An Introduction to Classical Athenian Democracy — Overview Christopher W. Blackwell, Furman University Contents Introduction The Dêmos Athenian Democracy: an Overview Athenian Democracy: the Assembly Athenian Democracy: the Council Athenian Democracy: Legislation Athenian Democracy: the Council of the Areopagus Athenian Democracy: the People’s Court The End of Athenian Democracy Introduction [ back to contents ] The city of… Read more
Schedule of Lecture, Readings, and Discussion Questions Week 1 Background Lecture Week 2 Lecture 1: The Shield of Achilles and Illiad 1 Readings Central: The Shield of Achilles passage (Iliad 18.478-608) and Iliad 1 Additional: Iliad 2-8, “The Shield of Achilles: Ends of the Iliad and Beginnings of the City-State” by Gregory Nagy. Discussion Questions 1. Read more
Lectures Week 1 Background Lecture Week 2 Telemakhos’ journey. Law and justice in Odysseus’ absence. Fathers and sons and the unjust suitors. Lecture One Week 3 The songs of Demodokos. The journey of Odysseus and getting to know the noos of those he encounters. Connecting with heroes in the underworld. Lecture Two Week 4 The Hero comes home. Ainoi in Greek song… Read more
Further Resources Primary Texts The speeches of the Attic orators are all available at the Perseus Project website. The site is arranged alphabetically by author. Each speech is available in English and transliterated Greek. The site parses each Greek word and offers a few brief notes. Many other classical Greek texts, as well as images of ancient objects and archaeological sites, are… Read more
The Attic Orators David D. Phillips, UCLA Orator (life span) Antiphon (ca. 480 – 411) Andocides (ca. 440 – post 391) Lysias (459/8 – post 380) Isocrates (436 – 338) Isaeus (ca. 420 – post 344/3) Demosthenes (384 – 322) Aeschines (390 – ca. 322) Hypereides (390/89 – 322) Lycurgus… Read more
Archaeological Finds Associated with the Lawcourts Jury Selection Timing of Speeches Laws Echinos Jury Voting Law Court Locations Jury Selection Jury service was restricted to male citizens at least thirty years old, and was never mandatory. At the beginning of each year, a jury panel of 6000 was selected — we do not know how — and… Read more
Glossary of Athenian law terms Excerpts from S.C. Todd, “Glossary” in P.A. Cartledge et al, Nomos: Essays Athenian law, politics and society (Cambridge, 1990) selected by Michael de Brauw (University of Texas at Austin). Todd’s complete glossary (with some changes) also appears in The Shape of Athenian Law (Oxford, 1993). agoranomos, agoranomoi Lit. ‘agora-regulator(s)’: public officials attested in a large number of Greek poleis.; their duties consisted of supervising the… Read more
Schedule Week 1: February 10-16 Week 2: February 17-23 Week 3: February 24-March 2 Week 4: March 3-9 Week 5: March 10-16 Week 1 Back to top Lecture 1. An Introduction to the Athenian Democracy Lecture 2. An Introduction to the Athenian Legal System Suggested reading: Demosthenes 54, Against Conon Supplementary… Read more
Lectures Below is the lecture reading schedule, with links to the text of each lecture. Please note that there will be no Discussion Forum topics in Week 1. See Assignments for complete weekly assignments and Discussion Forum topics. Week 1: February 10-16 An Introduction to the Athenian Democracy, Christopher Blackwell (Furman) An Introduction to the Athenian Legal System, Victor Bers (Yale) and Adriaan Lanni (Harvard) Week 2:… Read more
The Homeric Odyssey & the Cultivation of Justice Welcome to “Homeric Odyssey and the Cultivation of Justice”, an online lecture series organized and led by Professor Gregory Nagy, the current director of Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D. C. In the creation of this project he has been actively assisted by Teaching Fellows who have taught with him the undergraduate Core Curriculum course “The Concept of the… Read more
