Greek City-states Research Articles

Megara: The Political History of a Greek City-State to 336 B.C.

Megara: The Political History of a Greek City-State to 336 B.C.

European plans for perpetual peace and their impact upon the law of war

Writers have expressed the view that man's interest in projects for establishing perpetual peace is as old as man's participation in warfare. We cannot be certain that Europe can be considered the cradle of such projects for peace, although the Greek city states certainly elaborated a complex system of treaty relationships between themselves to that end. Europe was not to see a like network of sophisticated treaty relationships until the 19th century. Supporting these elaborate treaty networks was the fact that the Greeks enjoyed a common religious-legal and linguistic substratum which tended to mitigate the harshness of the intense intercity rivalries and enmities. The Greeks, as in so many other excursions in thought, were the architects of the modern array of different kinds of political treaties, e.g., of alliance, confederation, federation and, from the 4th century B.C., peace treaties of unlimited duration. In particular, religious leagues were established for the common defence of a shared and sacred shrine. Such were the Amphictyonys of the 5th century B.C. The religious bond between the cities parties to such compacts extended into the political sphere so that the city states bound thereby became confederated by the terms of the amphictyony, as was the case of the confederate association for the protection of the great shrine at Delphi.

Trotsky's Morals And Ours Political Morality And The Revolutionary Christian

This article is based on Trotsky’s article Their Morals and Ours (New International, February 1938) which I will refer to as TMO. Taken together with his second article The Moralists and Sycophants against Marxism (New International, 9 June 1939) which reiterates many of the same arguments TMO is important because it represents a clear and consistent account of the moral philosophy of Revolutionary Marxism. In passing I should point out that even talking about the moral philosophy of Marxism is a little contradictory since for Marxism political philosophy and moral philosophy are the same thing. In classical times no distinction was made between the political and the moral obligations of man. In the Greek city state a good member of the polis was quite simply a good man. Only with the rise of capitalism did it become necessary to posit the Kantian moral imperative as something external to the social and political life of man. In his essay on Kant Herbert Marcuse argues that Capitalist ideology was faced with two conflicting needs. On the one hand it was necessary to foster individualism as an essential component of the growth of capitalist economy but on the other hand it was necessary to subordinate the individual to the needs of the bourgeois state. If the individual were subordinated by crude repression this would expose the mythological character of capitalist freedom of the individual. By positing the moral a priori, a call to duty above class, Kant provided bourgeois ideology with the solution to this problem. Like Marx but unlike Marcuse TMO is polemical rather than speculative in tone, written in a specific historical situation to meet specific charges against Marxism.

(R.) Sealey A history of the Greek city states ca. 700–338 B.C.Berkeley etc.: University of California Press. [1977]. Pp. xxi + 516, frontis., [29] illus., 8 maps. £12.00 (cloth), £5.50 (paper).

(R.) Sealey A history of the Greek city states ca. 700–338 B.C.Berkeley etc.: University of California Press. [1977]. Pp. xxi + 516, frontis., [29] illus., 8 maps. £12.00 (cloth), £5.50 (paper). - Volume 98

Athéna Apatouria et la ceinture: les aspects féminins des Apatouries à Athènes

En Grèce ancienne, l'exclusion des femmes de la vie politique — comme celle des étrangers et, temporairement, celle des jeunes — est une des caractéristiques essentielles de la cité. Toutefois les représentations de la femme témoignent d'un débat longtemps ouvert où s'affirment, par exemple, les tensions entre droit paternel et droit maternel, oikos de la femme et oikos de l'époux. Ce débat, peu à peu tranché à Athènes dans le sens d'une démocratie masculine, n'apparaît pas dans la simple description de la condition féminine. Il se lit principalement dans la tragédie mais aussi dans la participation des femmes aux cérémonies religieuses, dans les attributs de leurs divinités protectrices et dans certaines institutions comme l'épiclérat.

A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700-338 B.C.

