process is usually assumed to have begun with Antigonos Monophthalmos in the 300s. However, this unequal power dynamic between coast and interior had already existed in the Classical period and was allowed to develop by the nature of Persian rule. The chapter examines the impact which the creation of a royal horse stud in the middle Scamander valley in the fourth century BC will have had on this region and places this development within the longer history of the unequal power dynamic between coast and interior in the Troad.

The greatest period of Celtic expansion occurred between the fourth and third centuries BC, with the conquest of new territories on the margins of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. Historians often underemphasize this period: while the barbarian raids and the rise of mercenary service in the fourth century BC are stressed, colonization is neglected. In addition, Celtic society at that time was radically different from those found in coeval Mediterranean cultures. Imports from the south were much less common than in previous centuries, and attempts at urbanization were abandoned. Celtic society became distinctly rural, with its craft industries, settlement, and sanctuaries dispersed throughout the countryside. Although there were local variations, art and religion assumed original and consistent characteristics. Celtic society was composed of peasants and warriors and dominated by large aristocratic families.

This article focuses on the Attic grave stelae of the late fifth and fourth centuries B. C. as a source for understanding the construction of gender in Classical Athenian society. After a discussion of the nature of the Athenian cemetery and the stelae as artistic productions, selected images on stelae of single-sex and mixed-sex (family) groups, and accompanying inscriptions, are analyzed. The varied strategies of gender representation on them are shown to be linked to the differing models of gender relations appropriate to the Athenian state (polis) and the family (oikos). While on both types of stelae the commemoration of women typically invoked relationships with male members of their family, on the single-sex type this is done covertly, through allusions to dowry in the representation of jewelry, or verbally through epitaphs, preserving an image of women's separation from men. On stelae showing males and females, male family members are represented overtly in the visual sphere of women. Men's importance as members of the family unit is asserted on stelae depicting family groups, but not on stelae depicting only males, which assert their civic role. In conclusion, the tension between polis and oikos implicit in these representations of gender relations is related to the wider problem of the unstable division between state and family in the space of the cemetery and in the grave stelae as monuments.

SummaryThis paper explores the relationship between the historical dynamics and the transformations observed in pre‐Roman cult places in eastern Iberia between the fourth and second centuries BC. These are analysed through a case study: the sanctuary of La Luz (Murcia), located in the Segura Valley, in south‐east Iberia. Three main religious changes are discussed from this perspective: the development of the sanctuary in the fourth century BC, the changes observed in its archaeological record in the third century BC, and finally its destruction in the second century BC. These offer a diachronic view of the transformations, and illustrate the different levels at which they were expressed, from the archaeological record to the landscape. The work aims to provide a different perspective from previous studies in this area and a new view of the cult places in south‐east Iberia within their socio‐political landscape and the Mediterranean historical context.

The inspiration behind the pre-modern bronze round coinage standardised across China by the First Emperor of Qin in the 3rd century BC have remained fairly obscure and are still a contentious issue. We demonstrate in this article that the various theories arguing for an exclusively endogenous impetus behind the spread and development of Chinese round coinage vouched for by many scholars in either East Asia or the West all carry inherent contradictions. In contrast, circumstantial and archaeological evidence in support of partly exogenous origins are mounting. Evidence from the Middle East points to the early invention and wide circulation of round coinage in Lydia, Greece and the Achaemenid Empire. The expansion of the Persians into India in the 6th century BC and the later incursions by Alexander and the Greco-Bactrians in the fourth and third centuries BC all facilitated and may have decisively contributed to India’s adoption of round coinage. Similarly, the flow of ideas, artistic motifs and metallurgic knowhow from West Asia to China via Central Asia had occurred much earlier than the 3rd century BC. Active adoption of foreign (Central Eurasian steppe) customs in the fourth century BC is recorded in Chinese pre-imperial records and confirmed by recent archaeological findings across Eurasia. Ongoing archaeological work in China’s western provinces could further highlight this ancient phase of globalization that, quite literally, still shapes our most fundamental grasp of money.

