What makes a demagogue? A much more friendly touch, or more importantly, a perception of a friendly touch, than has previously been explored. Demagogues, Power and Friendship in Classical Athens examines the ways in which a demagogic leadership style based on personal connection became ingrained in this period, drawing on close study of several genres of literature of the late 5th and early-to-mid 4th centuries BCE. Such connection was particularly effective with lower classes of Athenians, who had been accustomed to being excluded from politicians' friendship-based approaches to coalition-building. Comedies of Aristophanes (particularly Knights), tragedies of Euripides (particularly Iphigenia in Aulis), and historical biographies of Xenophon (particularly Anabasis and Cyropaedia) depict demagogues, or characters exhibiting demagogic characteristics, using a style of outreach to members of neglected classes that involved provoking feelings of friendship with individuals in these classes, whether the demagogues and individual supporters actually interacted closely or not. These leaders employed techniques, such as propinquity, homophily, and transitivity, that both contemporary sociologists (and, in some cases, Aristotle) recognize as effective for such purposes. Particular attention is paid to discrepancies in Aristophanes' Knights between how the demagogue Cleon is hyperbolically portrayed (as a pederastic lover of the Athenian people) and how his language and actions make him out – as a friend of theirs, as he likely portrayed himself.

What makes a demagogue? A much more friendly touch, or more importantly, a perception of a friendly touch, than has previously been explored. Demagogues, Power and Friendship in Classical Athens examines the ways in which a demagogic leadership style based on personal connection became ingrained in this period, drawing on close study of several genres of literature of the late 5th and early-to-mid 4th centuries BCE. Such connection was particularly effective with lower classes of Athenians, who had been accustomed to being excluded from politicians' friendship-based approaches to coalition-building. Comedies of Aristophanes (particularly Knights), tragedies of Euripides (particularly Iphigenia in Aulis), and historical biographies of Xenophon (particularly Anabasis and Cyropaedia) depict demagogues, or characters exhibiting demagogic characteristics, using a style of outreach to members of neglected classes that involved provoking feelings of friendship with individuals in these classes, whether the demagogues and individual supporters actually interacted closely or not. These leaders employed techniques, such as propinquity, homophily, and transitivity, that both contemporary sociologists (and, in some cases, Aristotle) recognize as effective for such purposes. Particular attention is paid to discrepancies in Aristophanes' Knights between how the demagogue Cleon is hyperbolically portrayed (as a pederastic lover of the Athenian people) and how his language and actions make him out – as a friend of theirs, as he likely portrayed himself.

Thomas R. Martin recounts the unmatched political and military career of Phocion of Athens, and his tragic downfall Phocion (402–318 BCE) won Athens’s highest public office by direct democratic election an unmatched forty-five times and was officially honored as a “Useful Citizen.” A student at Plato’s Academy, Phocion gained influence and power during a time when Athens faced multiple crises stemming from Macedonia’s emergence as an international power under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. Following Athens’s defeat by Macedonia, Phocion unsuccessfully sought mild terms of surrender. Oligarchy was imposed on democratic Athens, and more than twelve thousand “undesirable” Athenians were exiled. When the oligarchic regime was overthrown and the exiles returned, dispossessed Athenians took out their volcanic anger on Phocion, who throughout his career had often been a harsh critic of the citizens’ political decisions. His inflammatory rhetoric contributed to the popular conclusion that he lacked a genuine sense of belonging to the community he wished so desperately to preserve. When he was eighty-four, the Athenians convicted him of treason and condemned him to die by hemlock. In this fresh biography, Thomas R. Martin explores how and why Phocion ultimately failed as a citizen and as a leader. His story offers unsetting lessons for citizens in democracies today.

This book offers a comprehensive review and reassessment of the classical sources describing the cryptographic Spartan device known as the scytale. Challenging the view promoted by modern historians of cryptography which look at the scytale as a simple and impractical 'stick', Diepenbroek argues for the scytale's deserved status as a vehicle for secret communication in the ancient world. By way of comparison, Diepenbroek demonstrates that the cryptographic principles employed in the Spartan scytale show an encryption and coding system that is no less complex than some 20th-century transposition ciphers. The result is that, contrary to the accepted point of view, scytale encryption is as complex and secure as other known ancient ciphers. Drawing on salient comparisons with a selection of modern transposition ciphers (and their historical predecessors), the reader is provided with a detailed overview and analysis of the surviving classical sources that similarly reveal the potential of the scytale as an actual cryptographic and steganographic tool in ancient Sparta in order to illustrate the relative sophistication of the Spartan scytale as a practical device for secret communication. This helps to establish the conceptual basis that the scytale would, in theory, have offered its ancient users a secure method for secret communication over long distances.