List of Maps List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Preface Part I. The Development of the City-State and the Persian Wars Part II. The Era of Hegmonic Leagues Part III. Leagues of More Equal Type Note on the Athenian Calendar List of Technical Terms Index

Raphael Sealey. <italic>A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700–338 B.C.</italic> Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1977. Pp. xxi, 516. Cloth $15.00, paper $7.85

Journal Article Raphael Sealey. A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700–338 B.C. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1977. Pp. xxi, 516. Cloth $15.00, paper $7.85 Get access Sealey Raphael. A History of the Greek City States, ca. 700–338 B.C.Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1977. Pp. xxi, 516. Cloth $15.00, paper $7.85. W. R. Connor W. R. Connor Princeton University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 82, Issue 4, October 1977, Pages 927–928, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/82.4.927 Published: 01 October 1977

A History of the Greek City States 700-338 B. C.

A History of the Greek City States 700-338 B. C.

Tyrannie et mariage forcé. Essai d'histoire sociale grecque

Les disciples de Sénèque l'Ancien s'exerçaient, entre autres, sur le thème suivant :Un tyran a donné aux esclaves la permission, après assassinat de leurs maîtres [de s'emparer de leurs femmes]. Les notables de la cité se sont enfuis ; l'un de ces notables qui avait une femme et une fille est parti à l'étranger. Alors que tous les esclaves ont déshonoré leurs maîtresses, l'esclave de cet homme a veillé sur la virginité de la jeune fille. Après la mort du tyran, les notables sont revenus. Ils ont crucifié les esclaves ; mais ce notable affranchit le sien et lui donne sa fille en mariage. [Son fils] l'accuse de démence (Controv., VII, XXI).

A History of the Greek City States ca. 700-338 B. C.

A History of the Greek City States ca. 700-338 B. C.

The Politics of Predevelopment

In recent years studies of political development have dealt with two very different concepts: the problem of creating and institutionalizing a viable new political system, on the one hand, and that of adapting an existing political system to a complex modern world, on the other. Evaluation of these phenomena has been complicated by the fact that both have been termed "political development." It is even more difficult because both tasks have been thrust simultaneously upon many of the socalled "emerging" or "third world" nations. In a practical as well as in a theoretical sense, therefore, it has become almost impossible to separate the two phenomena. As the third world nations have emerged from colonial rule, many have had to deal with the necessity of creating entirely new political systems, in the absence of existing organizational bases, and turning them into viable political entities. They have also been confronted with the very different task of adaptation to a complex postindustrial international setting in the era of technology, with the perpetual changes and challenges which this world presents to those who were not among the earliest to cross the industrial-technological threshold. Throughout history, long before the industrial or technological revolutions made the world more complex, nations have faced the task of constructing new political systems. Creating a viable new state has never been a simple task. From the birth of the earliest Greek city-state or the first Chinese state, to the founding of Rome, to the establishment of the American republic, to the independence of the most recently acquired member of the world of nations, societies have been faced with the task of establishing new systems of political organization. Manfred Halpern has suggested that even the creation of a new system is different in the modern era because one must create an "open" system-i.e., a system which has an intrinsic capacity to generate and absorb further transformation.l While it is true that in order to be successful in institutionalizing a new system which will be stable over time,

Nembe : the City Idea in the Eastern Niger Delta.

The following discussion of the delta city is confined to the four main 1j9 metropolitan centres of the Eastern Delta, namely Nembe (Brass), Elem Kalabari (New Calabar), Bonny, and Okrika; and excludes the cities of Ode Itsekiri (Warri) in the Western Delta, and Atakpa (Old Calabar) on the Cross River estuary to the east. The four cities seem to have started from a similar cultural and political base-line, and to have responded to similar historical factors such as the overseas trade in slaves, and later, palm oil, with only slight variations. A number of attempts have already been made to define the cities in the Niger Delta. Dike (I956) first studied them in the nineteenth century. He considered them proper states and not tribal states, since citizenship in them was based on residence rather than on kinship. Specifically, he named them city-states, comparable to the Greek city-states, because of the manner in which their political authority radiated from one city to surrounding settlements, and especially to posts in the hinterland. Jones (I963) called the cities trading states. He saw them as creations of the European trade in slaves and palm oil, and as organised, in the main, for the purposes of carrying on overseas trade. The problems of interest in their internal history were, accordingly, the intergroup rivalries between the 'Houses' (trade corporations organised on a lineage model) to be expected in a society organised for commercial competition. Horton (I969, p. 5o) has paid greater attention to the cultural criteria for citizenship, and especially the fact that even bought slaves could become full citizens by becoming fully acculturated: In positive terms, the identity of New Calabar was seen in the possession of a distinct, isolated settlement area; of autonomy under a distinctive body of laws; and of the possession of a distinctive culture. As in the villages, this definition of identity was essentially open in its implications. Any one who could acquire the culture and pull his weight could become a citizen. As the drum-name of the earth of New Calabar puts it: 'If a dog walks on him, he does not spurn the leg; if a goat walks on him, he does not spurn the leg'. All these views of the Delta city are largely valid, in the aspects of their organisation considered. It is only necessary to sketch in one view that has so far escaped adequate treatment, that is, the religious dimension. Religion, in fact, serves as the ligament holding together the various joints of the social and political structure of each of these Eastern Delta city-states.

