Greek Polis Research Articles

Ancient Greek polis as the space for the development of thinking

Ancient Greek polis as the space for the development of thinking

NEW FIND OF OLBIAN COINS. TARASHCHA DISTRICT, KYIV REGION, UKRAINE

The aim of the study is presentation of a new hoard of ancient coins discovered in the Ukraine. In the Summer of 2019 fifteen bronze coins of Olbia (Greek polis in the North West Black Sea region) were found in the Kyiv region. Research methodology – principles of science, historicism, objectivity, methods of analysis, classification, generalization, historical-genetic and historical-typological. Scientific novelty. All coins are of “Borysthenes” type (head of river god Borysthenes / Scythian axe, bow in case, ΟΛΒΙΟ). An assemblage has been described by the founder as found in the ground between village Lukyanivka and the town Tarashcha (Kyiv region), near the highway P 04. The coins are dated to the end of fourth and the middle of the third century BC. The assemblage is one of interesting finds of Olbian coins on the way from the North Pontic Region to the West. The hoard from Lukyanivka is one of finds registered very far outside of Greek states of the northern coast of Black Sea. The cognitive value of the hoard lies above all in the region of its finding. The find from Lukyanivka is an important find as in recent years Olbian bronze coins as well as Bosporan coins were found on Celtic settlements in Poland (Upper Silesia; other coin finds were registered in Central Poland) and Czech Republic (Celtic oppidum at Nĕmcice, Moravia; a very rich assemblage of Greek and Roman coins). The find from Lukyanivka is a new important element in the discussion on inflow of Olbian coins to the West. The Lukyanivka hoard consists of 15 bronze coins with the head of river god Borysthenes, one of the most popular coins of Olbia. According to data obtained from the founder, the coins were found together in ‘one place’ but at ‘different depth’. In the founder’s opinion the value of the information on the find can’t be negated. Following to the chronology of “Borysthenes” coins proposed by P. O. Karyshkovskii coins found not far from Lukyanivka should be dated from the late fourth century BC to the ca. 250 BC. The most coins are dated to 290 – 250 BC. The structure of the Lukyanivka hoard should be treated as ‘typical’ for hoards of Olbian coins. The Conclusions. The find from Lukyanivka confirms that in the third century BC the most popular Olbian pieces of “Borysthenes” type penetrated the area of the Central Ukraine, precisely Middle Ros river region, in significant quantity. The “assemblage” is important find as the majority of Olbian and Bosporan coins in Central Europe – find from Germany is doubt all are single finds. The coins described in the article fills “a gap” between finds from Dnieper and Dniester rivers and Central European finds. The find is located inside the “tongue-shaped” area of finds from the North Pntic region). The “tongue-shaped” area dominated’ by single finds. The area of Olbian and Bosporan coin-finds indicates that the appearance of coins minted by Pontic Greek poleis in Central Europe may be connected with activity of people of Scythian culture. This is extremely important as we have in mind a unique find of Greek amphora from the Scythian settlement located in the south-eastern Poland.

Spartanski ustav i vaspitanje

Ancient Sparta is generally recognized as a Greek polis with specific and non-typical state system determined by firmly established set of laws, commonly considered (by Spartans and other Greeks of the time) as a constitution of lawgiver Lykourgos. Spartan constitution was the essence of the state, and this work reviews some of the main institutions established by the constitution. Principal section of the text is dedicated to the basic element and the major purpose of the state and the constitution itself - namely, to the spartan education. It is the peculiar Spartan education and training system called agōgē that particularly enabled ancient Spartans to maintain their durable military might and decisive influence in classical period. Lawgiver of Sparta dedicated primary function in the arrangement of the state itself to the educational system, principally focused on physical and moral education. Capital purpose of educational system was character forming of young Spartans who were expected, mainly on a battlefield in a hoplite phalanx formation, to materialize Spartan ideal of a paramount skilled combatant and fearless warrior.

Niklas Luhmann as a Theorist of Exclusion : A Journey from the Greek Polis to the Brazilian Favelas

This article looks at a vital feature in Niklas Luhmann’s social theory: the pair formed by inclusion and exclusion. In these pages, Luhmann’s understanding of “inclusion” and “exclusion” serve to study two crucial political landscapes in contemporary social theory: the Greek polis, still a foundational reference for European political thought, and the shantytowns of the Global South, sites that question the promises of Western modernity.

