Athenian Democratic Origins and other essays [Paperback]

In these interconnected essays the late Geoffrey de Ste. Croix defends the institutions of the Athenian democracy, showing that they were much more practical, rational, and impartial than has usually been acknowledged. A major essay provides a new view of Aristotle's use of sources inTheConstitution of the Athenians, on which so much of our knowledge of Athenian constitutional history depends. Ste. Croix also argues that commercial factors had much less influence on Greek politics than modern scholars tend to assume, and that there was no such thing in any Greek state as a commercial aristocracy. As always, he works out these general positions with the utmost lucidity and pungency, and in meticulous detail. Though written in the 1960s, these hitherto unpublished essays by a great radical historian will still constitute a major contribution to contemporary debate. The editors and other specialists have supplied an updating Afterword to each chapter, and the book contains a thorough index.

Editors' Introduction
1. The Solonian Census Classes and the Qualifications for Cavalry and Hoplite Service
2. Five Notes on Solon's Constitution
3. Solon, theHoroiand theHektemoroi
4. Cleisthenes I: The Constitution
5. Cleisthenes II: Ostracism, Archons, andStrategoi
6. The Athenian Citizenship Laws
7. Aristotle'sAthenaion Politeiaand Early Athenian History
8. TheMetrain Aristotle,Eth. Nic.V.vii.1134b 35-35a3
9. How Far was Trade a Cause of Early Greek Colonization?
10. But What About Aegina?
11. Herodotus and King Cleomenes of Sparta
Index

No serious reader, converted or not, could emerge unimpressed by the sheer command of evidence and calibre of argument on display here. --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Geoffrey de Ste. Croixwas Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History at New College, Oxford from 1953 until 1977. He was electls9