A number of research projects in Petra and the surrounding region have resulted in exciting new avenues of study with regard to Nabataean religion, architecture, and economy. Reports concerning eight such projects were presented at the 46th Seminar for Arabian Studies held at the British Museum on 28–30 July 2011. The resulting published volume contains preliminary reports of a major archaeological survey north of Petra and excavations in the earliest levels of the Petra city center, in tomb complexes, and a royal residence of the first century BCE on the Umm al-Biyara. The work also includes a number of diverse thematic studies concerning Nabataean shrines located in the hinterland, the funerary landscape of Petra, and an examination of the date of the Incense Road between Petra and Gaza.In “Landscapes North of Petra: The Petra Area and Wādī Silaysil Survey,” it is evident that Brown University continues its tradition of ground-breaking research in the Petra region with the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP), directed by S. E. Alcock and C. A. Tuttle. A major component of the project is the Petra Area and Wādī Silaysil Survey (PAWS), directed by S. E. Alcock and A. R. Knodell. The intensive pedestrian survey has covered ca. 350 ha in the Bayda area north of Petra during the 2010 and 2011 seasons and has sought to identify settlement change by quantification of artifact distributions across the landscape (p. 7). The survey has revealed traces of human activity that reach back into the Paleolithic era (p. 8). Of particular interest is the discovery of Early Bronze Age material around Umm Saysaban, Iron II material in the vicinity of Bayda and east of Ras al-Silaysil, and Hellenistic remains near Ras al-Silaysil. The research indicates a marked increase in sherd density across the landscape in the Hellenistic period with a noticeable peak in the Early and Middle Roman periods between 50 BCE and 250 CE (p. 10). The intensive methodology and documentation efforts employed in the project are unparalleled in the region and will undoubtedly serve as a model for future endeavors here and elsewhere.A team of eminent archaeologists, S. G. Schmid, P. Bienkowski, Z. T. Fiema, and B. Kolb, led the search for the royal palaces in Petra in “The Palaces of the Nabataean Kings at Petra.” Their work resulted in the discovery of a royal residence on the Umm al-Biyara and a possible royal quarter (basileia) at the foot of al-Khubthah closer to the Petra city center. The residence was discovered on the eastern promontory of the Umm al-Biyara Plateau, overlooking the Petra city center. It was sumptuous with heated bathing facilities, alatrine, Nabataean capitals, marble sculptures, and traces of opus sectile decoration. The discovery of this type of mountain-top palatial residence in Petra allows comparisons with the Hasmonean and Herodian palaces in neighboring Judea and particularly Herod's Northern Palace at Masada (Netzer 1991).Masada and Umm al-Biyara both share the problem of water procurement in a dry inhospitable landscape. At Petra, the Nabataean builders took advantage of natural topographical features by constructing cisterns on the natural catchment of a slope directly above the residence (p. 77). The date of the construction (late first century BCE to early first century CE) suggests the influence of Herodian architecture; although it is noted that the residence shares features found at other Judean sites as well (pp. 84–85). The researchers propose that the structure was destroyed in the earthquake of 363 CE on the basis of lamp fragments found on a floor surface. However, more extensive excavation is required to determine if the structure was damaged or destroyed by earthquake in the early second century CE (see Kolb 2002: 261; 2007: 167; Kanellopoulos 2001: 13) or if it continued to be occupied as late as the fourth century CE. The proposed basileia below the Khubthah Massif requires even more investigation. The researchers place a great deal of emphasis on the availability of water provided by the al-Khubthah aqueduct and the water catchment of the massif. They also propose that the so-called Palace Tomb may have been a royal tomb (heroon) inside the basileia similar to those found in other Hellenistic royal quarters (p. 93). The possibility that a tomb was intentionally situated inside an inhabited area stands in stark contrast with the necropoleis of Petra, which are situated outside of the inhabited areas of the city center.In “Dating the Early Phases under the Temenos of the Qasr al-Bint at Petra,” the excavations in the Petra city center next to the Qasr al-Bint conducted by the French Archaeological Expedition, including F. Renel, M. Mouton C. Augé, C. Gauthier, C. Hatté, J.