February 29th, 2012

Fifth century Athenian democracy depended on allied tribute.

Fifth century Athenian democracy depended on naval supremacy.

Fifth century Athenian democracy dependended on access to key ports in Chalcidice and the Black Sea.

Fourth century BCE policy (domestic and foreign) must be understood in terms of the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War.

“After seeing the state growing in confidence and much wealth accumulated, he [Aristides] advised the people to lay hold of the leadership of the league, and to quit the country districts and settle in the city. He pointed out to them that all would be able to gain a living there, some by service in the army, others in the garrisons, others by taking part in public affairs; and in this way they would secure the leadership. This advice was taken; and when the people had assumed supreme control they proceeded to treat their allies in a more imperious fashion….They also secured an ample maintenance for the mass of the population in the way which Aristides had pointed out to them. Out of the proceeds of the tributes and the taxes and the contributions of the allies more than 20,000 persons were maintained. There were 6,000 jurymen, 1,600 bowmen, 1,200 knights, 500 members of the Council, 500 guards of the dockyards, besides 50 guards in the acropolis. There were some 700 magistrates at home, and some 700 abroad. Further, when they subsequently went to war, there were in addition 2,500 heavy armed troops, twenty guard ships, and other ships which collected the tributes, with crews amounting to 2,000 men, selected by lot; and besides these, there were the persons maintained at the Pryteneum, and orphans and jailers, since all these were supported by the state.” (?Aristotle, Athenian Constitution 24. D.B. Nagle & S.M. Burstein, 2006)

403-394 BCE - Athens in a state of economic devastation; Loss of revenue from allies destabilized the democracy.

Pressure to find a way to pay for restored democracy.

General strategies for revenue: 1. Expand trade. 2. Domestic economic development. 3. Internal reforms.

Shaky economic recovery after ca. 394 BCE.

Bulk of economic activity remains agriculture; Attica possesses large amounts of arable land; ability to produce surpluses creates opportunity for trade.

Ideally positioned for recovery of trade.

Well established trade network.

Large population makes it a desirable market.

Good ports (i.e. Peiraieus).

High standard currency accepted in many markets.

More intense development of silver mines in Attica.

“I shall now explain how the polis is also the pleasantest and the most profitable as a place of trade. For in the first place, then, it has the best and the safest anchorages for ships, where it is possible for people to run into port and remain without fear in bad weather. But on the other hand also, in the majority of poleis it is necessary for traders to convey goods of some kind away, since they have coins which are useless everywhere; but in Athens more useful things are to be found to export than anywhere else and if they do not wish to convey any goods away, even if they export coins, they will be exporting a marvelous object of trade. For wherever they dispose of it they everywhere get much more than their outlay…” (Xenophon, Poroi III.1-2. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 286).

“Indeed all your other benefactors have been useful to us for a period, but if you look you will see that Leukon helps us continually, and by supplying a commodity of which our polis most stands in need. For you are clearly aware that we use more imported grain than anyone else. Now the grain which comes in from the Black Sea is equal in amount to the whole of what arrives from the other emporia. This is not surprising; for this is the result not only of the fact that this area has the largest supply of grain, but also of the fact that Leukon is its ruler and had granted exemption from taxes to those who convey grain to Athens and proclaims that those sailing to you load first.” (Demosthenes XX, Against Leptines 30-33. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 281A).

Large scale shipping requires large scale financing.

System of banking develops rapidly in the Fourth century BCE.

Private investors lend money to shipping expeditions.

Secured against capital assets (usually land).

“Androkles of (the deme) Sphettos and Nausikrates of Karystos lent Artemon and Apollodoros of Phaselis 3,000 drachmas of silver to go from Athens to Mende or Skione and thence to the (Crimean) Bosporos, but, if they wish, (only) as far as Borysthenes (Olbia) on the left-hand side of the Black Sea, and back to Athens at a rate of 225 drachmas per thousand [22.5%!], but if they set sail from the Black Sea for the Hieron after the heliacal rising of Arcturus at a rate of 300 [30%], on a security of 3000 Mendian amphoras of wine, which will sail from Mende or Skione on the twenty-oared ship of which Hyblesios is naukleros. And they put this down as security, not owing any money to anyone else on its security, nor will they make any further borrowing on its security. And they will convey all goods acquired by way of trade in the Black Sea back to Athens on the same ship. And if the goods come safe to Athens the borrowers will repay the lenders the money due under the contract within twenty days after their return to Athens, in total except insofar as all those on board jointly agree to jettison something or if they have to hand over anything to an enemy; otherwise they will pay in total. And they will provide the security to the lenders to hold unencumbered, until they repay the money due under the contract. And if they do not make repayments within the agreed time, it will be legal for the lenders to pledge or sell the security for their current value. And if some the money due to the lenders under the contract is still not recovered, the lenders will be able to claim from Artemon and Apollodoros, from their entire landed property and from their entire maritime assets, wherever they may be, as if they were people who had lost a suit and were overdue for payment; and it will be possible for one or both of the lenders to claim….” (Demosthenes XXXV, Against Lakritos 10-12. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 281B).

