- Department of Ancient History
Institute of History
University of Warsaw
Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28
00-927 Warsaw
Poland
- Archaic Greek history, Ancient Greek History, Greek Archaeology, Ancient Greek Historiography, Herodotus, Sparta, and 64 moreHomer, Greek History, Early Greek poetry, Thucydides, Ancient Greek Religion, Athenian Democracy, Classics, Greek Epic, Early Iron Age Greece and Greek communities overseas, Greek sanctuaries, Homeric poetry, Early Iron Age Sanctuaries, Geometric and archaic Greece, Bacchylides, History of Elites, Ancient Greek Literature, Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Athenian Imperialism, Classics: Ancient History and Archaeology, Ancient Historiography, Archaeology of ethnicity, Geometric and Classical Greece, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Historiography, Sympotic Performance, Greek symposion, Athens and Attica, Greek Colonisation, Greek Colonization (Magna Graecia and Sicily), Textual Criticism, Cultural History, Greek Literature, Classical Reception Studies, Greek Lyric Poetry, Polis, Orientalizing Period (art & archaeology), Viticulture & Enology, Ancient Literacy, Ancient Greek Cultural & Social History, Hesiod, Mobility and networks in Mediterranean, Pithekoussai, Greek colonization, Greeks and indigenous people, Greek Oracles and Divination, Ancient greek festivals, Spartan/Messenian history, Second Sophistic, Greek Comedy, Old Comedy, Theognis, Teognide, Odyssey, Posidippus, Pericles, History of New York City, The Emergence of the Symposion, Ancient Greek Politics, Athenian Agora, Spartan History, Ostracism, Athenian ostracism, Athenian Ostracism Cleisthenes, and Archaic Greek tyrannyedit
Wielka, groźna historia wróciła. Katastrofa ekologiczna, światowy krach gospodarczy, pandemia, cierpienie mas uchodźców, okrutna wojna w Europie, kryzys liberalnej demokracji. Ta książka powstała z przekonania, że razem ze starożytnymi... more
Wielka, groźna historia wróciła. Katastrofa ekologiczna, światowy krach gospodarczy, pandemia, cierpienie mas uchodźców, okrutna wojna w Europie, kryzys liberalnej demokracji. Ta książka powstała z przekonania, że razem ze starożytnymi Grekami możemy lepiej zrozumieć nasz świat. To z ich cywilizacji wyrosła nasza. Przyjrzyjmy się z bliska ich kulturze, religii, teatrowi, rozrywkom, a także wojnom, polityce, demokracji. Od Homera do Aleksandra Wielkiego. Poznajmy sposoby radzenia sobie Greków z kryzysami i… uczmy się na ich błędach.
Research Interests: Ancient History, Athenian Democracy, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient myth and religion, Thucydides, and 14 moreAthenian Imperialism, Ancient Greek History, Herodotus, Ancient Greek Politics, Ancient Greek Epigraphy, Ukraine, Ancient Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek Tragedy and its Reception, Ancient Greek Literature, Ancient Greek Comedy, Athenian Law, Reception of Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, reception of Herodotus, and Russian war in Ukraine
Ostracism is by far the most emblematic institution of ancient Athenian democracy. This volume offers a reassessment of recently published ostraka (or potsherds, on which the names of the ‘candidates’ for exile were inscribed by... more
Ostracism is by far the most emblematic institution of ancient Athenian democracy.
This volume offers a reassessment of recently published ostraka (or potsherds, on
which the names of the ‘candidates’ for exile were inscribed by citizens) from several
Greek cities outside Athens, a thorough reconstruction of the history and of the
procedure of ostracism in Athens, and a comprehensive account of the political
circumstances of the introduction of the law on ostracism by Cleisthenes in 508/507
bce. Marek Węcowski’s original study focuses not only on the final stage, the day of
the vote,but on the entire operation and procedure of ostracisation. Tracing the
logic of the political play in Athens between the opening and final stages of
ostracism, Węcowski argues that Athenian ostracism was a mechanism devised
to impose compromise on the main players in Athenian political life, thereby
avoiding the punishment of political elites by exile of leading politicians resulting
from unpredictable votes by the citizenry. To support this hypothesis, Węcowski
turns to the theory of the ‘evolution of cooperation’ as formulated by the American
mathematician and political scientist Robert Axelrod based on the iterated
prisoner’s dilemma in game theory, applied here as a probabilistic analogy to
the dynamics of Athenian political life under democracy.
