Athenian Constitution Research Articles

When was Themistocles last in Athens?

The twenty-fifth chapter of the Aristotelian Constitution of Athens contains a circumstantial account of the overthrow of the Areopagus, which differs from the accepted version of the same affair in ascribing an important, though not the foremost, part in the attack to Themistocles. The newly discovered version does not, it is true, stand entirely by itself. But it is found elsewhere only in an argument to the Areopagiticus of Isocrates, written probably by a sixth-century Christian. As between the argument and the papyrus, it is the latter that alone can give any serious historical value to the former. But what is the historical value of the account in the Constitution? If it is true, then, as was recognised at once by Kenyon in his editio princeps, it revolutionises the history of the later part of Themistocles' career.

The Early History of the Tradition of the Constitution

In Aristotle's treatise on the constitution of Athens we read of the great lawgiver, Solon, that “when he had completed his organization of the constitution … he found himself beset by people coming to him and harassing him concerning his laws, criticizing here and questioning there, till, as he wished neither to alter what he had decided on, nor yet to remain an object of ill-will to everyone by remaining at Athens, he set off on a journey to Egypt, … giving out that he would not return for ten years.” To the student of American history recalling the comparison with “that old constitution-monger Solon,” so often flung at the framers of the Constitution by the anti-Federalists, the hasty exodus from Athens for a decade after the attempt “to save the country and establish the best laws that were possible,” is full of interest. The actual result of the Solonic experiment in political science we also gather from Aristotle, for “in the fifth year after Solon's government they were unable to elect an archon on account of the dissensions,” and again, four years later they elected no archon for the same reason.

Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution. F. G. Kenyon

<i>Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution</i>. F. G. Kenyon

Blake's Edition of Xenophon's Hellenica I. II., and other Selections - The Hellenica of Xenophon, Books I. and II., together with selections from Lysias c. Eratosthenes and from Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, edited with notes by R. W. Blake, A.M. Boston. 1894.

Blake's Edition of Xenophon's Hellenica I. II., and other Selections - The Hellenica of Xenophon, Books I. and II., together with selections from Lysias c. Eratosthenes and from Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, edited with notes by R. W. Blake, A.M. Boston. 1894. - Volume 9 Issue 4

Botsford on the Development of the Athenian Constitution - The Development of the Athenian Constitution. By George Willis Botsford, Ph. D., Professor of Greek in Bethany College. (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology, No. IV.) Boston, U.S.A. Ginn and Co.1893. 8vo. pp. 249. 6s. 6d.

Botsford on the Development of the Athenian Constitution - The Development of the Athenian Constitution. By George Willis Botsford, Ph. D., Professor of Greek in Bethany College. (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology, No. IV.) Boston, U.S.A. Ginn and Co.1893. 8vo. pp. 249. 6s. 6d. - Volume 8 Issue 10

The Development of the Athenian Constitution. George Willis Botsford

<i>The Development of the Athenian Constitution</i>. George Willis Botsford

The Development of the Athenian Constitution, by George Willis Botsford

The Development of the Athenian Constitution, <i>by George Willis Botsford</i>

Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, Chap. 39, § 5

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On the Mode of Selecting Jurors for the Law Courts described in the Last part of the Papyrus on the Constitution of Athens

On the Mode of Selecting Jurors for the Law Courts described in the Last part of the Papyrus on the Constitution of Athens

Aristotle's Constitution of Athens

Aristotle's Constitution of Athens

Reviews of Books

Journal Article Reviews of Books Get access Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens1. Edited by F. G. KENYON, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum. (London. 1891.) Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution. Translated, with Introduction and Notes, by the same. (London: George Bell & Sons. 1891.) P. GILES P. GILES Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume VII, Issue XXVI, April 1892, Pages 322–336, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/VII.XXVI.322 Published: 01 April 1892

ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ

The object of the following article is not to review the work achieved by the first editor of the newly recovered Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία, still less to discuss the plan adopted for its publication by the authorities of the British Museum. It would, however, be an exaggerated and perhaps a misleading reticence, if no reference were made to those preliminaries and mere points of procedure. Many sharp things have been thought and said in various quarters about the matter: but there are several sides even to these minor questions. The Museum from amid its priceless cuneiform and hieroglyphic treasures, all crying for publication, need not have regarded the mission of this small Greek argosy as marking so great an epoch. A committee, indeed, might have worked more surely, but it would have worked more slowly than our single industrious and indeed brilliant editor: had assessors been voted him, we might still be waiting the result. Now, as may be observed with satisfaction, the resources of the whole world of learning are being concentrated upon the new text, and the earlier murmurs of critical dissatisfaction are in a fair way to be lost in good-humoured collaboration for a reconstruction of the text. This work, indeed, has been carried so far already, as appears from the March number of the Classical Review, that it will not be deemed premature to raise some questions in regard to the value of the new text, viewed from the side of the historian. It is the design of the present paper to define some of the points which must be considered before the exact place of the new text among our historical sources can be determined. It is no reproach to the editor to say that he has dealt somewhat curtly with these problems in his Introduction and notes. It will require that many minds should independently be brought to bear upon the multitude of questions which present themselves in connexion with the more strictly historical criticism, or, as it was in some quarters too proudly termed of yore, ‘the higher criticism,’ before definitive results can be reached. If the present paper contribute to elucidate some of the points to be discussed in relation to the historical authority of the recovered treatise on the Athenian Constitution, it will fulfil its purpose, and not be considered a petitio principii.

Rare Words in Aristotle's ‘Constitution of Athens.’

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Notes on the Constitution of Athens:— The Decelean Inscription and Attic Phratries

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Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens - Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, edited by F. G. Kenyon, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, Assistant in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum. Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, 1891. 7s. 6d.

Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens - Aristotle on the Constitution of Athens, edited by F. G. Kenyon, M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, Assistant in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum. Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum, 1891. 7s. 6d. - Volume 5 Issue 4