Constitution of the Athenians
Encyclopedia
The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenaion Politeia, or The Athenian constitution) is the name of either of two texts from Classical antiquity, one probably by Aristotle
or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon
, but not by him.
. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus
codex
carrying part of the text were discovered in Oxyrhynchus
, Egypt
in 1879 and published in 1880. A second papyrus text was purchased in Egypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis Budge
of the British Museum
acquired it later that year, and the first edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon
was published in January, 1891. The editions of the Greek text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H. Chambers (1986, second edition 1994).
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these were research for the Politics
, and that many of them were written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time; it is plausible that, even if students did the others, Aristotle did that one himself, and possible that it was intended as a model for the rest. However, a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written by Aristotle.
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance, because it is the only one of his extant writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that "the discovery of this treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study." In particular, 21-22, 26.2-4, and 39-40 of the work contain factual information not found in any other extant ancient text.
state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The work consists of two parts. The first part, from Chapter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the different iterations of the constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae
(Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι) until 403 BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and the courts.
The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George Kenyon. Shortly after a controversy arose over the authorship of the work that continues today.
The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenaion Politeia, or The Athenian constitution) is the name of either of two texts from Classical antiquity, one probably by Aristotle
or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon
, but not by him.
. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus
codex
carrying part of the text were discovered in Oxyrhynchus
, Egypt
in 1879 and published in 1880. A second papyrus text was purchased in Egypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis Budge
of the British Museum
acquired it later that year, and the first edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon
was published in January, 1891. The editions of the Greek text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H. Chambers (1986, second edition 1994).
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these were research for the Politics
, and that many of them were written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time; it is plausible that, even if students did the others, Aristotle did that one himself, and possible that it was intended as a model for the rest. However, a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written by Aristotle.
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance, because it is the only one of his extant writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that "the discovery of this treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study." In particular, 21-22, 26.2-4, and 39-40 of the work contain factual information not found in any other extant ancient text.
state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The work consists of two parts. The first part, from Chapter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the different iterations of the constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae
(Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι) until 403 BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and the courts.
The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George Kenyon. Shortly after a controversy arose over the authorship of the work that continues today.
The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenaion Politeia, or The Athenian constitution) is the name of either of two texts from Classical antiquity, one probably by Aristotle
or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon
, but not by him.
. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus
codex
carrying part of the text were discovered in Oxyrhynchus
, Egypt
in 1879 and published in 1880. A second papyrus text was purchased in Egypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis Budge
of the British Museum
acquired it later that year, and the first edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon
was published in January, 1891. The editions of the Greek text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H. Chambers (1986, second edition 1994).
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these were research for the Politics
, and that many of them were written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time; it is plausible that, even if students did the others, Aristotle did that one himself, and possible that it was intended as a model for the rest. However, a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written by Aristotle.
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance, because it is the only one of his extant writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that "the discovery of this treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study." In particular, 21-22, 26.2-4, and 39-40 of the work contain factual information not found in any other extant ancient text.
state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The work consists of two parts. The first part, from Chapter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the different iterations of the constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae
(Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι) until 403 BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and the courts.
The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George Kenyon. Shortly after a controversy arose over the authorship of the work that continues today., introduction à la Constitution d'Athènes, Le Livre de Poche, n°4688, p. 14 et seq..
is a hostile treatise about the Athenian Constitution. The author, who appears to be an Athenian, regards the Athenian democracy as undesirable, as giving the mob undue voice in the state; but he argues that it is well-designed for its purpose, if you wanted so vile a thing to be done. The author goes on to say that whilst 'the good', a description he uses to cover the rich and the aristocracy of Athens, are better qualified to run the state due to their wealth and education, this would lead to 'the masses' being disenfranchised as the rich would naturally act in their own interests, leading to the suppression of the lower classes. The Athenian democracy
allows the poor to exert their influence, in line with the thetes' crucial role in the Athenian Navy and therefore in Athens' affairs.
The date of the treatise can only be estimated. The Old Oligarch says that lengthy land expeditions cannot be supplied against a sea power; since Brasidas
marched the length of Greece in 424 BC, when Xenophon was about five, the Old Oligarch presumably wrote before that date. On the other hand, he discusses the military advantages of democracy at some length, and in listing the business of the boule
puts it first; so it has been argued that he wrote in wartime. There are plausible arguments that this was in fact the Peloponnesian War
; but G.W. Bowersock, the editor of the Loeb
text, is not convinced this is certain.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
, but not by him.
Aristotle
The Aristotelian text is unique, because it is not a part of the Corpus AristotelicumCorpus Aristotelicum
The Corpus Aristotelicum is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from antiquity through Medieval manuscript transmission. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school...
. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
carrying part of the text were discovered in Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus is a city in Upper Egypt, located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo, in the governorate of Al Minya. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1879 and published in 1880. A second papyrus text was purchased in Egypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis Budge
E. A. Wallis Budge
Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East.-Earlier life:...
of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
acquired it later that year, and the first edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon
Frederic G. Kenyon
Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA was a British paleographer and biblical and classical scholar. He occupied from 1889 to 1931 a series of posts at the British Museum...
was published in January, 1891. The editions of the Greek text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H. Chambers (1986, second edition 1994).
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these were research for the Politics
Politics (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Politics is a work of political philosophy. The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the...
, and that many of them were written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time; it is plausible that, even if students did the others, Aristotle did that one himself, and possible that it was intended as a model for the rest. However, a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written by Aristotle.
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance, because it is the only one of his extant writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that "the discovery of this treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study." In particular, 21-22, 26.2-4, and 39-40 of the work contain factual information not found in any other extant ancient text.
Synopsis
The Constitution of the Athenians (in ancient greek Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία Athenaion Politeia), attributed to Aristotle and his students, describes the political system of ancient Athens. The treatise was made between 330 and 322 BC. The text was found on papyrus in Egypt in 1879, in the region of Hermopolis, and first purchased from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin and in 1899 the British Museum. Some ancient authors, as Diogenes LaërtiusDiogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The work consists of two parts. The first part, from Chapter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the different iterations of the constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae
Alcmaeonidae
The Alcmaeonidae or Alcmaeonids were a powerful noble family of ancient Athens, a branch of the Neleides who claimed descent from the mythological Alcmaeon, the great-grandson of Nestor....
(Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι) until 403 BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and the courts.
The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George Kenyon. Shortly after a controversy arose over the authorship of the work that continues today.
The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenaion Politeia, or The Athenian constitution) is the name of either of two texts from Classical antiquity, one probably by Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
, but not by him.
Aristotle
The Aristotelian text is unique, because it is not a part of the Corpus AristotelicumCorpus Aristotelicum
The Corpus Aristotelicum is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from antiquity through Medieval manuscript transmission. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school...
. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
carrying part of the text were discovered in Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus is a city in Upper Egypt, located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo, in the governorate of Al Minya. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1879 and published in 1880. A second papyrus text was purchased in Egypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis Budge
E. A. Wallis Budge
Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East.-Earlier life:...
of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
acquired it later that year, and the first edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon
Frederic G. Kenyon
Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA was a British paleographer and biblical and classical scholar. He occupied from 1889 to 1931 a series of posts at the British Museum...
was published in January, 1891. The editions of the Greek text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H. Chambers (1986, second edition 1994).
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these were research for the Politics
Politics (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Politics is a work of political philosophy. The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the...
, and that many of them were written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time; it is plausible that, even if students did the others, Aristotle did that one himself, and possible that it was intended as a model for the rest. However, a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written by Aristotle.
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance, because it is the only one of his extant writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that "the discovery of this treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study." In particular, 21-22, 26.2-4, and 39-40 of the work contain factual information not found in any other extant ancient text.
Synopsis
The Constitution of the Athenians (in ancient greek Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία Athenaion Politeia), attributed to Aristotle and his students, describes the political system of ancient Athens. The treatise was made between 330 and 322 BC. The text was found on papyrus in Egypt in 1879, in the region of Hermopolis, and first purchased from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin and in 1899 the British Museum. Some ancient authors, as Diogenes LaërtiusDiogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The work consists of two parts. The first part, from Chapter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the different iterations of the constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae
Alcmaeonidae
The Alcmaeonidae or Alcmaeonids were a powerful noble family of ancient Athens, a branch of the Neleides who claimed descent from the mythological Alcmaeon, the great-grandson of Nestor....
(Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι) until 403 BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and the courts.
The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George Kenyon. Shortly after a controversy arose over the authorship of the work that continues today.
The Constitution of the Athenians (or Athenaion Politeia, or The Athenian constitution) is the name of either of two texts from Classical antiquity, one probably by Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
or a student of his, the other attributed to Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
, but not by him.
Aristotle
The Aristotelian text is unique, because it is not a part of the Corpus AristotelicumCorpus Aristotelicum
The Corpus Aristotelicum is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from antiquity through Medieval manuscript transmission. These texts, as opposed to Aristotle's lost works, are technical philosophical treatises from within Aristotle's school...
. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
carrying part of the text were discovered in Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus
Oxyrhynchus is a city in Upper Egypt, located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo, in the governorate of Al Minya. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in 1879 and published in 1880. A second papyrus text was purchased in Egypt by an American missionary in 1890. E. A. Wallis Budge
E. A. Wallis Budge
Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East.-Earlier life:...
of the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
acquired it later that year, and the first edition of it by Frederic G. Kenyon
Frederic G. Kenyon
Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA was a British paleographer and biblical and classical scholar. He occupied from 1889 to 1931 a series of posts at the British Museum...
was published in January, 1891. The editions of the Greek text in widest use today are Kenyon's Oxford Classical Text of 1920 and the Teubner edition by Mortimer H. Chambers (1986, second edition 1994).
Ancient accounts of Aristotle credit him with 170 Constitutions of various states; it is widely assumed that these were research for the Politics
Politics (Aristotle)
Aristotle's Politics is a work of political philosophy. The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the...
, and that many of them were written or drafted by his students. Athens, however, was a particularly important state, and where Aristotle was living at the time; it is plausible that, even if students did the others, Aristotle did that one himself, and possible that it was intended as a model for the rest. However, a number of prominent scholars doubt that it was written by Aristotle.
If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance, because it is the only one of his extant writings that was actually intended for publication.
Because it purports to supply us with so much contemporary information previously unknown or unreliable, modern historians have claimed that "the discovery of this treatise constitutes almost a new epoch in Greek historical study." In particular, 21-22, 26.2-4, and 39-40 of the work contain factual information not found in any other extant ancient text.
Synopsis
The Constitution of the Athenians (in ancient greek Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία Athenaion Politeia), attributed to Aristotle and his students, describes the political system of ancient Athens. The treatise was made between 330 and 322 BC. The text was found on papyrus in Egypt in 1879, in the region of Hermopolis, and first purchased from the Egyptian Museum in Berlin and in 1899 the British Museum. Some ancient authors, as Diogenes LaërtiusDiogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens.
The work consists of two parts. The first part, from Chapter I to Chapter XLI, deals with the different iterations of the constitution, from the trial of the Alcmaeonidae
Alcmaeonidae
The Alcmaeonidae or Alcmaeonids were a powerful noble family of ancient Athens, a branch of the Neleides who claimed descent from the mythological Alcmaeon, the great-grandson of Nestor....
(Ἀλκμαιωνίδαι) until 403 BC. The second part describes the city's institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates and the courts.
The text was published in 1891 by Frederic George Kenyon. Shortly after a controversy arose over the authorship of the work that continues today., introduction à la Constitution d'Athènes, Le Livre de Poche, n°4688, p. 14 et seq..
Pseudo-Xenophon
Included in the shorter works of XenophonXenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
is a hostile treatise about the Athenian Constitution. The author, who appears to be an Athenian, regards the Athenian democracy as undesirable, as giving the mob undue voice in the state; but he argues that it is well-designed for its purpose, if you wanted so vile a thing to be done. The author goes on to say that whilst 'the good', a description he uses to cover the rich and the aristocracy of Athens, are better qualified to run the state due to their wealth and education, this would lead to 'the masses' being disenfranchised as the rich would naturally act in their own interests, leading to the suppression of the lower classes. The Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model,...
allows the poor to exert their influence, in line with the thetes' crucial role in the Athenian Navy and therefore in Athens' affairs.
Dating and authenticity
In the early 20th century, evidence against Xenophon's authorship was presented, and has become the majority view. The author is now usually called pseudo-Xenophon, or the Old Oligarch, based on the anti-democratic tone of the work. The style is not Xenophon's, who is remarkably clear; this treatise is crabbed and inelegant.The date of the treatise can only be estimated. The Old Oligarch says that lengthy land expeditions cannot be supplied against a sea power; since Brasidas
Brasidas
Brasidas was a Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War.He was the son of Tellis and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athenians . During the following year he seems to have been eponymous ephor Brasidas (died 422...
marched the length of Greece in 424 BC, when Xenophon was about five, the Old Oligarch presumably wrote before that date. On the other hand, he discusses the military advantages of democracy at some length, and in listing the business of the boule
Boule (Ancient Greece)
In cities of ancient Greece, the boule meaning to will ) was a council of citizens appointed to run daily affairs of the city...
puts it first; so it has been argued that he wrote in wartime. There are plausible arguments that this was in fact the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
; but G.W. Bowersock, the editor of the Loeb
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...
text, is not convinced this is certain.
External links
- Aristotelian Text, trans. by Horace Rackham (HTML at Perseus)
- Aristotelian Text, trans. by Frederic G. Kenyon
- Aristotelian Text, trans. by Frederic G. Kenyon, alternate presentation
- Pseudo-Xenophon, translated by E. G. Marchant
- The Athenian Constitution by Aristotle (translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon)
- P. J. Rhodes' 1981 Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia at Google Books.