Classical Greece, 500-323 BC

281 Pages·2000·3.83 MB·English

by  Robin Osborne

The Short Oxford History of Europe
Classical Greece
The Short Oxford History of Europe
General Editor: T. C. W. Blanning
Classical Greece
bc
500–323
Editor: Robin Osborne
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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ISBN 0–19–873154–X (hbk)
ISBN 0–19–873153–1 (pbk)
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General Editor’s Preface
The problems of writing a satisfactory general history of Europe are
many, but the most intractable is clearly the reconciliation of depth
with breadth. The historian who can write with equal authority about
every part of the continent in all its various aspects has not yet been
born. Two main solutions have been tried in the past: either a single
scholar has attempted to go it alone, presenting an unashamedly
personal view of a period, or teams of specialists have been enlisted to
write what are in eVect anthologies. The Wrst oVers a coherent per-
spective but unequal coverage, the second sacriWces unity for the sake
of expertise. This new series is underpinned by the belief that it is this
second way that has the fewest disadvantages and that even those can
be diminished if not neutralized by close cooperation between the
individual contributors under the directing supervision of the vol-
ume editor. All the contributors to every volume in this series have
read each other’s chapters, have met to discuss problems of overlap
and omission, and have then redrafted as part of a truly collective
exercise. To strengthen coherence further, the editor has written an
introduction and conclusion, weaving the separate strands together
to form a single cord. In this exercise, the brevity promised by the
adjective ‘short’ in the series’ title has been an asset. The need to be
concise has concentrated everyone’s minds on what really mattered
in the period. No attempt has been made to cover every angle of every
topic in every country. What this volume does provide is a short but
sharp and deep entry into the history of Europe in the period in all
its most important aspects.
T. C. W. Blanning
Sidney Sussex College
Cambridge
Contents
List of Illustrations x
List of Contributors xi
1 The creation of classical Greece 1
Robin Osborne
The natural world of Greece 3
The pre-classical past: the literary inheritance 5
The pre-classical past: oral history 10
The pre-classical past: the monuments 12
City and nation 18
The programme of this book 21
2 The economy 23
Paul Millett
The political economy of Attic Oratory 23
Back to the land 26
From the shop Xoor 31
The silver lining 35
Toilers of the sea 39
Go a-borrowing, go a-sorrowing? 44
The heart of the matter 49
Envoi 51
3 The classical city 52
Rosalind Thomas
The civic model 52
Citizens and citizenship 55
Athens and Sparta 60
The polis 69
Religious activity and the polis 74
viii | contents
4 The city at war 81
Hans van Wees
The causes of war 82
The soldiers: military roles and social status 84
Waging war 93
The economics of warfare 106
The transformation of classical warfare 109
5 Political conflicts, political debates, and political thought 111
Josiah Ober
Introduction: civil war in Corcyra, 427 bc 111
Political theory: the sources of conXict and its prevention 115
Democracy at Athens and its critics 121
Political conXict on stage 126
Spartan oligarchy: the rise and fall of a political ideal 131
Monarchy revisited 134
Conclusions: from destructive political conXict to constructive
political debate 135
6 Private life 139
James Davidson
The body 142
Dress 144
Diet and health 149
Oikos: household and house 151
Family 154
Slaves 158
Friendship 160
Sexuality 162
A civic morality 165
Conclusion 168
7 The fifth century: political and military narrative 170
Lisa Kallet
The Ionian Revolt and the Persian Wars 171
Consequences of the Persian Wars 173
contents | ix
The Delian League and the creation of empire 176
Sparta, Corinth, and Athens, 478–446 182
Greeks in the West 184
Thucydides and the development of a genre 185
The Peloponnesian War 187
Conclusion 196
8 The fourth century: political and military narrative 197
Robin Osborne
Discerning a pattern 197
A pattern repeated 202
The decades of uncertainty 206
The rise of Macedon 211
Greece into Asia 219
9 Epilogue 223
Robin Osborne
Further Reading 232
Chronology 237
Glossary 240
List of Ancient Authors 241
Maps 248
Index 251
List of Illustrations
1. Hoplites in action. Black-Wgure ‘eye-cup’ by Exekias, third
quarter of the sixth century 85
Munich, Antikensammlungen 2044 (ABV 146.21). Courtesy of the Hirmer
Fotoarchiv, Munich
2. Peltast. Red-Wgure cup of c.510 89
University of Leipzig, Antikenmuseum T.487 (ARV 48.159). Courtesy of
the Institut für Klassische Archäologie und Antikenmuseum der Universität
Leipzig
3. Reconstruction of an ancient trireme 92
Courtesy of Boris Rankov
4. Bronze statuette of a hoplite 100
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Antikensammlung, Misc. 7470. Courtesy of
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin––Preussischer Kulturbesitz
5. Diagram of hoplite ranks 102
Drawing by Hans van Wees
6. Statue of Aeschines 148
Museo Nazionale Archeologico Naples, 6018. Courtesy of Deutsches
Archäologisches Institut, Rome
7. A house on the Pnyx 152
By John Ellis Jones. Courtesy of the Belgian Committee for Excavation in
Greece
8. A veiled and crowned bride. Red-Wgure loutrophoros 155
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Antikensammlung F2372. Courtesy of Antiken-
sammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin––Preussischer Kulturbesitz
9. School scene. Red-Wgure cup signed by Douris 167
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Antikensammlung F2285, ARV 431.48.
Courtesy of Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin––Preussischer
Kulturbesitz
10. Demosthenes. Copy of a statue by Polyeuktos, erected in the
Athenian Agora in 280 216
Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek 2782. Courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek
Maps
Map 1 The Greek World 248
Map 2 Mainland Greece 250
List of Contributors
james davidson is Reader in Ancient History at Birkbeck College,
London, and author of Courtesans and Fishcakes: the Consuming
Passions of Classical Athens (1997) and One Mykonos (1999).
lisa kallet is Professor of Ancient History at the University of
Texas at Austin and author of Money, Expense and Naval Power in
Thucydides’ History 1–5.24 (1993).
paul millett is Lecturer in Ancient History in the University of
Cambridge and Fellow of Downing College. He is the author of
Lending and Borrowing in Ancient Athens (1991).
josiah ober is David Magie Professor of Ancient History at Princ-
eton University and author of Fortress Attica: Defense of the Athenian
Land Frontier, 404–322 bc (1985), Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens:
Rhetoric, Ideology and the Power of the People (1989), The Athenian
Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory
(1996), and Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics
of Popular Rule (1998).
robin osborne is a Professor of Ancient History in the University of
Oxford and Fellow of Corpus Christi College. He is the author of
Demos: the Discovery of Classical Attika (1985), Classical Landscape
with Figures: the Ancient Greek City and its Countryside (1987), Greece
in the Making 1200–479 bc (1996), and Archaic and Classical Greek Art
(1998).
rosalind thomas is Reader in History at Royal Holloway, Uni-
versity of London, and author of Oral Tradition and Written Record in
Classical Athens (1989), Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece (1992),
and Herodotus in Context: Ethnography, Science and the Art of Persua-
sion (2000).
hans van wees is Lecturer in Ancient History at University College
London, and author of Status Warriors: War, Violence and Society in
Homer and History (1992) and Greek Warfare: Myths and Realities
(2000).