The Rise of the Political in Ancient Greece
The Rise of the Political in Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek understandings of political life after the emergence of direct democracy in the Athenian polis after 500 BC constitute a foundational moment in Western civilization.
In our study of Greek legend, it is most crucial, for we moderns, to capture the Greek self-awareness of the nature of “the political.”
Oikia
Archaic Greek civilization (of which Homer writes in the Iliad and Odyssey) was comprised by a mixed race, seafaring peoples whose community life revolved around the “tribal household” (Oikia).
■ Society based on kinship
■ Hierarchical
■ The Gods and kinship practices ruled the Oikiae, or households
Polis
- Out of these private households grew the first conception of “public community”:
- Distinct poleis (plural of polis) that were formed by multiple households (oikiae)
- Polis translated is translated into English as “city-state”
- Poleis were Unique to the Greek peninsula and western coast of Asia Minor
- Actually derives from the Greek word “politiea”
Politiea:
Greek title of “The Republic”
Translated by Cicero into Latin as “res publica,” meaning “the public space”
Can also be translated as the preconditions, practices, and rights of citizenship
Root word for the English “political”
The Gods and Laws eventually governed the polis, rather than the oikia
Plato recounts the development of the poleis as a consequence of Zeus’s instructions to Hermes to teach the Greeks how to live together in a polis.
Plato renders this new form of public life as “the art of resolving differences,” and the “art of being just to one another.”
The polis introduces a new dimension of public life and recreates the oikia as a private sphere of life.
Agora- Center of the Greek polis
Center for Public affairs: Market activities, public discussion, political life
Very important for Greeks and Greek self understanding
Demos- Countryside around the polis
Came to refer to peasants who worked the land (as opposed to the city dwellers (citizens) such as shop owners, etc.
With the Athenian polis comes a new kind of person: The citizen, who defines himself through his participation in public, rather than household, affairs.
These citizens only comprised some 40,000 among 170,000 residents in early 4th century Athens.
Remainder of residents were women, metics (foreigners), and slaves.
Map of Ancient Greece shown in class (including Asia Minor, Sicily, and southern Italy)
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