Polis and Revolution
Responding to Oligarchy in Classical Athens

This book explores how democracy in Athens was recreated and the city rebuilt following the oligarchic revolutions of the fifth century BC.

Julia L. Shear (Author)

9781108984843, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 January 2021

384 pages, 19 b/w illus. 11 tables
15 x 23 x 2 cm, 0.57 kg

'Shear displays unusually deep and extensive knowledge of the preserved physical material.' Classical World

During the turbulent last years of the fifth century BC, Athens twice suffered the overthrow of democracy and the subsequent establishment of oligarchic regimes. In an in-depth treatment of both political revolutions, Julia Shear examines how the Athenians responded to these events, at the level both of the individual and of the corporate group. Interdisciplinary in approach, this account brings epigraphical and archaeological evidence to bear on a discussion which until now has largely been based on texts. Dr Shear particularly focuses on the recreation of democracy and the city, both ritually and physically, in the aftermath of the coups and demonstrates that, whilst reconciliation after civil strife is difficult and contentious, it is also crucial for rebuilding a united society. Theories of remembering and forgetting are applied and offer a new way of understanding the dynamics in Athens at this time.

1. Responding to oligarchy in Athens: an introduction
2. Revolution, oligarchy and the patrios politeia
3. Restoring Athens: democracy and law
4. Reclaiming Athens: the demos and the city
5. Remembering and forgetting: rituals and the demos
6. The Thirty and the law
7. Reconciling the Athenians
8. Recreating democracy: documents and the law
9. The agora and the democratic city
10. Forgetting or remembering: oligarchy, stasis and the demos
11. The strategies of democracy.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]