This volume offers a reassessment of recently published ostraka (or potsherds, on
which the names of the ‘candidates’ for exile were inscribed by citizens) from several
Greek cities outside Athens, a thorough reconstruction of the history and of the
procedure of ostracism in Athens, and a comprehensive account of the political
circumstances of the introduction of the law on ostracism by Cleisthenes in 508/507
bce. Marek Węcowski’s original study focuses not only on the final stage, the day of
the vote,but on the entire operation and procedure of ostracisation. Tracing the
logic of the political play in Athens between the opening and final stages of
ostracism, Węcowski argues that Athenian ostracism was a mechanism devised
to impose compromise on the main players in Athenian political life, thereby
avoiding the punishment of political elites by exile of leading politicians resulting
from unpredictable votes by the citizenry. To support this hypothesis, Węcowski
turns to the theory of the ‘evolution of cooperation’ as formulated by the American
mathematician and political scientist Robert Axelrod based on the iterated
prisoner’s dilemma in game theory, applied here as a probabilistic analogy to
the dynamics of Athenian political life under democracy.
Research Interests: Greek History, Athenian Democracy, Democracy, Ancient Greek History, Ancient Greek Politics, and 15 moreAthenian Agora, Athenian Law, Athenian social history, Ancient Greek and Roman History, Athenian ostracism, Cleisthenes, Ostracism Petalismos, Ostracism, Athenian Ostracism Cleisthenes, Classics and Ancient History: society, history and religion of the ancient Greeks, Athenian Politics, Ancient Democracy, Ancient Greek Democracy, Ostracisme, and cleisthenes' reforms
Politeia and Koinōnia are forms of government and citizenship, community and participation, from Sappho's social and political status to the economic and religious activity of women, from the reforms of Solon to the French Revolution.... more
Politeia and Koinōnia are forms of government and citizenship, community and participation, from Sappho's social and political status to the economic and religious activity of women, from the reforms of Solon to the French Revolution. This book by leading scholars in ancient Greek history explores the most important aspects of Greek civilization and those that stirred the most our modern curiosity and our modern perceptions of Greek antiquity. The reason to organize this unique international exchange of ideas was to celebrate the outstanding scholarly achievement of Professor Josine Blok on the occasion of her retirement in 2019.
Research Interests: Ancient Religion, Ancient Greek Religion, Ancient Greek History, Ancient Greek Historiography, Ancient Greek Politics, and 8 moreAncient Greek Epigraphy, Ancient Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek Literature, ancient Greek polis, Ancient Greek political History, Ancient Greek and Roman Political Systems, Political Thought in Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, archaic Greek poetry, politics
The end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age was the period of a historical turning point for the relationship of the Aegean and the Levant. The two regions were closely related to each other and benefited mutually in this... more
The end of the Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age was the period of a historical turning point for the relationship of the Aegean and the Levant. The two regions were closely related to each other and benefited mutually in this period. The transmission of the alphabet from the East to Greece and the appearance of Mycenaean-style pottery in the East illustrate the cultural borrowings in both directions.
The volume presents updated studies on both regions and questions of bilateral relationships regarding archaeological, historical and linguistic aspects. These studies shed light on the pivotal periods of both regions: when Greek poleis were formed, with the culture related to it, and when the political and social situation in the Levant took its form, influencing the entire first millennium BCE.
In the linguistic part, the volume includes papers showing possible linguistic relations and mutual borrowings in the triangle of Semitic, Greek and Anatolian languages. In the archaeological and historical parts, the studies deal both with case studies from Anatolia, Greece and Palestine and the synthetic issues regarding the ‘big’ questions. The book also presents the possible benefits of the usage of scientific methods in historical reconstruction – analysis of isotopes and ancient DNA samples. These new techniques offer a useful tool, expanding our way of exploring the past.
The volume presents updated studies on both regions and questions of bilateral relationships regarding archaeological, historical and linguistic aspects. These studies shed light on the pivotal periods of both regions: when Greek poleis were formed, with the culture related to it, and when the political and social situation in the Levant took its form, influencing the entire first millennium BCE.