Control-Marks and the Organization of the Roman Republican Mint

Rome under the Republic, from its beginnings as a small barbarian community, gradually took over the Greek world. It then transformed itself and its subjects into an Empire of remarkable stability and continuity of institutions. Similarly, the Roman Republican coinage, modelled originally on that of the Greek citystates of S. Italy, became under Augustus the coinage of the Empire. It would be interesting to know to what extent, if at all, the Republican mint anticipated or foreshadowed the ultimately very sophisticated organisation of the Imperial mint and its systematic use of control-marks forming part of the coin-type.Certainly for the Republic the problems caused by the need to produce an enormous bulk of coinage already existed and a number of issues display series of marks which can be regarded as controls. For instance, the issue of L. Iulius Bursio displays such marks and alone used nearly as many obverse dies as the entire Athenian New Style silver coinage. It would be surprising if the process of striking was not in some way systematised and controlled by the marks, as it was in the case of the Athenian coinage.

The Problematic of the Self, East and West

Born in the human environment of the Greek city-state, with an appeal to that part in man thanks to which he can be a creator ... governed by man-made law and human reason, Western civilization has achieved a fair amount of philosophic self-consciousness; while Indian philosophy, although by no means less important in the molding of the corresponding civilization, has remained comparatively more implicit in the religious, social, and political traditions (dharma in its multifarious senses) it had to integrate. Its aim has not been so much to make Indian civilization conscious of itself as intentional of itself.

Problems of Modern Libya

Recognition in December 1951 of full Libyan independence brought into being a new state that is imposing in extent of territory, but only slenderly endowed with natural resources, and hence supporting a population of less than one and a half million. As a geographically isolated area lying well to the south of the main currents of activity in the Mediterranean, Libya is overshadowed in many ways by the more powerful units of Egypt and French North Africa. Unlike some of the Levant states, intrinsic poverty in resources and inhabitants is not compensated for by a favourable location, which might act as the facade of a larger and more productive hinterland. Libya is un? likely to become a route-centre of the first importance; no oil pipelines cross its territories, and its strategic potentialities, though not unimportant, are less prominent than those of Egypt, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey. The fact that the new state of Libya has adopted a federal instead of a unified system of government?there are three autonomous territories, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and the Fezzan?can from some points of view be considered a reflection of geographical conditions. The country consists of a discontinuous mosaic of better watered and settled territory, embedded as it were in wide expanses of arid or semi-arid land. A more productive zone lies along the Mediterranean coast, but this is by no means continuous, being broken by expanses where semi-desert and steppe land reach the sea. Many regional names are taken from local settlements, like Cirene, Barce and Tripoli, and this fact, with the piecemeal Italian conquest during the present century,x is a further indication of the scattered nature of the main centres of occupation. Libya cannot be said to have marked unity, except that imposed by the presence of the desert, which gives to the wetter marginal areas an interconnection in much the same way as a closed sea can be said to unite the lands on its borders. The concept of Libya as a kind of Aegean or Mediter? ranean, with scattered settlements following a way of life fundamentally similar in basic pattern but with regional differences, is not without usefulness, and in a few respects the political evolution of the modern state shows a certain parallel with that of the Greek or Phoenician city-states. Structurally, the whole of Libya forms part of the great African table, with Archaean basement rocks underlying much of the region. Upon this ancient series, and disposed in generally horizontal layers with only slight disturbance, occur sediments of Cretaceous to mid-Tertiary age exposed roughly in succession of age, with Cretaceous sandstones prominent in the south, and Eocene limestone in the north. A few districts, notably in the north, show indications of tectonic disturbance; extensive faulting, with lava

