The Birth of the Athenian Community: From Solon to Cleisthenes

The Birth of the Athenian Community offers a new interpretation of the origins and advancement of the city of Athens. Instead of approaching Athenian history traditionally, as a linear progression, this book presents it as a gradually rising complexity of a multidimensional social fabric comprised of distinct but closely interwoven kinship, legal, and political communities. Their evolving relationship determined the course of Athenian history, including Cleisthenes' establishment of demokratia and Pericles' political reforms, among other important events. Similar developments in other parts of the Greek world suggest that Athens' evolution, while much better documented, was not unique.

Author: Sviatoslav Dmitriev
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 10/16/2017
Pages: 408
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.55lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.20w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781138083516

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2018

About the Author

Sviatoslav Dmitriev (Ph.D., Harvard University, 2001) has authored City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor (2005) and The Greek Slogan of Freedom and Early Roman Politics in Greece (2011), as well as articles on ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine history. His current projects focus on the Athenian orator Demades and the Byzantine erudite John Lydus, who lived a thousand years apart. He is an associate professor of history at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.