Classical Athenian democracy is rightly famous, but democracy flourished in other parts of the Greek world as well. In this clear and fascinating book, Matthew Simonton traces the emergence, growth, consolidation, and decline of democratic city-states over the millennium down to the fifth century CE. He argues for the widespread and highly participatory nature of democratic constitutions across the Greek world, particularly in the fourth, third, and second centuries BCE. Readers will also learn to appreciate the characteristic ideological, institutional, and material-cultural features of democratic poleis. The evidence marshaled includes literary texts, inscriptions, coins, archaeological remains, and monumental art. The book does not shy away from the fact that ancient Greek democracies both empowered lowerclass men and rested on a series of exclusions (of women, enslaved people, and foreigners). Nevertheless, dēmokratia emerges as a major facet of ancient Greek culture and society.
Introduction; 1. From Eunomia to Dēmokratia, 510–451/0 BCE; 2. A Contested Existence, 451/0–362 BCE; 3. The Heyday of Ancient Greek Democracies, 362–146 BCE; 4. (D)evolutions of Democracy, 146 BCE to Late Antiquity; Appendix. Instances of 'Democracy' on Stone.
Matthew Simonton is Associate Professor of Classics at Princeton University, having previously worked at Arizona State University. His first book, Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History (2017), received the 2018 Runciman Award from the Anglo-Hellenic League. He is currently at work on a political and cultural history of ancient Greek demagoguery.