An overlooked treatise in Greek political thought: An essay on 2 Maccabees as a Hellenistic politico-theological manifest

This essay does not dwell yet again on traditional issues associated with 2 Maccabees usually discussed through a Jewish lens by dozens of modern scholars. It also does not view the book within its traditional Jewish Hellenistic “Sitz im Leben,” with its self-evident Hellenistic-Jewish reading audience, and its aim is neither to draw a distinction between Greek topoi and biblical motifs nor to discuss its values as an historical text. Rather, the article assumes a pagan reading publicum alongside a Jewish Hellenistic one that, in contradistinction with its Jewish audience, could easily see in 2 Maccabees a standard narrative of a life in a Greek polis under foreign rule, where the “ancestral constitution” plays a significant role, so typical of Greek poleis from the classical period (Delian league) through the Hellenistic era (Macedonian Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires). Reading the book as a Greek would have can give us new insights concerning its socio-political and theological message (independently of its Jewish one). The article reconstructs a politeia as a learned Greek would have done. The book can actually be read as a reflection, or rather a microcosmos of the second century B.C.E. in the Greek sphere during the Hellenistic period. The overall message of the book emerges different than that broadcasted to the Hellenistic Jews, and constitutes a rich mine of theoretical information about the relationship between a subject city and an empire.

Вплив кризи полісної системи на характер і напрямок економіки давньогрецьких полісів V-IV ст. до н.е.

У статті проаналізована криза полісної системи внаслідок греко-перських і Пелопоннеської війн, наслідки якої проявилися майже у всіх сферах життя давньогрецького суспільства. Доведено, що попри занепад певних галузей економіки, у цілому, дохід на душу населення виріс, покращилися й умови проживання, збільшилося кількість населення, яке стало більш урбаністичним, що, у свою чергу, вплинуло на розвиток торгівлі, особливо зовнішньої. Отже можемо стверджувати, що в Елладі у V-IV ст. до н.е. відбувається загальний економічний підйом.

Polis as the Prototype of a Contemporary Community

The Greek polis is the birthplace of a culture whose influence persisted despite the fall of the very form of polis. This culture plays a significant part in the life of communities of today, especially in the domain of the so-called Western culture. Polis means both state and city, but most of all it is “a society, a community of people living together”. This form of governance enabled equal citizens to exercise direct supervision over their governments. Polis itself was not an invention of ancient Greeks, but the public nature thereof, especially in the form of the debate-based democracy and the rule of law – not of people – turned out to be their contribution to the idea of a city-state. Democracy as a common form of a political system can be found particularly in the Greek culture of polis. The general notions deriving from the Greek polis, i.e. citizenship, democracy, equality, independence, autonomy or justice, express a desire for a better life of an individual in a community. The democracy of classical times, characterised by equal citizenship and freedom of speech, is considered as the first one to moderate fierce social-economic disputes. It is this polis that made it possible for philosophy and science to develop. The modern-day discussion on the state in a globalised and increasingly urbanised world can surely benefit from a reflection on the civil and legal dimensions of polis.

The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece

The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece

The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century

The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century

Natural Tensions in Aristotle’s Polis and Their Contemporary Manifestations

In this paper, I perform an analysis of Aristotle’s organic analogy when discussing the different “organs” of the Greek polis. I argue that this analysis demonstrates that the proper functioning of the polis depends upon the generation of different forms of life that will incline towards tension with one another, due to the fact that some members will be prevented by their form of life from enjoying the chief virtue of political life, namely, the accomplishment of human virtue and the good life. I argue that, at least within the context of the polis, there remains the possibility that those disenfranchised people experience sensuous recognition that they are contributing to human thriving. I contrast this with the modern city, in which what existed as a natural and visible tension in the polis becomes a concealed tension, with the result that no such recognition is possible, leaving modern city-dwellers alienated from the conditions that generate their forms of life.

АКТУАЛЬНОСТЬ ПРОБЛЕМЫ СВОБОДЫ И ПРОИЗВОЛА В ФИЛОСОФСКИХ СИСТЕМАХ ПЛАТОНА И АРИСТОТЕЛЯ

The article deals with the problem of the theoretical and methodological significance of Plato’s and Aristotle’s philosophical systems in relation to the problem of freedom at the level of the emerging mixed reality. While analysing the philosophical systems of Ancient Greece, the author reveals the essence of approaches to the study of freedom and arbitrariness at the theoretical level, and also points to the practical orientation of philosophical knowledge application to social structures study. A special place in the paper is given to the issue of the topicality of relationship between freedom understanding in the emerging mixed objective-virtual reality and the Greek polis.