-F. Saliège, and A. Zazzo, are examined. The project has provided a major contribution to our knowledge of the earliest phases of Nabataean settlement at the site. Their research points to occupational levels as early as the fourth century BCE and the construction of dwellings in the third century BCE. This early dating is supported by calibrated radio carbon dates, as well as ceramic and numismatic evidence (pp. 50–51). The French expedition, together with the results of excavations carried out below the main street further to the east by P. Parr (1970; 2007) and D. F. Graf (2013 and Graf et al. 2005), provide evidence that offsets previous interpretations regarding the nature of early Nabataean society. Such views were influenced by a widespread reliance on the testimony of Hieronymous of Cardia (312/311 BCE), quoted by Diodorus Siculus, who claimed that the Nabataeans were nomads who abhorred any form of settlement (Dio. Sic. 19.94.10; cf. 2.48.1–2).Wenning and Gorgerat discuss the excavation of a chamber tomb and adjacent complex next to the Aslah Triclinium, located on high ground opposite the opening to the Siq, described as the Bab al-Siq necropolis in “The International Aslah Project, Petra: New Research and New Questions.” The project area is of particular importance due to a Nabataean inscription found on the back wall of the triclinium, which is considered to be the oldest dated inscription in Petra: ca. 96/95 BCE. The excavation has revealed a number of issues succinctly treated by Wenning. In spite of the date of the inscription, which includes a reference to the existence of a nearby cistern, the burials in the tomb and the complex in front appear to have been carved nearly a century later, toward the end of the first century BCE or early first century CE, and remains continued to be interred until at least the beginning of the second century CE. This discrepancy has prompted Wenning to examine the function and significance of Nabataean sanctuaries, such as triclinia, within the framework of G. Dalman's assumption that the Aslah Triclinium Complex belonged to a clan (Dalman 1912: 100). Wenning points out that rock-cut installations at Petra in the form of triclinia, biclinia, and stibadia are not necessarily found in relation to burials and in fact less than a quarter of these installations have been found in such contexts (p. 137). He regards the Aslah Trinclinium Complex as a sanctuary devoted to Dushara that belonged to a particular clan. The complex included the triclinium and its inscription, as well as incised symbols of the deity, a niche basin for purification, cup-holes that may have been used for libations, and votive niches, which includes an entire row of 18 niches located near the triclinium.Gorgerat's excavation in the deep pit graves inside the chamber tomb produced an impressive group of 30 ceramic unguentaria recovered from one grave (p. 129). These vessels have since been published (Gorgerat and Wenning 2013: Fig. 14) and they appear to belong to the latest types of ceramic unguentaria produced in the area from the post-annexation period until the early third century CE.Lucy Wadeson's contribution, “The Funerary Landscape of Petra: Results from a New Study,” deals with the influence of geology and topography on tomb architecture, important factors that have largely been overlooked. She devotes a better part of the chapter to the large numbers of shaft tombs in Petra. For obvious reasons, tombs with carved decorative façades have been studied intensely at the expense of plain shaft graves, which are nearly invisible in the landscape. Wadeson discusses the chronology of the shaft tombs in relation to the development of the façade tombs, noting that a number were apparently converted into façade tombs, thus pre-dating the better known type (p. 114). Overall, shaft tombs were probably the most common form of Nabataean burial. At least 3,500 examples were located east of the Dead Sea in Khirbet Qazone, where they were dated to the first three centuries CE (Politis and Cline 1999). Moreover, the use of shaft tombs is not restricted to the Nabataeans; they were also utilized by the Jewish inhabitants of Qumran in the first and second centuries CE. In both cemeteries the graves are oriented north–south (Magness 2004: 119). Wadeson also discusses the possibility that the façade-type tombs developed out of the earlier block tombs that are found next to the eastern and southern approaches to Petra (p. 105). The development of the façade-type tombs appear to have been strongly influenced by Alexandrian tomb architecture that Nabataean artisans skillfully adapted to the extreme geology and topography of Petra (pp. 108–9).The Finnish Jabal Hārūn Project completed several seasons of excavations that uncovered a Byzantine-period monastery below the peak of Jabal Hārūn (Fiema and Frösén 2008). In his article, “Reinventing the Sacred: From Shrine to Monastery at Jabal Hārūn,” Fiema proposes that part of the Western Building that was the core of the complex may have originally been part of an earlier Nabataean shrine. In view of the religious significance of this highly visible peak in the Byzantine and Islamic periods, the existence of a Nabataean cultic shrine here is quite reasonable. Needless to say, mountain-top shrines and temples are found throughout Nabataean-controlled regions in the Sinai, the Negev, the Edomite plateau, and Petra itself. Fiema discusses the circumstances that a pagan shrine may have given way to a Christian site that venerated the biblical figure of Aaron, brother of the prophet Moses. He points out that the transition from paganism to Christianity at the site may not have been particularly violent and may have even been possible by the natural destruction of an earlier shrine during the earthquake of 363 CE (p. 33).Marie-Jeanne Roche offers an intriguing contribution entitled “A Nabataean Shrine to Isis in Wādī Abū Ullayqah in the South-West of Petra.” She examines an important shrine dedicated to the goddess Isis, who is depicted as a seated Demeter-type figure (now headless) beautifully carved in a sandstone outcrop. Roche proposes that the shrine may be identified as one described in the Oxyrhynchus Invocation of Isis, “in Petra, [Isis] is called soteira (‘saviour’)….” (p. 68). The area around the statue exhibits possible cultic installations: a natural basin under a waterfall; Nabataean inscriptions, including two that refer to the goddess Isis; and engraved drawings of feet. Two betyls, one an eye-idol, and more inscriptions are present in a second location beyond the waterfall (pp. 58–59). Roche notes that the Nabataean spelling of the name Isis corresponds to the Egyptian rather than its Greek equivalent (p. 61), a fact that appears to underline the direct ties between Petra and Egypt that go back to the beginning of the Hellenistic period. Nearly 150 Nabataean names are found in the descriptions along with common Nabataean formulas, dkr, “to remember,” and slm, “peace.” Notably, these formulas continue to appear in late Nabataean inscriptions, including those written in ink on plaster (by the plasterer himself) that were uncovered in sealed contexts from the late fourth century at Oboda (Erickson-Gini 2010: 185, Fig. 7.5). The dedication of a physician (p. 64) ties in with Roche's supposition that the site was a healing shrine where flowing water was an important component. According to Roche, this may be an element that was shared with the Nabataean deity, Dushara, whose name appears several times in inscriptions at the site in the form of al-Ga (p. 59).Haim Ben-David's contribution, “Nabataean or Late Roman? Reconsidering the Date of the Built Sections and Milestones along the Petra–Gaza Road,” discusses the phasing of the ancient Incense Road that stretched across the Wadi Arabah to the Mediterranean coast. His work is significant because all too often the Incense Road is treated as a monolithic single-period entity whereas in actuality it was developed over centuries, first by the Nabataeans and later under Roman rule. Ben-David points out that section between Petra and Oboda, originally established in the late first century BCE, underwent changes following the Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE. Toward the end of the second century CE, Roman military tower forts were built at a number of sites and milestones were erected (p. 19). In the wake of the results of Andrew Smith's surveys and excavations in the eastern side of the Wadi Arabah (2010), Ben-David proposes that the Petra–Gaza Road may be identified in the Petra region as following the Naqb al-Rubai route (the limestone ridge south of Jabal Hārūn) and northwest to Khirbet Sufaysif and Moyat ‘Awad (pp. 21–22). The Petra side of the Incense Road also exhibits phases from more than one historical period and portions of the leg from Naqb al-Rubai to the Petra city center appear to have been developed by the Roman army in the post-annexation era.To conclude, the papers from the special session of the Seminar for Arabian Studies in 2011 make up a unique collection of important and interesting studies of the archaeology of Petra and the culture of the Nabataeans. This collection is an indispensable acquisition for scholars and laymen alike. Drs. Nehmé and Wadeson are to be commended for producing a quality volume in such a timely manner following the conference.