In the linguistic part, the volume includes papers showing possible linguistic relations and mutual borrowings in the triangle of Semitic, Greek and Anatolian languages. In the archaeological and historical parts, the studies deal both with case studies from Anatolia, Greece and Palestine and the synthetic issues regarding the ‘big’ questions. The book also presents the possible benefits of the usage of scientific methods in historical reconstruction – analysis of isotopes and ancient DNA samples. These new techniques offer a useful tool, expanding our way of exploring the past.
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In The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet, Wecowski offers a comprehensive account of the origins of the symposion and its close relationship with the rise of the Greek city-state or polis. Broadly defined as a culture-oriented... more
In The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet, Wecowski offers a comprehensive account of the origins of the symposion and its close relationship with the rise of the Greek city-state or polis. Broadly defined as a culture-oriented aristocratic banquet, the symposion—which literally means 'drinking together'—was a nocturnal wine party held by Greek aristocrats from Homer to Alexander the Great. Its distinctive feature was the crucial importance of diverse cultural competitions, including improvising convivial poetry, among the guests. Cultural skills and abilities were a prerequisite in order for one to be included in elite drinking circles, and, as such, the symposion served as a forum for the natural selection of Greek aristocracy.
Research Interests: Archaic Poetry, Greek Lyric Poetry, Greek Archaeology, Ancient Greek Religion, Archaic Greek history, and 12 moreAncient Greek History, Archaic Greece, Conviviality, Geometric and archaic Greece, Early Iron Age Architecture, Early Iron Age Greece and Greek communities overseas, Sympotic Poetry, archaic Greek Pottery, Greek symposion, The Emergence of the Symposion, early iron age Greece, and Early Iron Age Sanctuaries
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Research Interests: Ancient History, Homer, Plato, Athenian Democracy, Socrates, and 15 moreDemocracy, Ancient Greek History, Homeric poetry, Ancient Greek Politics, Hesiod, Critias and oligarchy, Ancient Greek Literature, Stasis Theory, Ancient Athens, Oligarchy, Stasis, Greek Democracy Oligarchy, ancient Greek polis, Theognis, and Solon of Athens
Research Interests: Greek Literature, Ancient Greek History, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy, Ancient Greek Literature, and 8 moreHippias of Elis, history of ancient Greek philosophy, Plato Lesser Hippias, Hippias, Ancient Greek Science and Philosophy, Hippias Major, Plato's Hippias Minor, and Greater Hippias
Thucydides’ Ukrainian War. Here is how, I submit, one may try to use Thucydides to interpret the war in Ukraine, with its moral and political implications. A complementary article using Herodotus is to be found here:... more
Thucydides’ Ukrainian War. Here is how, I submit, one may try to use Thucydides to interpret the war in Ukraine, with its moral and political implications.
A complementary article using Herodotus is to be found here: https://laviedesidees.fr/Vous-allez-detruire-un-grand-pays.html
Both are forthcoming in a book (in Polish) to be published in Autumn by Wydawnictwo Iskry.
A complementary article using Herodotus is to be found here: https://laviedesidees.fr/Vous-allez-detruire-un-grand-pays.html
Both are forthcoming in a book (in Polish) to be published in Autumn by Wydawnictwo Iskry.
Research Interests: Athenian Democracy, Democracy, Thucydides, Athenian Imperialism, Ukraine, and 8 moreHerodotus, Thucydides, and Historiography, Imperialism, Russian-Ukrainian Relations, Reception of Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, History of Ukraine, Colonialism and Imperialism, Thucydides, Reception, and Ukraine Crisis
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For all the changes in scholarly theories and paradigms that deserve separate treatment, vertical social mobility is a rather neglected subject in archaic Greek history, at best limited to the phenomenon of 'arrivisme' among archaic... more
For all the changes in scholarly theories and paradigms that deserve separate treatment, vertical social mobility is a rather neglected subject in archaic Greek history, at best limited to the phenomenon of 'arrivisme' among archaic elites. My present antidōron for Josine's friendship and remarkable scholarship is intended to show that social mobility and, as a result, fluidity of social hierarchies, could have been a basic existential experience of archaic Greek civic communities with far-reaching consequences for our idea of archaic Greek history and some of its crucial episodes.