A slave owned by bankers Antisthenes and Archestratus.

Ca. 371 BCE - Freed as a reward for services; granted metic status.

Inherited the banking operations of Antisthenes and Archestratus; started a shield factory.

Provided numerous public benefactions for the state (i.e. provided army with shields; constructed triremes etc.).

Granted citizenship

482 BCE – Athenians first develop silver mines at Laureion.

Vital source of silver and currency.

Critical for importing vital resources (i.e. grain, timber, pitch etc.).

Key feature in making Peiraieus a main port of trade.

Significant source of public revenue as well as private trade ventures.

More intense development after the est. of the Second Athenian Confederacy.

“In the first prytany, of the phyle Hippothontis, (the following) mines were leased: Dexiakon in Nape at Skopia, of which by land the boundaries are on all sides (the property of) Nikias of (the deme) Kydantidai, lessee Kallias of (the deme) Sphettos: 20 drachmas….” (M. Crosby, Hesperia 10 (1941) 14, no.1. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 277B).

Revenue required to fund functions of state.

Payment for service in the courts (Dikasteriai).

Ca – 392 BCE - Payment of service in the ekklesia.

Magistracies and other public posts.

Increasing use of mercenaries requires revenues for defense and security.

Cult festivals.

The fleet.

“At first the Athenians rejected the idea of payment for attendance at the ekklesia. However, with poor attendances, and the prytaneis trying many devices to make the masses attend and ratify proposals by their vote, Agyrrios took the first step by instituting (a payment of) one obol. Subsequently Herakleides of Klazomenai, the so called ‘king’, (raised it to) two obols, and then Agyrrios again to three obols.” (?Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia 41.3. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 302).

Payment for public duties is as follows: first, the People draw a drachma for ordinary meetings of the Assembly, and a drachma and a half for a sovereign meeting; second, the Jury-courts half a drachma; third, the Council five obols; and those acting as president have an additional obol for food. Also the Nine Archons get four obols each for food, and have to keep a herald and a flute-player as well; and the archon for Salamis gets a drachma a day. Games-directors dine in the Prytaneum in the month of Hecatombaeon, during the Panathenaic Festival, from the fourth of the month onward. Amphictyons for Delos get a drachma a day from Delos. All the officials sent to Samos, Scyros, Lemnos or Imbros also get money for food. (?Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia 41.3. Trans. H. Rackham, 1952)

Eisphora – Tax on property; levied on property of citizens and free non-citizens; Pop. Divided into 100 groups (symmoriai) of equal taxable value; system existed in the fifth century but reformed ca. 378 BCE.

Syntaxeis – Contributions from allies (after 378 BCE).

Revenue from silver mine leases.

Dues from the agora and Piraieus.

Theoric fund – Treasury of unused revenue; used for public expenditures; dividends paid to the demos.

Litourgia – Contributions of the wealthy for public expenses (i.e. Outfitting ship, repairing a temple etc.).

“The officials in charge of the routine administration are all appointed by lot except for the treasurer of the military fund, the commissioners of the theoric fund and the superintendant of the water supply; these are elected by a show of hands, and those elected hold office from one (Great) Panathenaia, elected by show of hands, and those elected hold office from one (Great) Panathenaia festival to the next…”(?Aristotle, Atheniaon Politeia 43.1. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 313A)

“Previously, Athenians, the polis used to elect a copy-clerk (antigrapheus) who reported once every prytany to the demos about the revenues. However, because of the trust which you came to place in Euboulos, those who had been elected commissioners of the theoric fund held also – until the nomos of Hegemon came into being – the offices of the antigrapheus and of the Receivers. In addition they controlled the dockyards, built a naval arsenal, and were surveyors of roads; in fact virtually the whole administration of the polis was in their hands.” (Aeschines III, Against Ktesiphon, 25. Crawford & Whitead, Doc. 313B)

“For some are driven to rehearse and bewail amongst themselves their poverty and privation while others deplore the multitude of duties enjoined upon them by the state—the liturgies and all the nuisances connected with the symmories and with exchanges of property; for these are so annoying that those who have means find life more burdensome than those who are continually in want.”(Trans. G. Norlin, 1980)

Machinery of 5th century democracy continues (restored in 403 BCE) into the 4th century BCE; Refined, more sophisticated, more regulated.