As prose dramatic texts Plato's dialogues would have been read by their original audience as an alternative type of theatrical composition. The 'paradox' of the dialogue form is explained by his appropriation of the discourse of theatre, the dominant public mode of communication of his time. The oral performance of his works is suggested both by the pragmatics of the publication of literary texts in the classical period and by his original role as a Sokratic dialogue-writer and the creator of a fourth dramatic genre. Support comes from a number of pieces of evidence, from a statue of Sokrates in the Academy (fourth century BC) to a mosaic of Sokrates in Mytilene (fourth century AD), which point to a centuries-old tradition of treating the dialogues in the context of performance literature and testify to the significance of the image of 'Plato the prose dramatist' for his original and subsequent audiences.

Age-old scholarly dogma holds that the death of serious theatre went hand-in-hand with the 'death' of the city-state and that the fourth century BC ushered in an era of theatrical mediocrity offering shallow entertainment to a depoliticised citizenry. The traditional view of fourth-century culture is encouraged and sustained by the absence of dramatic texts in anything more than fragments. Until recently, little attention was paid to an enormous array of non-literary evidence attesting, not only the sustained vibrancy of theatrical culture, but a huge expansion of theatre throughout (and even beyond) the Greek world. Epigraphic, historiographic, iconographic and archaeological evidence indicates that the fourth century BC was an age of exponential growth in theatre. It saw: the construction of permanent stone theatres across and beyond the Mediterranean world; the addition of theatrical events to existing festivals; the creation of entirely new contexts for drama; and vast investment, both public and private, in all areas of what was rapidly becoming a major 'industry'. This is the first book to explore all the evidence for fourth century ancient theatre: its architecture, drama, dissemination, staging, reception, politics, social impact, finance and memorialisation.

