The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles, and Ideology

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University of Oklahoma Press, 1999 - Political Science - 447 pages
The Athenian democracy of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. is the most famous and perhaps most nearly perfect example of direct democracy. Covering the period 403-322 B.C., Mogens Herman Hansen focuses on the crucial last thirty years, which coincided with the political career of Demosthenes. Hansen distinguishes between the city's seven political institutions: the Assembly, the nomothetai, the People's Court, the boards of magistrates, the Council of Five Hundred, the Areopagos, and ho boulomenos. He discusses how Athenians conceived liberty both as the ability to participate in the decision-making process and as the right to live without oppression from the state or other citizens. Equality was conceived of as an equality not of nature but of opportunity.

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Contents

Direct Democracy in Historical Perspective
1
Athens as a CityState and as a Democracy
55
The Assembly of the People
125
The Laws and the Nomothetai
161
The Peoples Court
178
The Magistrates
225
The Council of Five Hundred
246
The Political Leaders
266
The Council of the Areopagos
288
The Character of Athenian Democracy
296
One Hundred and Sixty Theses about
321
Maps and Plans
355
Glossary
385
Index of Passages Cited
408
General Index
428
Copyright

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About the author (1999)

Mogens Herman Hansen is Director of the Copenhagen Polis Centre and author of Sovereignty of the People's Count in Athens, Demography and Democracy, The Athenian Assembly in the Age of Demosthenes, and Polis and City-State: An Ancient Concept and Its Modern Equivalent.

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