Distinction made between nomos (laws) and psephismata (decrees).

Nomothetai (drafters of laws) increasingly subject to nomothesia (drafting procedures).

Agenda of the ekklesia increasingly regularized.

Graphe Paranomon (lawsuits against those who proposed laws contrary to the established nomoi) increasingly routine.

No doubt aimed at curbing the volatility of participatory democracy.

“After your return from Peiraieus you decided to forgo revenge and let bygones be bygones; you set more store by the safety of the polis than by the righting of private wrongs, so you resolved that both sides should observe an amnesty in respect of what had happened. And in accordance with this resolve you elected twenty men to take charge of the polis until the nomoi had been laid down – the nomoi of Solon and the statutes of Drakon to be in force meanwhile. However, after you had appointed a boule by lot and elected nomothetai you began to discover that there were many of the nomoi, both those of Solon and those of Drakon, under which, because of earlier events, large numbers of the politai were liable for prosecution. You therefore called a meeting of the ekklesia to discuss these matters, and voted that all the nomoi should be scrutinised, and the ones which passed this scrutiny then inscribed in the stoa (basileos). Read out the psephisma for me….” (Andocides I, On the Mysteries 81-82. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 307)

“The prytaneis also give written notice of meetings of the ekklesia. One meeting in each prytany is plenary (kuria), at which there must be a vote on whether the officials appear to be doing their duties well, and discussions about (the supply of) grain and about the defence of the chora. This is the day also when those who wish to do so initiate impeachments (eisengeliai) and when public announcement is made of the inventories of confiscated property and also of claims to inherit properties and (to marry) heiresses – this so that nobody may be in ignorance of any vacant estates. Also, in the sixth prytany (only), in addition to the matters mentioned they take a vote on the question of whether or not to hold an ostrakismos; and they hear complaints against (probolai) informers – whether Athenians or metoikoi, and up to three of each – and against anyone who has failed to fulfil a promise to the demos. The second meeting (in each prytany) deal with other matters, though the nomoi prescribe that these must include three discussions of sacred matters, three connected with heralds and embassies, and three concerning secular matters.” (?Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia 43.4-6. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 308).

“I myself have heard from my own father – a man who died at the age of 95, having shared with the polis in every one of its toils, which often in his leisure hours he used to recount me – that in the early days of the restored democracy one only had to mention ‘graphe paranomon’ to a dikasterion for a conviction to be as good as secured. What, after all, is more wicked than a man whose words and actions are unlawful? And the hearings too, he used to say, were not of the same kind as nowadays: the jurors were far more severe even than the prosecutor himself upon the proposers of illegal measures, and they often used to call the clerk back and have him read out the (relevant) nomoi and the (offending) psephisma a second time. Also the proposers of illegal measures used to be convicted if they contravened so much as a single syllable of the nomoi; they did not need to transgress the entire statute-book! But the procedure as it is conducted these days is utterly ridiculous: the clerks read out a statement of the illegality as charged and the jurors’ minds wander on to some other matter, just as if they were listening to an incantation, or something in which they had no involvement. And already, thanks to the tricks of Demosthenes, you have accepted a shameful custom in the dikasteria. I refer to your allowing the legal procedures of the polis to become perverted: the accuser is on the defensive, the defendant fills the role of the accuser, and as for the jurors, they sometimes forget what they are there to judge and are obliged to vote on matters which were never theirs to decide.” (Aeschines III, Against Ktesiphon, 191-193. Crawford & Whitehead, Doc. 310)

Education intimately connected to power; form of education tailored to the demands of power.

Rhetoric and (political) ethics critical feature of education in democratic Athens.

Sound rhetorical processes believed to est. “truth”; Sophists.

The orators become particularly important public figures.

A double-edged sword; opponents of democracy used rhetorical skills to undermine democracy (i.e. Socrates).

Isocrates (ca. 436-338 BCE) – Began his political career as a logographer (i.e. a writer of political and lawcourt speeches); Est. his own school of rhetoric (392 BCE); many political speeches lamented the broken state of Greece; advocated Greek unity and war with Persia under joint Athenian and Spartan hegemony; Later pinned his hopes on Philip II of Macedon as hegemon v. Persia and the unifier of Greece.