The Hellenistic period in the Aegean is one notoriously devoid of firmly established chronological markers with more than local significance and which might be used to divide the cultural material into smaller groupings. This is especially true for pottery. The Aegean basin was parcelled out among numerous ceramic provinces which, though all were obviously heirs to the traditions established in the Classical period, yet managed to interpret any new ideas in their own way and at their own speed. These apparently newly emerged styles were in fact of hoary antiquity. They represent the resurgence of local mores and traditions in pottery manufacture whose existence in the Classical and Archaic periods had been well-nigh overlooked by the excessive concentration on the study of the products of Corinth and Athens. Their re-emergence was occasioned by two factors consequent on the establishment of the Hellenistic kingdoms. The first was the collapse of Attic pottery production as a result of a series of disastrous wars and defeats in the later fourth and early third centuries B.C. The second was the very real prosperity enjoyed by the provincial centres in the newly Hellenised world.

1. Sources and their uses Simon Hornblower 2. Sparta as victor D. M. Lewis 3. Persia Simon Hornblower 4. The Corinthian war Robin Seager 5. Sicily, 413-368 BC D. M. Lewis 6. The King's Peace and the Second Athenian Confederacy Robin Seager 7. Thebes in the 360s BC J. Roy 8a. Asia Minor Simon Hornblower 8b. Mesopotamia, 482-330 BC Matthew W. Stolper 8c. Judah Hayim Tadmor 8d. Cyprus and Phoenicia F. G. Maier 8e. Egypt, 404-337 BC Alan B. Lloyd 9a. Carthage from the battle at Himera to Agathocles' invasion, 480-308 BC G. Ch. Picard 9b. South Italy in the fourth century BC Nicholas Purcell 9c. Celtic Europe D. W. Harding 9d. Illyrians and North-west Greeks N. G. L. Hammond 9e. Thracians and Scythians Zofia H. Archibald 9f. The Bosporan kingdom John Hind 9g. Communications L. Casson 10. Society and economy M. M. Austin 11. The polis and the alternatives P. J. Rhodes 12a. The growth of schools and the advance of knowledge M. Ostwald and John P. Lynch 12b. Medicine G. E. R. Lloyd 12c. Greek art: Classical to Hellenistic J. J. Pollitt 12d. Greek agriculture in the Classical period Alison Burford 12e. Warfare Y. Garlan 13. Dion and Timoleon H. D. Westlake 14. Macedon and North-west Greece J. R. Ellis 15. Macedonian hegemony created J. R. Ellis 16. Alexander the Great: part 1 the events of the reign A. B. Bosworth 17. Alexander the Great: part 2 Greece and the conquered territories A. B. Bosworth Epilogue Simon Hornblower Chronological table Bibliography.

The region under consideration in this chapter includes the territories of southern Syria, Transjordan, southern Palestine, and the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. During the Hellenistic–early Roman period (fourth century bc–first century ad), these constituted the Nabataean kingdom, later (ad 106–early fourth century) were within the boundaries of the Roman province of Arabia, and finally (fourth–early seventh centuries) comprised the Byzantine provinces of Arabia and Palaestina Salutaris/Tertia. Although a somewhat generic designation here, the term “Arabia” roughly corresponds to Ptolemy’s Arabia Petraea and the northern part of Arabia Deserta. While the region was multiethnic and in addition to Arabs, included Greeks, Jews, and other population groups, the Nabataean Arabs were the dominant political element. The region flourished during the Nabataean and Roman periods, and during late antiquity, it experienced a veritable revival of local cultures and traditions.

Reviewed by: Theater of the People: Spectators and Society in Ancient Athens by David Kawalko Roselli George Kovacs Theater of the People: Spectators and Society in Ancient Athens. By David Kawalko Roselli. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011; pp. 302. In Theater of the People, David Roselli refines our understanding of the audience and the complex social, cultural, and political dynamics generated through theatrical spectatorship in Athens during the fifth and fourth centuries bce. In five chapters, he considers Athenian notions of audience and theatre participation, the evolution of the theatron (seating space), and the social fault-lines that ancient playwrights either exploited or avoided. Roselli reassesses familiar evidence and brings new witnesses to bear, compiling a docket of archival sources that will surely become foundational for future studies of the Athenian civic landscape. Roselli’s primary agenda is “the restoration of marginal and subordinate members of society to [our understanding of who constituted] the theater audience” of ancient Athens (199). In this, he is largely convincing. Athenian spectators came from a variety of demographic strata, differentiated along lines of financial, civic, and social status. Rich and poor, citizen and metic, male and female: all of these categories produced an audience that could be notionally unified (when it served the dramatist’s purpose), but was just as often factious. These different groups, he maintains, could exert real influence on the performance before them by cheering or booing, leaving or staying. Roselli divides his study into five chapters, plus an Introduction and an Epilogue. Chapter 1, “The Idea of the Audience and Its Role in the Theater,” considers three vectors of theatrical participation: mutual celebration—the efforts of dramatists to solicit audience favor by linking positive events in and out of the world of the drama; influence—the ways in which audiences could react to and affect productions; and self-definition—how theatre audiences were understood by the Athenians themselves. In chapter 2, “Space and Spectators in the Theater,” Roselli addresses issues of theatre size (following recent trends downsizing previous estimates to about 6,000 individuals) and outlines potential spatial arrangements not only within the formal theatron, but also the unofficial viewing spaces above it. Contentious here will be his claims that, as theatre became more popular in the fourth century, theatra (seating spaces) were physically enlarged to deprive unofficial spectators of viewing space and thereby create a more homogeneous and less democratic viewing audience. Chapter 3, “The Economics of the Theater: Theoric Distributions and Class Divisions,” brings into focus the institution of theorika, a distribution of state funds to facilitate theatrical attendance. Here, Roselli argues that ad hoc theoric distributions in the fifth century, enacted by individual politicians, were replaced by an established Theoric Fund, institutionalized in the state budget in the fourth century. Both forms of distribution could be converted into political capital by enterprising politicians. The Theoric Fund, Roselli argues, existed for a much shorter [End Page 141] time (ca.350–323 bce) than previously supposed and grew in its purview to include more than theatre tickets, becoming an influential dispenser of state monies—hence its cessation in the turbulent years of the late fourth century. Chapters 4 and 5, “Noncitizens in the Theater” and “Women in the Theater Audience” respectively, approach their declared topics more indirectly. Roselli’s tactic is similar for both: to consider more broadly the activities of noncitizens and women in the Athenian polis, and to extrapolate from their involvement in theatre-related activities his conclusions about the theatre audience. With regard to noncitizens, for example, he traces their increasing involvement in the affairs of the polis and in rituals connected to the theatre, such as the pompê (procession) that opened the annual City Dionysia. Noncitizens also participated in theatrical productions, serving as chorêgoi and musicians, and many poets of the fourth century were non-Athenian. With regard to women, Roselli rightly dispenses of the tired image of the stay-at-home Athenian wife, confined to domestic quarters at all times. Women were involved in all levels of public life, from ranking priestesses to common laborers, and although an ideal of the confined wife may have existed for the aristocratic elite, it was...