Research Interests: Archaic Poetry, Archaic Greek history, Ancient Greek History, Greek Elegy, Archaic Greece, and 10 moreGreek social and economic history, Geometric and archaic Greece, Archaic greek poetry, Ancient Athens, Athens and Attica, Solon, Solon, Athenian Census Classes, Solon of Athens, Solon and the Greek Archaic Lyric, and Solon's Laws
Europe 2022 : Notre moment historique, vu de l'Est Alors que les missiles russes tombent sur Kiev, le Premier ministre polonais, lors d'un rassemblement d'un parti conservateur et pro-russe en Espagne, dresse un tableau apocalyptique de... more
Europe 2022 : Notre moment historique, vu de l'Est Alors que les missiles russes tombent sur Kiev, le Premier ministre polonais, lors d'un rassemblement d'un parti conservateur et pro-russe en Espagne, dresse un tableau apocalyptique de l'Union européenne, considérée comme, et je cite, une « bête transnationale ». Le cynisme ? Certainement. La folie ? Pas du tout. Et ce n'est pas seulement un prélude à la campagne électorale en Pologne. La guerre sera l'occasion de repenser l'idée d'unité européenne et les institutions qui la mettent en oeuvre. Où en sommes-nous dans la perspective historique ?
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Les intellectuels qui sont restés au service d’un gouvernement malgré ses actions compromettant tout ce en quoi ils croyaient constituent un cas extrêmement intéressant. D’où viennent-ils, comment ont-ils changé, qu’est-ce qui les retient... more
Les intellectuels qui sont restés au service d’un gouvernement malgré ses actions compromettant tout ce en quoi ils croyaient constituent un cas extrêmement intéressant. D’où viennent-ils, comment ont-ils changé, qu’est-ce qui les retient dans le camp des autorités corrompues, mais aussi quel avenir peut les attendre ?
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A serious challenge for Polish intellectuals, opposition politicians and professional historians is the fact that the vision of Poland’s “historical destiny” brutally promoted for years by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government,... more
A serious challenge for Polish intellectuals, opposition politicians and professional historians is the fact that the vision of Poland’s “historical destiny” brutally promoted for years by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government, which on the one hand idealizes and falsifies Polish history and on the other predicts a historical catastrophe awaiting Poland in the near future, may seem partially accurate with the outbreak of war in Ukraine. It is therefore worth taking a closer look at this vision and reflecting on its sources, as well as on its fate in the new political conditions.
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What, in this chapter, is meant by aristocratic culture goes far beyond the traditional scholarly focus on aristocratic ideals, aristocratic artistic patronage, and aristocratic lifestyle in all its main manifestations. Instead, it is... more
What, in this chapter, is meant by aristocratic culture goes far beyond the traditional scholarly focus on aristocratic ideals, aristocratic artistic patronage, and aristocratic lifestyle in all its main manifestations. Instead, it is related to a more general notion of archaic and early classical Greek culture I will try to substantiate. 1 In a nutshell, I will argue that due to its universal appeal, aristocratic culture of the archaic period was a main integrative force of early Greek civilisation-in both its social and its geographical dimension. Accordingly, Greek aristocracy was above all a cultural phenomenon. Meanwhile, we must start with definitions, since the very title of this essay is no longer self-explanatory.
Research Interests: Greek Literature, Greek History, Greek Language, Archaic Greek history, Ancient Greek History, and 13 moreArchaic Greece, Geometric and archaic Greece, Greek and Roman History, Ancient Greek Literature, Archaic Greek Lyric, Symposium, Greek symposion, Archaic greek poetry, symposion Greek banquet, The Emergence of the Symposion, Symposion, Greek and Roman Social History, and Ancient Greek Symposia
Le roi lydien, Crésus, crut être assez riche pour conquérir le royaume de son voisin, le jeune Cyrus. Mal lui en prit. Peut-on dresser des analogies avec la guerre actuelle? Exercice risqué, mais comment y résister quand on est historien... more
Le roi lydien, Crésus, crut être assez riche pour conquérir le royaume de son voisin, le jeune Cyrus. Mal lui en prit. Peut-on dresser des analogies avec la guerre actuelle? Exercice risqué, mais comment y résister quand on est historien et que l'on vit tout près du lieu où se déroulent les hostilités ? En regardant la guerre en Ukraine, il faut admettre que Vladimir Poutine a raison sur deux points. Premièrement, l'avenir de notre monde dépend de la Russie. Deuxièmement, ce qui est en jeu dans cette guerre est sans aucun doute une sorte de « dénazification ». Sur ces deux points, cependant, Poutine a raison exactement dans le sens où Crésus, le riche roi des Lydiens, avait raison en déclenchant l'une des guerres les plus importantes de l'Antiquité, lui dont le nom, et ce n'est pas une coïncidence, est entré dans le langage courant. Demandant à l'oracle grec de Delphes s'il devait partir en guerre, il reçut cette réponse : « Si vous commencez une guerre, vous détruirez un grand pays ». Rassuré sur ses plans, il n'en demanda pas davantage. S'il l'avait fait, peut-être aurait-il compris que la Pythie de Delphes parlait de son propre royaume.
