Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy

Johann P. Arnason is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, and visiting professor at Charles University in Prague. His previous works include Domains and Divisions of European History (with N. Doyle, 2010), The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (with K. Raaflaub, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), and Nordic Paths to Modernity (with B. Wittrock, 2012). Kurt A. Raaflaub is the David Herlihy University Professor and Professor of Classics and History Emeritus at Brown University. His previous works include Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies (with R. J. A. Talbert, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), Epic and History (with D. Konstan, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), and The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (with J. Arnason, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). Peter Wagner is ICREA Research Professor in the Department of Sociological Theory, Philosophy of Law, and Methodology of the Social Sciences at the University of Barcelona. His previous works include Theorizing Modernity: Inescapability and Attainability in Social Theory (2001), Modernity as Experience and Interpretation (2008), and Modernity: Understanding the Present (2012).

• Series Editor’s Preface viiContributors viiiIntroduction 1Johann P. Arnason, Kurt A. Raaflaub, and Peter WagnerPart I The Greek Experience in Long-term Perspective 191 Exploring the Greek Needle’s Eye: Civilizational and Political Transformations 21Johann P. Arnason2 Transformations of Democracy: Towards a History of Political Thought and Practice in Long-term Perspective 47Peter WagnerPart II Ways of Polis-making: Grasping the Novelty of the Political 693 To Act with Good Advice: Greek Tragedy and the Democratic Political Sphere 71Egon Flaig4 Democracy and Dissent: the Case of Comedy 99Lucio Bertelli5 Democracy, Oratory, and the Rise of Historiography in Fifth-century Greece 126Jonas Grethlein6 Political Uses of Rhetoric in Democratic Athens 144Harvey Yunis7 Law and Democracy in Classical Athens 163Adriaan Lanni8 Democracy and Political Philosophy: Influences, Tensions, Rapprochement 181Ryan K. Balot9 Inscriptions and the City in Democratic Athens 205Elizabeth A. MeyerPart III Changing a Way of Life: Democracy’s Impact on Polis Society 22510 The Impact of Democracy on Communal Life 227Sara L. Forsdyke11 The Demos’s Participation in Decision-making: Principles and Realities 260Claude Mossé12 Democracy and Religion in Classical Greece 274Robin Osborne13 Democracy and War 298Lawrence A. TritlePart IV Political Concepts and Commitments 32114 Perfecting the “Political Creature”: Equality and “the Political” in the Evolution of Greek Democracy 323Kurt A. Raaflaub15 Tyranny and Tragedy in Nietzsche’s Understanding of the Greek Polis 351Tracy B. Strong16 The Liberty of the Moderns Compared to the Liberty of the Ancients 371Nathalie Karagiannis and Peter WagnerIndex 389