Volume 105, Issue 2

This article aims to advance our understanding of Athenian politics through a quantitative study of the proposers of decrees in the Assembly during the fifth century BC. Based on the accounts of Greek historians, biographers and orators, scholars have traditionally envisioned Athenian politics as dominated by an elite whose members competed for power and prestige and controlled the Assembly through dynamics of political friendship. Recent studies of the decree proposers attested in the epigraphical and literary sources have questioned this model. They have shown that, at least during the fourth century, political initiative was not the prerogative of an elite but was rather widespread among ordinary citizens. Yet, the traditional, elite-centred view of Athenian politics is still widely supported among scholars working on the fifth-century democracy. This article challenges this view through a comparative study of the respective pictures of fifth-century decree proposing provided by the literary and epigraphical evidence. By means of statistical tests and analyses, it argues that, while wealth certainly gave elites an advantage in the Assembly through rhetorical training as well as an edge in the run for elective offices, Athenian democracy since the fifth century provided occasional proposers and ordinary citizens with significant pathways for exerting political agency. By reviewing the problematic evidence for the practice of proposing decrees through proxies, this study also shows that the significant level of popular participation attested in the observed data was not a by-product of political friendship, and that Athenian democracy since its early history encouraged models of political aggregation which could cut through friendship groups and enable forms of participation not limited to passively supporting one’s political leaders.

Riassunto Questo articolo discute l’immagine degli Argivi negli Eraclidi di Euripide, nonché il ruolo del dramma nella costruzione dell’identità della polis ateniese attraverso l’uso delle sue memorie collettive. Euristeo e gli Argivi rappresentano l’‘altro’ nella struttura drammatica, e nello specifico potevano rievocare la memoria dei Persiani di Dario e di Serse. In ultima analisi, in questo modo il dramma contribuisce a costruire una ‘storia intenzionale’ ateniese attraverso diverse dimensioni temporali (il passato del mito, il passato recente della polis , il suo presente e il suo futuro).

Most powerful ancient navies included a type of ship that conveyed cavalry known as hippagogos – a master weapon of all sea powers – to carry out their expeditions overseas. Ancient thalassocracies understood that their dominion depended not only on fighting ships. Cavalry was necessary for victory on land and was thus a necessary component of their maritime strategy. Control of Mediterranean waters necessitated the construction of horse-carriers that provided much needed auxiliary support to the fleet. Although a naval force might include only a few of these vessels, their role was essential, and for this reason they were part of every significant fleet. Only sea powers with large resources and advanced nautical skills could commission horse-transports, which were old warships that had been transformed. This investigation traces the evolution in the use of vessels conveying cavalry from Persian expeditions in the Aegean to the Battle of Actium. The study considers the literary and epigraphic sources evidencing them in order to emphasize their continued importance for the evolution of naval warfare throughout antiquity. Athenian horse-carriers are the best documented examples and are considered the most extensively, even though many other powers used these kinds of vessels. At the peak of their maritime empire, the Athenian employed horse-carriers on multiple occasions against their enemies. The city-state was renowned for them to the extent that Aristophanes dedicated a comedic episode to them in his play Knights, which indicates the great interest of elites in these vessels. The article also reassesses the role of the cavalrymen who played pivotal roles in the expeditions of all maritime empires in antiquity.

This essay analyzes the term presbeis autokratores found in historical sources and in inscriptions. Previous scholars have not been able to give a consistent account of the term, which appears to vary in meaning. The analysis starts by examining the use of the term autokrator as applied to officials and public bodies and shows that the term refers to different special powers granted to officials, which are specified in each case but which may vary according to circumstances. The rest of the essay analyzes the use of the term and shows that presbeis autokratores were either sent to start negotiations with the power to receive proposals from a foreign state and to bring them back for ratification or to swear the oaths to a treaty the community had already decided to accept. The term is never found in multilateral negotiations. The use of the term in the speech ‘On the Peace’ attributed to Andocides is inconsistent with its use in the Classical and Hellenistic period, which provides additional evidence against the authenticity of this speech.

This paper explores Xenophon’s depiction of Cyrus the Great as a ruler in the Cyropaedia. Xenophon’s Cyrus is often regarded by the scholarship as an ideal, benevolent leader sincerely concerned with virtue, friendship, and honour-related dynamics. However, it is clear that Cyrus equally resorts to malicious and divisive means, employing psychological subjugation, fostering mutual rivalry among his friends, and weakening his subjects. His actions ultimately arouse fear, envy, and insecurity, as Cyrus displays some of the typical features of a tyrant. Xenophon possibly meant to show how Cyrus, by successfully balancing different and contrasting aspects, succeeded in maintaining power no matter the costs by ‘domesticating’ his subjects.