Research Interests: Prehistory of Ukraine (Prehistoric Archaeology), Ukraine (History), Politics of Ukraine, Pre-Islamic Persian History, Herodotus, and 5 moreUkraine, Scythians, Cimmerians, Herodotus, Scythians, Pontic area, Black Sea area, Caucaaus, Near East, Anatolia, nomads, steppe peoples, European and euroatlantic integration of Ukraine, and History of Herodotus
This paper focuses on a mysterious reference in the depiction of the provenance of the fateful bow of Odysseus in Od. 21.26, which is usually translated as '[the man called] Herakles, guilty of monstruous actions' or else as '… Heracles... more
This paper focuses on a mysterious reference in the depiction of the provenance of the fateful bow of Odysseus in Od. 21.26, which is usually translated as '[the man called] Herakles, guilty of monstruous actions' or else as '… Heracles aware of great deeds'. Instead of traditionally linking this allusion to Heracles' killing of Iphitos or the story of Heracles' involvement in the theft of the mares of Iphitos' father by Autolykos, Odysseus' grandfather, it is argued that the reference here is to the participation of Heracles in the cosmic battle of the Olympian gods against the Gigantes. Accordingly, the line should be translated as follows: 'Heracles, witness to great deeds'. As such, Od. 21.26 would provide us with the earliest attested mention of the Gigantomachy in Greek literature. If so, alongside other passages in the Odyssey such as 12.69-70 (mentioning 'Argo, who is in all men's minds'), this reference might have been triggered by the poet's eagerness to include an allusion to a freshly pre-Homeric poem widely circulating among his envisaged audience.
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Premier Morawiecki straszył niedawno Europę III wojną światową. Na obecny kryzys migracyjny rządzący reagują tak, jak gdyby ten scenariusz już zaczął się spełniać, a Jarosław Kaczyński wśród partyjnego aplauzu ostrzega przed narodzinami... more
Premier Morawiecki straszył niedawno Europę III wojną światową. Na obecny kryzys migracyjny rządzący reagują tak, jak gdyby ten scenariusz już zaczął się spełniać, a Jarosław Kaczyński wśród partyjnego aplauzu ostrzega przed narodzinami IV Rzeszy niemieckiej. Tymczasem w sprawie tak podstawowej, jak system podatkowy rząd wykazuje szokującą nieodpowiedzialność. Żeby zrozumieć PiS, potrzeba myślowego eksperymentu. Spróbujmy mimo wszystko odczytać dalekosiężny plan Kaczyńskiego dla Polski-i to odczytać w kategoriach racjonalnego działania.
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Intelektualiści, którzy pozostali w służbie władzy pomimo jej działań kompromitujących wszystko, w co dawniej wierzyli, stanowią niezwykle ciekawy przypadek. Skąd przychodzą, jak się zmienili, co ich trzyma w obozie skorumpowanych rządów,... more
Intelektualiści, którzy pozostali w służbie władzy pomimo jej działań kompromitujących wszystko, w co dawniej wierzyli, stanowią niezwykle ciekawy przypadek. Skąd przychodzą, jak się zmienili, co ich trzyma w obozie skorumpowanych rządów, ale też jaka może czekać ich przyszłość?
