ANHS1600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Second Athenian Empire, Athenian Democracy, Greco-Persian Wars
15 May 2018
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Lecture – 19/04/16
- Classical Period → Continuity of the Archaic period not just a phenomenon
- Period of warfare, empire, but also Colonization.
- Todays lecture looks at oratory.
- As historians we need to see how there is different genres allowing us to explore different topics →
Such as Democracy
- Tragedy, Oratory, Monuments, Philosophy → Evidence to explore Athenian democracy and empire.
Athens: democracy and empire, ca. 500-300 B.C – EVENTS TO BE KNOWN FOR EXAM
Direct Democracy – 508/7 B.C.
Persian Wars – 490-480/79 B.C. → Greeks in competition of who was beating the Persians more, yet
ultimately they were somewhat unified. BIG WAR IN 5th CENTURY
Peloponnesian War – 431-404 B.C. → All Greeks fighting amongst one another. BIG WAR IN 5th
CENTURY
The Thirty – 404-403 B.C. → Democracy was overthrown. Extreme oligarchy - Thirty aristocrats put
in power. Only lasted for year. Next year, back in democracy. Imperial pretentions come back.
Kings Peace – 386 B.C.
Second Athenian Confederacy – 378 B.C. – Athens trying to establish another empire.
Chaeronea – 338 B.C. – Battle of Greeks vs Macedonians → Greeks lose.
Tyrant-oligarchy – 322/1 B.C.
All of these events dictate the rhythm and process of what is going on in Athens. We have Athens
wanting to become an empire. They fail several times at being democratic and they are not really
good at being an empire. The picture to have is that Athens is struggling.
There is a rhythm of change → Every once in a while they will try to have democracy, but they will
fail. Democracy is the continuity.
Check handout “Lecture 13 – Platforms for speech-making”
All the texts we have are rich in topic but do not agree on the same thing.
Speech making (oratory) is vital. → Iliad, Lysias. (Handout)
To illustrate where there is the demand for speech making in this society, Athenian direct democracy
works like this:
300,000 (Men, women, children, medics, slaves, etc) of whom 30,000 (Men aged (>18) , of whom
20,000 (>30)
- Far less democratic than we think
- This is direct democracy
- Out of the 20,000 , 6,000 were chosen.
Assembly (ekklesia, demos) → Where everyone sits together to think about all the matters of the
state. Voting happens here (not in secret, but by a show of hands → Not how we think of voting)
Panel of 6,000: (6000/300000)
Legislators (nomothetai)
Jurors (‘men of Athens’)
1200 magistrates:
incl. 500 council members (boule) → They are selected by the lot. This is a democratic factor.
Document Summary
Classical period continuity of the archaic period not just a phenomenon. Period of warfare, empire, but also colonization. As historians we need to see how there is different genres allowing us to explore different topics . Tragedy, oratory, monuments, philosophy evidence to explore athenian democracy and empire. 500-300 b. c events to be known for exam. Greeks in competition of who was beating the persians more, yet ultimately they were somewhat unified. Extreme oligarchy - thirty aristocrats put in power. Battle of greeks vs macedonians greeks lose. All of these events dictate the rhythm and process of what is going on in athens. We have athens wanting to become an empire. They fail several times at being democratic and they are not really good at being an empire. The picture to have is that athens is struggling. There is a rhythm of change every once in a while they will try to have democracy, but they will fail.