Demosthenes (384-322 BCE) – Born to a wealthy family (father was an arms maker); raised by his mother and extended family; studied rhetoric in the school of Isocrates; pleaded frequently in lawcourts; outspoken proponent of Athenian autonomy and critic of hegemonic policy of Philip II of Macedon (i.e. the Philippics); attempted a Pan-Hellenic revolt against Macedon upon the death of Alexander (323 BCE); Athens crushed (322 BCE); Demosthenes put on trial; committed suicide.

Aeschines (Ca. 390-315 BCE) – Politician and orator; political opponent of Demosthenes; believed in peaceful co-existence with Macedon; Increasingly unpopular when Macedonian designs on Greece became known; Demosthenes succeeded in stirring up anti-Macedonian sentiment; Aeschines exiled (330 BCE); Est. a school of rhetoric in Asia Minor; Wrote “show” orations b/c of changed political landscape in the Hellenistic period..

Fourth century Athens contained many critics of democracy.

Criticism stiffened with the execution of Socrates (399 BCE).

Many educated aristocrats and oligarchs coalesced around Plato and his Academy (ca. 385 BCE).

Plato’s ideals decidedly anti-democratic; advocated government by the wisest and best (i.e. The Republic).

Withdrawal from public life increasingly common feature of philosophy; prefigures developments in Hellenistic political and philosophical speculation.

Reasons For the Failure of Socrates’ Defense

Socrates’ Arrogance

Socrates’ Obstinacy

Socrates’ Anti-Democratic Ideology (i.e. his pupils)

Socrates’ embarrassment of public figures

Slapping the Demos in the FacePlato, Apology 31c-e, G.M.A. Grube, 2000

“It may seem strange that while I go around and give this advice privately and interfere in private affairs, I do not venture to go to the assembly and there advise the city. You have heard me give the reason for this in many places. I have a divine or spiritual sign which Meletus has ridiculed in his deposition. This began when I was a child. It is a voice and whenever it speaks it turns me away from something I am about to do, but it never encourages me to do anything. This is what has prevented me from taking part in public affairs, and I think it was quite right to prevent me. Be sure, men of Athens, that if I had long ago attempted to take part in politics, I should have died long ago, and benefited neither you nor myself. Do not be angry with me for speaking the truth; no man will survive who genuinely opposes you or any other crowd and prevents the occurrence of many unjust and illegal happenings in the city. A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive even a short time.”

Student of Socrates

Attempted to solve Socratic questions about universal truths (i.e. Justice, Virtue etc.) through his Theory of Forms

Humanity mired in their inability to perceive the true forms of universal abstract human values.

Philosophy entails training the mind (and purging the body) of the philosopher to apprehend universal truths.

Advocated government by the wise (i.e. the Republic).

Socrates: “And now, let me show in a parable how far our nature may be enlightened or unenlightened: Behold! Human beings living in a an underground den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and their necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them is a fire at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets. And do you see men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues, and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others are silent.”

Glaucon: “You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.”

Socrates: “Like ourselves, and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.”….To them the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.” (Lim & Bailkey, 2002)

The best form of government is that by those who apprehend virtue, justice etc. in its true universal form.

Only philosophers possess this skill.

The well-born generally in the best position to acquire these skills.

The common people far too stupid and mired in the changing world around them to rule themselves; they cannot practice philosophy.

Plato on the Philosophic Life

“In the present life, I reckon that we make the nearest approach to knowledge when we have the least possible intercourse or communion with the body, and are not contaminated with the bodily nature, but keep ourselves pure until the hour when God himself is pleased to release us. And so having got rid of the foolishness of the body we shall be pure and hold converse with the pure, and know of ourselves the clear light everywhere, which is no other than the light of truth. If this be true, there is great reason to hope that when I come to the end of my journey, I shall obtain that which has been the pursuit of my life. So I go on my way rejoicing….When the soul uses the body as an instrument of perception, that is to say, when it uses the sense of sight or hearing or some other sense, she is dragged by the body into the region of the changeable, and wanders and is confused; the world spins round her, and she is like a drunkard, when she touches change. But when she contemplates in herself and by herself, then she passes into the other world, the region of purity, and eternity, and immortality and unchangeableness, which are her kindred, and with them she ever lives, when she is by herself and is not let or hindered; and then she ceases from her erring ways, and being in communion with the unchanging is unchanging. And this state of the soul is called wisdom.” (Plato, Phaedo; Adapted from N. Bailkey & R. Lim, 2002: pp. 224-225)

Is Plato advocating that the wise man must withdraw from public life? If so, why is he

saying this?