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In 1894, Leon Sternbach (1864-1940) published the editio princeps of the concluding part of the fifteenth-century Byzantine manuscript known as Vaticanus Graecus 1144 (ff. 215v-225v), which contains an interesting collection of excerpts.... more
In 1894, Leon Sternbach (1864-1940) published the editio princeps of the concluding part of the fifteenth-century Byzantine manuscript known as Vaticanus Graecus 1144 (ff. 215v-225v), which contains an interesting collection of excerpts. Excerptum 213 reached the wider scholarly world only after being reprinted and interpreted in 1972 by John J. Keaney and Antony E. Raubitschek. Ever since the Vaticanus has occupied a very special place in scholarly debates about the law of ostracism in Athens, and it seems that in recent decades some scholars tend to take it as somehow trustworthy and hence attesting the existence of a law or custom predating the attested law of ostracism. Accordingly, the notion of the so-called " bouleutic ostracism " has become increasingly popular. On this theory, Athenian ostracism was originally voted on by the Boule and only later transferred to the Athenian people at large. In my paper, I intend to show that Excerptum no. 213 on ostracism is a worthless (albeit highly interesting) mix of known pieces of information from other Roman and Byzantine sources and that it was conceived at some point in late Byzantine scholarship by misinterpreting, ingeniously manipulating, or conflating, well-known elements of the ancient lexicographical traditions. If I am right, the phantom of the " buleutic ostracism " should be laid to rest., an anonymous referee for this journal and to Jerzy Danielewicz for commenting upon my paper, and to my audiences at the above-mentioned occasions for their valuable comments and suggestions. Needless to say, all the remaining errors and shortcomings of this article are mine and mine only. As all contemporary studies on this issue, both this paper and the wider project on the Athenian ostracism (provisionally entitled A Prisoner's dilemma. Athenian ostracism and its original purpose) build upon the monumental work by Peter Siewert and his collaborators, the Ostrakismos-Testimonien I. Die Zeugnisse antiker Autoren, der Inschriften und Ostraka über das athenische Scherbengericht aus vorhellenistischer Zeit (487-322 v. Chr.) (Historia Einzel. 155), ed. P. Siewert (Stuttgart 2002).
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in: Jenny Strauss Clay, Irad Malkin & Yannis Z. Tzifopoulos (eds), Panhellenes at Methone. Graphê in Late Geometric and Protoarchaic Methone, Macedonia (ca. 700 BCE), Berlin–New York 2017 (De Gruyter, Trends in Classics, Suppl. vol. 44),... more
in: Jenny Strauss Clay, Irad Malkin & Yannis Z. Tzifopoulos (eds), Panhellenes at Methone. Graphê in Late Geometric and Protoarchaic Methone, Macedonia (ca. 700 BCE), Berlin–New York 2017 (De Gruyter, Trends in Classics, Suppl. vol. 44), p. 309-327
Research Interests: Greek History, Greek Epigraphy, Archaic Greek history, Ancient Greek History, Ancient Greek Epigraphy, and 10 moreAncient Greek Cultural & Social History, Archaic Greek Lyric, Beginning of Greek Alphabet, archaic Greek Pottery, Greek symposion, Archaic greek poetry, symposion Greek banquet, The Emergence of the Symposion, Archaic Greek Lyric Poetry, and Greek Education and Literacy
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Research Interests: Greek Archaeology, Archaic Greek history, Ancient Greek History, Ancient Greek archaeology, Early Iron Age Greece and Greek communities overseas, and 3 moreArchaeology , particularly of the Early Greek Iron Age, Archaeology, Classical archaeology, Greek and Roman history, Greek Colonization (Magna Graecia and Sicily), Material Culture Studies, Funerary Archaeology, and Archaic Greece, Greek and Near Eastern contacts
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[new version]
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Marek Węcowski, “The growth of Athens”: Herodotus, Thucydides and an aspect of the Athenian ideology of the fifth century B.C. The study begins with an analysis of the Socles episode (V 90-92), the most extensive of Herodotean speeches... more
Marek Węcowski, “The growth of Athens”: Herodotus, Thucydides and an aspect of the Athenian ideology of the fifth century B.C.