Riassunto I rapporti tra il regno di Macedonia e l’impero achemenide rappresentano un tema molto dibattuto negli studi storici. Normalmente si è propensi a ritenere che il primo sia stato influenzato dal secondo sotto vari aspetti (sociale, militare, ideologico). Se questi rapporti ebbero certamente una grande spinta dopo la spedizione asiatica di Alessandro Magno, ben più difficile è capire la portata del modello achemenide sulla Macedonia prima di allora. Il presente contributo vuole analizzare questo tema dal punto di vista delle strutture militari, segnatamente dei reparti d’élites: partendo dal fondamentale contributo di Dietmar Kienast, si passeranno al vaglio le fonti antiche sugli eserciti persiano e macedone prima di Alessandro Magno per valutare la loro eventuale compatibilità in termini sociali, ossia la corrispondenza di reparti militari d’élite a gruppi sociali definibili come ‹aristocratici›. Se quest’ultimo scenario si rivela effettivamente applicabile al mondo persiano, il contesto macedone tra VI e IV sec. a.C. appare meno articolato e, soprattutto, mancante di strutture aristocratiche istituzionalizzate anche a livello militare. Si tenterà infine di mostrare come molte delle somiglianze tra esercito macedone e persiano siano realmente suggerite dalle fonti antiche post-alessandrine, le quali tuttavia proiettano sulla Macedonia tardo-arcaica e classica alcune delle caratteristiche proprie dell’impero che sarà conquistato da Alessandro Magno.

Resumen A lo largo de la Segunda Guerra Púnica, los distintos agentes intervinientes en el frente hispano recurrieron constantemente a la diplomacia, materializada a menudo en el intercambio de regalos. El presente artículo analiza estos intercambios, centrándose en un tipo de dones singularmente valiosos: los seres humanos de estirpe aristocrática previamente reducidos a la condición de rehenes o cautivos. Su eventual liberación, espontánea y unilateral, y las respuestas suscitadas entre sus familiares y comunidades de origen, se comprende mejor desde el punto de vista de las dinámicas de intercambio de dones diplomáticos, generadoras, por definición, de gratitud, ansiedad y reciprocidad entre los interlocutores. En tanto que canal de comunicación, la materialidad diplomática – esto es, la circulación de bienes de prestigio, rehenes, promesas… – sirvió para tejer redes de alianza y para consolidar asimetrías políticas en un escenario bélico progresivamente extensivo y multipolar.

Zusammenfassung Plinius der Jüngere berichtet in seinen Briefen verschiedentlich über seine Sklaven. Weitaus häufiger jedoch bleiben diese auf der Textebene unsichtbar, obwohl ihre Anwesenheit in den geschilderten Zusammenhängen vorauszusetzen ist. Der Beitrag beleuchtet im Rückgriff auf Clifford Geertz’ Methode der „dichten Beschreibung“ die Bedeutung, die der Diskurs über die Behandlung von Sklaven für Plinius hatte, und untersucht in diesem Licht die von ihm beschriebenen Nahverhältnisse zu bestimmten Sklaven und Freigelassenen seiner familia urbana. Die „dichte Beschreibung“ wird dabei mittels einer Diskursanalyse umgesetzt, die zum Verständnis der Lebenswelt des Plinius beitragen soll. Diese wird mit Rudolf Vierhaus als „symbolisch gedeutete Wirklichkeit“ aufgefaßt. Die Stimmen der Sklavinnen und Sklaven selbst sind dagegen in diesem Diskurs nicht greifbar.

The XXviri ex senatus consulto rei publicae curandae played a decisive role in the civil war between Maximinus Thrax and the senate in 238. This note examines the actions of the extraordinary committee and interprets them against the backdrop of the reception of constitutional thought rooted in that, which was perceived as traditional political ideals of the Roman Republic during the Principate. The study will first look at the roots of the conflicts between Maximinus Thrax and the ordo senatorius , followed by an analysis of the origins and tasks of the XXviri t ogether with their political goals and possible republican exempla . Finally, there will be observations on the vigintivirate ’s significance and role after the senate’s triumph over its enemy. In doing so, this contribution will emphasize the importance of republican constitutional thought in times of crisis for the continued existence of the res publica romana under the Principate.