Bloomsbury Ancient Politics – serie

This volume studies popular assemblies in Greek cities from Homeric to late Hellenistic times. Greek poleis were among the most politically inclusive societies in premodern history, primarily because via their public assemblies, most or all adult male citizens beyond the elite could participate in politics. In those cities the Greeks called democracies, the assembly even functioned as the chief decision-making institution. In this volume, an international team of experts explores assemblies in Greek cities mostly beyond the already well-studied case of Classical Athens, focussing on topics like the origins of assembly politics in Homeric communities, the size of assemblies, assemblies in Classical oligarchic poleis, assemblies in Hellenistic cities (traditionally viewed as no longer fully democratic), and the comparative study of Greek assemblies and participatory institutions in other societies.A companion volume (Popular Political Participation from the Early Roman Empire to Late Antiquity: The Assemblies of the Greek Cities beyond Athens Volume II) explores assemblies in Greek cities under Rome until the late third century CE. Throughout both volumes, the emphasis is on the notion that assemblies were an essential contributing factor to the surprising institutional success and longevity of the Greek city. Together they suggest that the assembly ought to be a key component of any explanation for the remarkable resilience of the polis as a system of government through more than a millennium of ancient history.

This volume examines popular assemblies in Greek cities under Roman rule up to the late third century CE. Greek poleis were among the most politically inclusive societies in premodern history, primarily because via their public assemblies, most or all adult male citizens beyond the elite could participate in politics. In those cities the Greeks called democracies, the assembly even functioned as the chief decision-making institution. In this volume, an international team of experts explores the roles of assemblies amid increasing oligarchic pressures and within the framework of an autocratic empire. The chapters explore topics such as civic honours, the collaboration between council and assembly, the differing perspectives preserved in our sources, political discourse, and the impact of Roman conquest, governors and law.A companion volume (Popular Political Participation from Archaic Greece to the Late Hellenistic Period: The Assemblies of the Greek Cities beyond Athens Volume I) traces the institution’s development from Homeric Greece to the end of the Hellenistic age. Throughout both volumes, the emphasis is on the notion that assemblies were an essential contributing factor to the surprising institutional success and longevity of the Greek city. Together they suggest that the assembly ought to be a key component of any explanation for the remarkable resilience of the polis as a system of government through more than a millennium of ancient history.

Offering an in-depth examination of the political philosophy of Plato’s Republic, Stephen O. Peprah challenges the prevalent scholarly interpretation that misreads and underestimates Plato’s view of the status and role of non-philosophical citizens. Rather than seeing the ordinary human beings who make up the civic population as servile to the select philosophical elite, the argument is not only that they make an important contribution to the polis based on their moral, epistemic, and somatic competences, but that the political community serves their well-being.Grounded in recent work on Plato’s political philosophy and within Plato’s contractarian commitment (koinonia) in Book II of Republic, this study shows that the individual and the polis have positive, if not equal, standing. Each is positively dependent on the other, and political authority of the philosopher-rulers is justified to create enabling conditions to facilitate this mutual interdependence. And so, by arguing that Plato’s just society – Kallipolis – evolves from the collaborative efforts of individuals who aim to deal with a common human predicament (insufficiency), Peprah reveals that Platonic political theory is engineered to be a more inclusive system than previously thought. This study is an important reassessment that shows the artisans of Republic as possessing individual and political agency.