Assignment: Finley, Ancient Greeks, pp. 54-93.
People, Concepts, and Terms
- polis
- eunomia
- isonomia
- demokratia
- demos
- medizer
- Darius
- Xerxes
- Athenian League and its relation to the Delian League
- Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC)
- Some Athenian politicians: Nicias, Cleon, Cimon, Pericles
(whey does Finley call them "rentiers"?)
- The Old Oligarch
- Some Athenian Institutions
- Ecclesia (assembly)
- Boule (council)
- strategoi
- Lot (sortition) + pay
- Hoplite
- The development of Athenian democracy: Solon, Pisistratus,
Hippias, Hipparchus, Cleisthenes, Ephialtes
- Some Orators: Pericles, Cleon, Diodotus, Demosthenes
- The enemy of stability: stasis
- Some Spartan Institutions
- Helots
- Perioeci
- Two kings, twenty-eight elders, five ephors, and an
assembly
- Lysander
- Sparta as model and mirage
- The significance of Philip of Macedon in the history of Greek
city-states
Essay Topics
- It has been argued that one is truly free only in a democratic
city-state. Discuss the rationale for this line of thinking, and
critique it. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
- Discuss the relationship of citizenship to political
participation in ancient Athens. Did citizenship matter? Can you
compare ancient Greek attitudes with any other ancient
arrangements, with modern?
- The democratic institutions of ancient Athens have been
admired for centuries, but some have pointed out that not all
participated equally. Discuss the various categories of people
excluded from political life and the various limitations imposed
upon them by their civic status.
- The great problem in Greek political life during the period of
the city-state was the divide between "the prosperous few and the
restless many." Discuss the different solutions of Athens and
Sparta in addressing the disparity between rich and poor.