A Head Start in Television

TELEVISION is a new and, incidentally, a beautiful word which has come recently into the English language. But it conceals under the poetic flow of its four and a half syllables (for Shakespeare they would have been five) a new power which, in this age of accelerated discovery, adds an additional major responsibility to our already overburdened generation. We must not lose grip of this power. Television is seeing by remote control. We have already in the past century, which is that of the common man who has the courage no longer to be common, established hearing by remote control, first through the telephone and more recently through the radio. Now we are able to see life and activity beyond the horizon. Last November I stood on the ancient stage of Epidaurus in the Greek Peloponnese and spoke some speeches from Shakespeare with some friends. So perfect is the sound in this great hillside auditorium that if you were to drop a dime from but twenty inches on the round stone in the center of the round orchestra its tinkle would be heard through the nervous air by fourteen thousand people like the distant bell of a mountain goat. In the Greek citystate a man was as powerful as the speech he could project to his fellow citizens who had assembled to hear him. Now a man is as

Greek City-States

Greek City-States

Greek City-States

Greek City-States

The Development of Ancient Greek Diplomacy

The need for a diplomatic technique and the formulation of diplomatic acts was not a need that was immediately apparent to the Greek city-state. For the sake of a contrast may be adduced the documents of the Second Hittite Empire, in which is reflected the diplomatic activity of the most politically-minded people of their day. The formulation of a Hittite treaty normally includes a sketch of the historical events that preceded it, drafted no doubt to suit the views of the High Contracting Power that had the upper hand. As has been shown, above all by Korosec (*), the Hittite authority over vassals or half-vassals is recorded in treaties which show a skilful adaptation of the formulae of diplomacy. Here in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries before Christ we find a type of diplomacy that indeed anticipates Roman rather than Greek statecraft. It was, however, to be centuries before the internationalism of the Amarna age was to be repeated. Had the Amarna archives been of the same character as those of Boghaz Keui, we might be able to tell how far the diplomatic methods of the Hittites were emulated by the other great monarchies of the day. We can trace the existence, not perhaps of an international law, but something of a comitas gentium . The convulsions at the close of the second millennium and the rise of the Assyrians, who set little store on political finesse, swept this all away. The Assyrians were neither willing to live at peace among equals, nor to leave to vassal states the shadow of independence. The heavy hand of the Assyrian resident or governor removed the need for the manipulations of the diplomatist. Thus when Greek diplomacy begins, the city-states had not before them the lessons of the past in that art. They attributed to their

Julian Dates and Greek Calendars

IN 1939, Professor W. B. Dinsmoor published an article titled Archaeology and Astronomy,' which, taken in conjunction with his several earlier articles and his two volumes on Athenian archons, contains virtually complete tables for equating Julian dates with days in the Athenian civil calendar throughout the five centuries from Solon to 100 B.C. and, at the same time, an explanation of the divergences between dates preserved in terms of the Athenian calendar and of the calendars of other Greek city-states. Dinsmoor's article is primarily concerned with the theory of temple-orientation, whereby it is argued that the axes of ancient temples were laid out along the direction of sunrise on the morning of certain religious holidays. For example, the temple known as the Older Parthenon would be dedicated presumably at the Panathenaic Festival on the twentyeighth day of the first Athenian month. Since the axes of ancient temples are known from archeological evidence, the exact year of the dedication can be determined by calculation and by observation of the direction of sunrise, provided that Julian dates for the festivals can be established. Dinsmoor's method of obtaining Julian dates involves the construction of schematic lunar calendars, astronomically more or less correct for Athens and incorrect for other city-states. He adopts assumptions which have been accepted in unbroken tradition from the publication of Scaliger's De emendatione temporum in 1583 through the recent investigations of