Greek Democracy, Whole Years Info

Athenian Democracy

Reading List вЂ" Athenian Democracy

Ancient Sources:

Aristotle, The Constitution of Athens

Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin Classics, especially books I, V-IX.

LACTOR 1, The Athenian Empire.

LACTOR 5, Athenian Politics.

The Old Oligarch, LACTOR 2.

Plutarch, The Rise and Fall of Athens, Penguin Classics вЂ" omitting Theseus.

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Penguin Classics.

Modern Works:

Andrewes, A., Greek Society

Ehrenburg, V., From Solon to Socrates

Finley, M. I., The Ancient Greeks

Forrest, W. G., The Emergence of Greek Democracy

Hignett, C., A History of the Athenian Constitution, OUP.

Kitto, H. D. F., The Greeks

1. Introduction

The Physical Environment

“The character of their history is so intimately connected with the character of their dwelling places that we cannot conceive it apart from their land and seas” (Bury & Meiggs)

Herodotus commented of the beauty of his world and generally Greek literature points to a common heritage generated by the physical environment of their world.

Thus, the geography of Greek had a decisive effect on the subsequent history and the socio-political development of the Greek people. Generally, the mountains and the sea predominate, breaking the land into a series of coastal plains & river valleys. The majority of these mountains are not high, good exceptions being Mount Olympus at 2917 metres and the Taygetos Range at 2407 metres. They are substantial enough; however, to hinder trade and communications and were one of the main reasons why the Greeks clung to the coast and developed such entrenched regionalism.

Greece is often seen as an adjunct of the Illyrian peninsular. It is, however, different in character from the rest of the Balkans. Indeed, Greece is different in nature from the two other great Mediterranean peninsulas, Iberia & Italy. Greece is a group of headlands & islands. It is best viewed as a mountain headland broken in two by the Gulf of Corinth. Its eastern coast is a fragmented chain of mountains. The mountains of the Peloponnese are a continuation of those of Epirus.

The terrain of Greece pushed its population to the coast, to the fertile plains to be found there and the most common communications route.

Major geographic features:

The Gulf of Corinth: this feature lets people who would otherwise have been mountaineers have access to the sea. It did not cut of the southern Greeks, although they recognised their differences from the northerners, instead it provided more maritime communications routes. The Isthmus was of great importance; it channelled trade and politics and became a vital strategic point. The positioning of the Isthmus did, however, provide a buffer between western Greece and the Orient, limiting trade and cultural influence.

The Aegean Sea: once again this expanse of water promoted commerce and communication. This was especially due to the chains of islands that link Old Greece to Asia Minor.

The West: although dominated by mountains which almost come down to the coast this area was studded with good harbours. The island of Corcyra (Corfu) is of note as it provided a jumping off point to Italy, another strategic point. The area developed slower than the east due to isolation from the Orient.

Africa: this continent can be reached by bridges such as Southern Italy & Sicily, & Crete вЂ" although much more difficult. These routes provided incentives for colonisation.

The geography of Greece, thus, funnels population and dictates settlement patterns. It also promotes the development of the city-state (polis/eis) as a basic political unit, due to the large numbers of river valleys and the islands. Some of these poleis were very close to each other, Athens was only 50km from Megara, 70km from Thebes & 100km from Corinth. The land also limited the size of the city-states, their economies were unable to produce enough food for substantial cities, and thus for the most part city-states were small 10-20,000 population at most. Indeed, Athens was a salient exception to this holding around 200,000 population depended on trade, industry and imports of grain from Russia.

Some of the islands had complex political structures. For example, Lesbos with on 1630kmÐ'І had 5 poleis, Keos, a tiny island, 4.

Climate and Productivity:

The plains of Greece are generally small. Indeed, where they exist, for example in the Argolid, Thessaly & Macedon, they tend to promote alternative political and social development. In places the soil of Greece is poor вЂ" especially in Attica вЂ" and it is hard to produce a viable crop. In other areas where the plains were more fertile the presence of unpredictable rivers systems led to flood or drought. This was one of the reasons why the Greeks added viticulture & the growing of olives to their agricultural repertoire.

The climate was Mediterranean. Winters were usually mild on the coast with intermittent but heavy rain. Occasionally temperature plunged, but not often. The seas were dangerous in winter and navigation was abandoned at this time of the year. So too movement in the central highland areas where passes became blocked with snow.

The summer started well but for two-four months intense heat brought drought. In the latter half of the summer hot air rising over the Sahara leads to dangerous north south winds from Europe through the Aegean, the Etesians. They made for dangerous sailing conditions. The summer heat, however, encouraged the outdoor life вЂ" as Aristotle tells us (Pol.7.7, 1327b). The atmosphere has a piercing clarity, which is referred to in Homer, indeed it is possible to see the two citadels at Corinth and Athens

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