The Political Consciousness of a Citizen of the Ancient Greek Polis. P. 1

The Political Consciousness of a Citizen of the Ancient Greek Polis. P. 1

Феодор Безбожник и античный атеизм

It is established that Theodore’s anti-religious views were closely connected with his moral and ethical teaching. It is shown that all known ancient atheists, except Theodore, were inconsistent in their criticism of religious views. It is established that Theodore’s views on the gods and religion were formed in the conditions of the deepening crisis of the Greek polis and the formation of Hellenistic monarchies. It is concluded that Theodore was the most consistent and radical ancient atheist.

Greek City: War, Art And 3d-Visualization

The article discusses issues related to the evolution and development of the Greek polis. The types of urban planning and architectural-spatial elements of the ancient city are analyzed. As a graphical application are presented some computer reconstructions performed at the Department of History and Theory of Architecture at St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian by Angelos Chaniotis

Reviewed by: Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian by Angelos Chaniotis Gillian Ramsey Angelos Chaniotis. Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2018. Pp. xxxii, 446. $35.00. ISBN 978-0-674-65964-3. What was it like to live in a time best known for its epic wars, generations of heroic and villainous leaders, and world-spanning conquests? That is the question one would best keep in mind when reading this volume, however much the high politics of the "Long Hellenistic Age" might appeal. Taking a cue from the title, one might assume that this book focuses on the uniqueness of treating all of post-Classical Greek political history together, from Alexander's adventures through to the regime of philhellene Hadrian. Actually, you can get more out of it than a periodization-busting treatment of conquerors and ancient imperialisms. The best parts of the book, in this reviewer's opinion, are the chapters on social, economic, and religious conditions in the world of the conquered. This is the kind of big Hellenistic history that showcases why the period can be so fascinating: prolific evidence, rich personal stories, long sweeps of massive changes and continuities. Angelos Chaniotis has put a seasoned pen to paper, and presents an authoritative and readable book that could be both a popular history and a scholarly introduction. For students new to the topic, much of this volume is salutary—a vivid picture of the Greeks' life under different rulers—and relevant, as they read about people also grappling with questions of global migration, refugees, the meaning of citizenship and borders, populist and authoritarian leaders, and a huge gap between haves and have-nots. Researchers familiar with the subject matter will appreciate seeing how Chaniotis juxtaposes different topics and examples, in particular those that fall right in the period border-zone between Hellenistic and Roman. Here they are together as part of the longue durée of Greek polis civilization, and it is immensely satisfying to read through the Greeks' approaches to public life without stopping halfway simply because their homelands had now become Roman provinces. One of the more stand-out moments in the book is the brief discussion of what new "buzzwords" in Hellenistic religion—zelos ("emulation of glory") or epekoos ("the one who listens to prayers")—suggest about the "zeitgeist" and (one understands) the long-term effects of conquests, imperialistic leadership, and broad economic unsettledness on people (348). The desire for "protection" and "connection" is an undercurrent playing into the larger sections on elite patronage in the poleis, seen in the politicization of festivals (349–354), or the plutocratization of public service (137–143). At various points Chaniotis refers [End Page 109] to the debt-ridden and demographically and economically depressed plight of those living in Hellenistic Greece, encapsulated by Polybius' famous assessment at 36.17.5 (246). He spends a good amount of space throughout detailing how this situation related to the wars for supremacy as well as the slow process of transformation into Roman provinces after the conquests were finished. The volume contains eight maps and thirty-eight black-and-white figures, and the presentation is high quality. The references are all grouped together by chapter at the back and augmented by a bibliography. A republished thesis this is not, nor is it an exhaustively footnoted monograph. This will frustrate researchers looking for details on many of the items presented, but the format is accessible for those outside academia. Ten of the sixteen chapters cover the eponymous conquests, in terms of their chronology, warfare, and political decisions. Although most of the sections are necessarily brief, one highlight is the way that smaller powers are still included in the narrative, at least as symptomatic examples of the prevailing political culture. Romanists might appreciate the two chapters on kings, rulership, and polis-life that serve as a prelude to the discussion of "entanglement" with Rome. As already noted, the final four chapters on socio-economics, religion, and the continuity of Greekness ground one's sense of the conquests in the insecurities, aspirations, and tenacity of the Greek communities. Gillian Ramsey Campion...

