The Composition of Aristotle's Athenaion Politeia: Observation and Explanation

204 Pages·1992·11.19 MB·English

by  John J. Keaney

The Composition
of Aristotle's
Athenaion Politeia
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The Composition
of Aristotle's
Athenaion Politeia
Observation and Explanation
JOHN J. KEANEY
NEW YORK OXFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1992
Oxford University Press
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Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1992 by John J. Keaney
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Keaney, John J.
The composition of Aristotle's Athenaion politeia: observation
and explanation / John J. Keaney.
p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-507032-1
1. Aristotle. Athenaion politeia. I. Title.
JC71.A41K43 1992 320.938'5—dc20
91-26295
987654321
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Memoriae matris Bridget
e
per le graziose
Edwina M.
Anne M.
Laura C.
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Preface
During the gestation of this book, portions of it were delivered as lectures or
colloquia at McGill University, Rutgers University and, on several occasions,
at my own university. I am grateful for the reactions of these audiences. Par-
ticular gratitude is owed to the members of an informal (i.e., not-for-credit)
colloquium with graduate students at Princeton in the fall term of 1989, in
which most of the contents were exposed to critical discussion: for their partic-
ipation I thank C. Champion, R. Ganiban, A. Lardinois, L. Maurizio, K.
McCarthy of the Department of Classics, and S. Monoson of the Department
of Politics.
Nearly all of the Greek has been translated, and for this I have used (with
minor modifications) the renderings of M. Dilts (Heracleides Lembos), P.J.
Rhodes (for the 'A and T. Saunders (Plato, Laws and
Aristotle, Politics). See Bibliography.
The dedication records four generations.
Princeton J.J.K.
August 1991
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Contents
Introduction, xi
1. The Origin and Authorship of the Politeiai, 3
2. The "Cultural" Origin of the , 20
3. The Genre and Its Origin, 35
4. The Unity of the 'A , 43
5. Observation and Explanation, 50
6. Methods and Purposes, 54
7. Structure and Meaning, 64
8. Vertical Structure: Ring Composition, 72
9. Horizontal Structure: Chiasmus, 90
10. The Politics of Institutions versus the
Politics of Personality, 106
11. The Formula, 117
12. A Constitutional Formula, 122
13. Aristotle and Theopompus, 126
14. Aristotle and Theramenes, 133
15. The Series in Chapter 41, 153
16. , , and , 156
17. The Dating Formula, 167
18. Chapter 45: , 174
19. The Other , 178
Bibliography, 185
General Index, 187
Index locorum, 191