The study begins with an analysis of the Socles episode (V 90-92), the most extensive of Herodotean speeches and the central scene of the Histories. One recognises here the existence of a forgotten slogan of the Athenian propaganda of the fifth century B.C.: “the growth (auxesis) of Athens”. The meaning of the episode is based on this very idea. The second part is a lexicographical study aiming at a sketch of the development of the images which are implied by the slogan under consideration, from Homer to the fifth century B.C. The next step is a historical study of the development of this aspect of Athenian ideology. The slogan originated (on the basis of some religious ideas of the archaic era) during the political struggles of the sixties to fourties of this century, and it was subsequently altered to suit the Periclean ideology of “the height (acme) of Athens”. At the same time, the slogan was used by some enemies of Athens and circulated in the Greek world by the time of the Peloponnesian War.
In the third part, the author shows that the formal structure of Herodotus’ Histories is partially based on the idea of the prodigious growth of Athens, a process which is parallel to the imperial expansion of the Persian kingdom. The fourth part examines the role played by the notion of “prodigious growth” in the historiographical program of the Histories. The conclusion is that Herodotus tries to introduce this idea into the concept of the “circle of human affairs”; he relies here on the association between this idea and an archaic image of the hybristic auxesis. The vision of the irresistible growth of the Athenians must have been particularily striking for the Greeks during the first part of the Peloponnesian War, when the work of Herodotus appeared.
The last chapter of the thesis is a study of an aspect of the historiographical program of Thucydides and of the structure of the first sections of his work. The author maintains that some curious features of Thucydides’ History are due to the fact that the historian has been profoundly influenced by Herodotus, most of all by his concept of the growth of Athens.
The study begins with an analysis of the Socles episode (V 90-92), the most extensive of Herodotean speeches and the central scene of the Histories. One recognises here the existence of a forgotten slogan of the Athenian propaganda of the fifth century B.C.: “the growth (auxesis) of Athens”. The meaning of the episode is based on this very idea. The second part is a lexicographical study aiming at a sketch of the development of the images which are implied by the slogan under consideration, from Homer to the fifth century B.C. The next step is a historical study of the development of this aspect of Athenian ideology. The slogan originated (on the basis of some religious ideas of the archaic era) during the political struggles of the sixties to fourties of this century, and it was subsequently altered to suit the Periclean ideology of “the height (acme) of Athens”. At the same time, the slogan was used by some enemies of Athens and circulated in the Greek world by the time of the Peloponnesian War.
In the third part, the author shows that the formal structure of Herodotus’ Histories is partially based on the idea of the prodigious growth of Athens, a process which is parallel to the imperial expansion of the Persian kingdom. The fourth part examines the role played by the notion of “prodigious growth” in the historiographical program of the Histories. The conclusion is that Herodotus tries to introduce this idea into the concept of the “circle of human affairs”; he relies here on the association between this idea and an archaic image of the hybristic auxesis. The vision of the irresistible growth of the Athenians must have been particularily striking for the Greeks during the first part of the Peloponnesian War, when the work of Herodotus appeared.
The last chapter of the thesis is a study of an aspect of the historiographical program of Thucydides and of the structure of the first sections of his work. The author maintains that some curious features of Thucydides’ History are due to the fact that the historian has been profoundly influenced by Herodotus, most of all by his concept of the growth of Athens.
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NOT FOR CITATION: early proofs of my commentary. For the final version see the Brill's New Jacoby online: http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=bnj_a6
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NOT FOR CITATION: early proofs of my commentary. For the final version see the Brill's New Jacoby online: http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=bnj_a9
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NOT FOR CITATION: early proofs of my commentary. For the final version see the Brill's New Jacoby online: http://brillonline.nl/subscriber/uid=2016/entry?entry=bnj_a263#BNJ
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For a more recent version of my argument in this paper, see my doctoral thesis: “L’« auxêsis » d’Athènes: Hérodote, Thucydide et un aspect de l’idéologie athénienne du Ve siècle”, Paris 2000, p. 24-102 (uploaded above).
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[ostatnia korekta autorska]
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Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A HerodotusHelpline seminar.
Research Interests: Athenaeus, Archaic Greek history, Ancient Greek History, Ancient Greek Historiography, Herodotus, and 11 moreAncient Greek Politics, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Historiography, Persian Wars, Naxos, Classical Greece, Persian Wars, Patronage and Clientage, Greco-Persian Wars, Archaic Naxos, History of Naxos, Athenaeus of Attalia, and Greek-Persian Wars
Tuesday, May 9, 2017, Ca' Foscari University Venise, at 3 pm