Nicknames among Greeks of the Archaic and Classical Periods: Preliminary Thoughts of a General Theoretical Nature

This article is the first in a series devoted to nicknames of well-known people in Greece of pre-Hellenistic times. In it general considerations are primarily expressed about the role of nicknames in human societies (including ancient Greek), relations of nicknames to personal names and divine epithets, terminology of nicknames among the Greeks, and the possible reasons for not very broad development of the practice of nicknaming in Greece during this period.
 A nickname is a fundamental phenomenon of the history of culture, and its real significance has not yet been appreciated. Nicknames in particular served as means of distinguishing individuals within any society. The names of the ancient Greeks had originally resembled nicknames as much as possible. Onomastic units in Greek poleis were mostly meaningful.
 Nicknames can be assigned—not from a semantic but rather from an emotional point of view—to three basic types. We deal with nicknames of a) a positive, exalted character (“Olympian” as to Pericles); b) a negative, pejorative character (“Coalemos”—“Simpleton” as to Cimon the Elder); c) a neutral character—those that show a certain characteristic appearance of an individual (e.g., “One-Eyed”), or some kind of memorable detail of his biography (Hipponicus the “Ammon” in Athens at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries BC).
 Another interesting thing took place in pre-Hellenistic times. Nicknames were more often connected not with politicians and state figures but with people from cultural spheres—poets, philosophers.

Milesian Decree Relating to Political Banishments

The excavations conducted at Miletus in the North agora at the beginning of the last century have brought to light a marble base preserving an important document. It is a banishment decree by the city for a group of inhabitants of Miletus, together with their children and descendants. The initial part of the decree was engraved on a stele, which has never been found; hence, we cannot determine the number of offenders. The severity of the punishment and its extension to the descendants suggests, however, that it was a political crime, possibly treason. The officers who had to enforce the decree are the epimenioi. This term is attested in many Greek poleis to mean officers who had to fulfil monthly duties, for example sacrifices; at Miletus though, as it is implied by the present text, this board had wider duties. The mention of the epimenioi gives us 437-436 BC as a terminus ante quem: after this date the Milesian council was presided by a committee of prytaneis (hence substituting the epimenioi), which suggests a constitutional change based on the Athenian model. The historical context is obscure: the traditional interpretation sees these banishments as an evidence of the imposition of the democratic faction over the oligarchic faction at the middle of the fifth century, but it cannot be excluded that the decree was rather a measure against other groups (supporters of tyranny or supporters of the Persians).

La democracia ateniense entre la estabilidad y la anarquía

En un breve artículo sobre las particularidades del gobierno en la Atenas democrática, P.J. Rhodes planteaba que si bien la demokratía no se comportó en el registro histórico-concreto como un sistema anárquico, sin embargo, “el potencial para la anarquía estuvo siempre presente allí”. Teniendo en mente lo anterior, se propone una indagación sobre las condiciones del funcionamiento democrático en la Atenas clásica. En particular, se hace foco en la cuestión de cómo la compulsión al mantenimiento de la isonomía y el poder del dêmos delimitaban las capacidades y posibilidades de acción tanto de los líderes políticos como de los magistrados de la pólis. Como hipótesis se postula que una parte importante de los inconvenientes epistemológicos que la historiografía actual encuentra al momento de asir a la democracia ateniense surgen por la tradición de pensar a la pólis griega bajo el paradigma de la estatalidad.

Hospitality

This article provides a historical perspective to understand better whether hospitality persists as a measure of society across contexts. Focusing on Homer and later Tragedians, it charts ancient literature’s deep interest in the tensions of balancing obligations to provide hospitality and asylum, and the responsibilities of well-being owed to host-citizens by their leaders. Such discourse appears central at key transformative moments, such as the Greek polis democracy of the fifth century BCE, hospitality becoming the marker between civic society and the international community, confronting the space between civil and human rights. At its center was the question of: Who is the host? The article goes on to question whether the seventeenth-century advent of the nation state was such a moment, and whether in the twenty-first century we observe a shift towards states’ treatment of their own subjects as primary in measuring society, with hospitality becoming the exception to be explained.

Hospitality

This article provides a historical perspective to understand better whether hospitality persists as a measure of society across contexts. Focusing on Homer and later Tragedians, it charts ancient literature’s deep interest in the tensions of balancing obligations to provide hospitality and asylum, and the responsibilities of well-being owed to host-citizens by their leaders. Such discourse appears central at key transformative moments, such as the Greek polis democracy of the fifth century BCE, hospitality becoming the marker between civic society and the international community, confronting the space between civil and human rights. At its center was the question of: Who is the host? The article goes on to question whether the seventeenth-century advent of the nation state was such a moment, and whether in the twenty-first century we observe a shift towards states’ treatment of their own subjects as primary in measuring society, with hospitality becoming the exception to be explained.