Abstract“Polis” is the name for a unique social order in which ancient Greeks lived and exercised autonomous power, from ca. 650 bce (Sparta) or ca. 594 bce (Athens) until they were overwhelmed by Macedonian or Roman military power from the late fourth to the early second centuries bce. The Athenian polis occupied an area about the size of the American state of Rhode Island, the smallest of the 50 states of the USA. At the height of its population, before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 bce, Athens contained nearly 400 000 persons, about one sixth of whom were full citizens (i.e., adult males). Although there were monarchical, oligarchical, and democratic poleis, the institutional character of the polis was conducive to active, deliberative citizenship, which, in turn, was facilitated by democracy. Mid‐twentieth‐century classicists such as Victor Ehrenberg claimed that democracy was the telos of the polis. While that claim overreaches, the polis surely provided a nourishing social order for democracy, for democracy was established during the historical growth of the Athenian polis,between 508–7 and 462 bce. The Athenian polis, which was paradigmatic for Plato's relatively critical and Aristotle's relatively sympathetic account of political relations – retained its democratic character, except for two brief interludes lasting for barely a year, until Alexander and the Macedonians replaced its constitution with a regency in 323 bce. Athenian democracy was stable for most of the fifth and fourth centuries – unlike the portrait of it commonly painted by its antidemocratic interpreters. The idea of “the political” stems primarily from the relatively equal, not always harmonious, active exercise of authoritative citizenship by Athenians in the fifth and fourth centuries bce. Beginning in the nineteenth century but particularly after World War I, the term “political” has been used to highlight deficiencies in the modern state.

This essay analyses the circumstances under which Greek and Chinese thinkers and artists became aware of aesthetic response as an intellectual problem, and how their formulations of art theory were shaped by larger social and cultural contexts. Focussing on Greek art theoretical writings of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, and their Chinese counterparts of the Six Dynasties era (third to sixth centuries CE), it addresses what categories of actor wrote about visual arts; for what audiences they were writing; how their writing about visual art fitted into a broader range of cultural practices in which they engaged; what models of writing they emulated in developing written art theory; and how such writing informed stylistic transformations in Greek painting during the classical period, and in Chinese painting from the Han to the Tang.