This book examines the hero-cults of Sparta on the basis of the archaeological and literary sources. Nicolette Pavlides explores the local idiosyncrasies of a pan-Hellenic phenomenon, which itself can help us understand the place and function of heroes in Greek religion. Although it has long been noted that hero-cult was especially popular in Sparta, there is little known about the cults, both in terms of material evidence and the historical context for their popularity. The evidence from the cult of Helen and Menelaos at the Menelaion, the worship of Agamemnon and Alexandra/Kassandra, the Dioskouroi, and others who remain anonymous to us, is viewed as a local phenomenon reflective of the developing communal and social consciousness of the polis. What is more, through an analysis of the typology of cults, it is concluded that in Sparta, the boundaries of the divine/heroic/mortal were fluid, which allowed a great variation in the expression of cults. The votive patterns, topography, and architectural evidence permit an analysis of the kinds of offerings to hero-cults and an evaluation of the architecture that housed such cults. Due to the material and spatial distribution of the votive deposits, it is argued that Sparta had a large number of hero shrines scattered throughout the polis, which attests to an enthusiastic and long-lasting local votive practice at a popular level.

The pioneering ideas of John Kenyon Davies, one of the most significant Ancient Historians of the past half century, are celebrated in this collection of essays. A distinguished cast of contributors, who include Alain Bresson, Nick Fisher, Edward Harris, John Prag, Robin Osborne, and Sally Humphreys, focus tightly on the nexus of socio-political and economic problems that have preoccupied Davies since the publication of his defining work Athenian Propertied Families in 1971. The scope of Davies' interest has ranged widely in conceptual, and chronological, as well as geographical terms, and the essays here reflect many of his long-term concerns with the writing of Greek history, its methods and materials.

Ancient Greek Cosmogony is the first detailed, comprehensive account of ancient Greek theories of the origins of the world. It covers the period from 800 BC to 600 AD, beginning with myths concerning the creation of the world; the cosmogonies of all the major Greek and Roman thinkers; and the debate between Greek philosophical cosmogony and early Christian views. It argues that Greeks formulated many of the perennial problems of philosophical cosmogony and produced philosophically and scientifically interesting answers. The atomists argued that our world was one among many worlds, and came about by chance. Plato argued that it is unique, and the product of design. Empedocles and the Stoics, in quite different ways, argued that there was an unending cycle whereby the world is generated, destroyed and generated again. Aristotle on the other hand argued that there was no such thing as cosmogony, and the world has always existed. Reactions to, and developments of, these ideas are traced through Hellenistic philosophy and the debates in early Christianity on whether God created the world from nothing or from some pre-existing chaos. The book examines issues of the origins of life and the elements for the ancient Greeks, and how the cosmos will come to an end. It argues that there were several interesting debates between Greek philosophers on the fundamental principles of cosmogony, and that these debates were influential on the development of Greek philosophy and science.

This volume sheds new light on the experience of ancient Greek warfare by identifying and examining three fundamental transitions undergone by the classical Athenian hoplite as a result of his military service: his departure to war, his homecoming from war having survived, and his homecoming from war having died. As a conscript, a man regularly called upon by his city-state to serve in the battle lines and perform his citizen duty, the most common military experience of the hoplite was one of transition – he was departing to or returning from war on a regular basis, especially during extended periods of conflict. Scholarship has focused primarily on the experience of the hoplite after his return, with a special emphasis on his susceptibility to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but the moments of transition themselves have yet to be explored in detail. Taking each in turn, Owen Rees examines the transitions from two sides: from within the domestic environment as a member of an oikos, and from within the military environment as a member of the army. This analysis presents a new template for each and effectively maps the experience of the hoplite as he moves between his domestic and military duties. This allows us to reconstruct the effects of war more fully and to identify moments with the potential for a traumatic impact on the individual.

Revenge was an all important part of the ancient Athenian mentality, intruding on all forms of life - even where we might not expect to find it today. Revenge was of prime importance as a means of survival for the people of early Greece and remained in force as a ‘cultural emotion’ during the rise of the poleis, even when the socio-political situation allowed people to live together more peaceably. A key reason for this was the concept of revenge as ‘justice’, which survived strongly in Athens even after the rise of the law-courts. Only the radical thoughts of Plato suggested that revenge was immoral and did not constitute justice. Nevertheless, this does not mean that all forms of revenge were seen as equally acceptable in Athens. Through a close examination of the texts, a more complex picture of how the Athenian people viewed revenge emerges.

This book offers a concise introduction to Xenophon, the Athenian historian, political thinker, moral philosopher and literary innovator who was also a pupil of Socrates, a military general on campaign in Persia, and an exile in residence in the Peloponnese during the late fifth and fourth centuries BC. Alive during one of the most turbulent periods in Greek history, Xenophon wrote extensively about the past and present. In doing so he not only invented several new genres, but also developed pointed political analyses and probing moral critiques. It is the purpose of this book to explore Xenophon's life, writing and ideas, and reception through thematic studies that draw upon the full range of his work. Starting with his approach to the past and to Socrates, it demonstrates how the depiction of events and people from previous times and places are inflected with contemporary concerns about political instability and the challenges of leadership, as well as by a 'Socratic' perspective on politics and morality. The following in-depth examination of Xenophon's theories concerning political organization and the bases for a good life highlight the interconnectivity of his ideas about how to live together and how to live well. Although Xenophon addresses conceptual issues, his writings provide a practical response to real-life problems. Finally, an evaluation of his significance as an inspiration to later writers in their creative interrogations of human affairs brings the investigations to a close. This book thus illuminates Xenophon's importance within the vibrant intellectual culture of ancient Greece as an active participant in and evaluator of his world, as well as his impact over time.