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Old Oligarch
The "Constitution of the Athenians" (, ''Athenaion Politeia''), also known as "On the Athenian State", is a short treatise on the government and society of classical Athens. Its date and authorship have been the subject of much dispute. The treatise discusses the organisation of the Athenian government, focusing particularly on the relationship between Athens' democracy and its status as a naval power. Authorship Though the treatise was once attributed to Xenophon, amongst whose works it was preserved, it is now taken not to have been his work. The author of the work is sometimes referred to as the Old Oligarch – a name first used by Gilbert Murray. Scholars disagree on the author's political views. Though most see the work as sincere and the author as genuinely oligarchic, some have seen the work as an intellectual exercise by an author who does not sincerely believe the arguments that he advances. Many scholars have tried to identify Pseudo-Xenophon with a known histori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treatise
A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Accessed September 12, 2020. A ''monograph'' is a treatise on a specialized topic. Etymology The word "treatise" has its origins in the early 14th century, derived from the Anglo-French term ''tretiz'', which itself comes from the Old French ''traitis'', meaning "treatise" or "account." This Old French term is rooted in the verb ''traitier'', which means "to deal with" or "to set forth in speech or writing". The etymological lineage can be traced further back to the Latin word ''tractatus'', which is a form of the verb ''tractare'', meaning "to handle," "to manage," or "to deal with". The Latin roots suggest a connotation of engaging with or discussing a subject in depth, which aligns with the modern understanding of a treatise as a formal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century. He is the basis for the character of Adolphus Cusins in his friend George Bernard Shaw's play ''Major Barbara'', and also appears as the chorus figure in Tony Harrison's play '' Fram''. He served as President of the Ethical Union (now Humanists UK) from 1929 to 1930 and was a delegate at the inaugural World Humanist Congress in 1952 which established Humanists International. He was a leader of the League of Nations Society and the League of Nations Union, which promoted the League of Nations in Britain. Murray died in Oxford in 1957, aged 91. His ashes were interred in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. Early life Murray was born in Sydney, Australia. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligarchy
Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or through corporate, religious, political, or military control. Throughout history, power structures considered to be oligarchies have often been viewed as coercive, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, contrasting it with aristocracy, arguing that oligarchy was a corruption of aristocracy. Types Minority rule The consolidation of power by a dominant minority, whether religious or ethnic, can be considered a form of oligarchy. Examples include South Africa during apartheid, Liberia under Americo-Liberians, the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and Rhodesia. In these cases, oligarchic rule was often tied to the legacy of colonialism. In the early 20th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Critias
Critias (; , ''Kritias''; – 403 BC) was an ancient Athenian poet, philosopher and political leader. He is known today for being a student of Socrates, a writer of some regard, and for becoming the leader of the Thirty Tyrants, who ruled Athens for several months after the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War in 404/403. Ancestry Critias was the scion of one of the premier families in Athens. The evidence for his lineage comes from several sources and there are numerous gaps in what they have to say. The reconstruction in Davies' ''Athenian Propertied Families'' is the most reliable and his discussion covers all the unknowns and suppositions. Without detailing the uncertainties here, as best we know, his ancestors were: The progenitor of the family was Dropides, who lived in the 7th century BCE. He had two sons: Critias I and Dropides II. The latter was a "relative and a dear friend" of Solon, the lawgiver of Athens. Both men were in their prime at the beginning of the 6th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thirty Tyrants
The Thirty Tyrants (, ''hoi triákonta týrannoi'') were an oligarchy that briefly ruled Classical Athens, Athens from 404 BC, 404 BCE to 403 BC, 403 BCE. Installed into power by the Sparta, Spartans after the Athenian surrender in the Peloponnesian War, the Thirty became known for their Tyrant, tyrannical rule, first being called "The Thirty Tyrants" by Polycrates (sophist), Polycrates. Although they maintained power for only eight months, their reign resulted in the killing of 5% of the Athenian population, the confiscation of citizens' property, and the exile of other Athenian democracy, democratic supporters. Historical background After the Athenian navy was destroyed at the battle of Aegospotami in 405 BCE, Lysander led the Spartan and Peloponnesian League naval force to Athens for the final destruction of the city. The Athenians prepared for a siege, but without a navy to defend them or import food, many Athenian citizens starved. After the Spartans began cutting them off by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peloponnesian War
The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancient Greece, Greek world. The war remained undecided until the later intervention of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet (built with Persian subsidies) finally defeated Athens which began a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who invaded Attica several times with the full hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by Sparta (then known as Lacedaemon). The Long Walls of Athens rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens' all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terminus Ante Quem
A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date the event may have happened or the item was in existence, and a ''terminus ante quem'' is the latest. An event may well have both a ''terminus post quem'' and a ''terminus ante quem'', in which case the limits of the possible range of dates are known at both ends, but many events have just one or the other. Similarly, a ''terminus ad quem'' 'limit to which' is the latest possible date of a non-punctual event (period, era, etc.), whereas a ''terminus a quo'' 'limit from which' is the earliest. The concepts are similar to those of upper and lower bounds in mathematics. These terms are often used in archaeological and historical studies, such as dating layers in excavated sites, coins, historical events, authors, inscriptions or texts where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brasidas
Brasidas (, died 422 BC) was the most distinguished Spartan officer during the first decade of the Peloponnesian War. He died during the Second Battle of Amphipolis while winning one of his most spectacular victories. Biography Brasidas was the son of Tellis (Τέλλις) and Argileonis, and won his first laurels by leading the relief of Methone, which was besieged by the Athenians (431 BC). During the following year he seems to have been eponymous ephor, and in 429 BC he was sent out as one of the three commissioners to advise the admiral Cnemus. As trierarch he distinguished himself in the assault on the Athenian position at the Battle of Pylos, during which he was severely wounded. In 424 BC, while Brasidas mustered a force at Corinth for a campaign in Thrace, he frustrated an Athenian attack on Megara. Immediately afterwards he marched through Thessaly at the head of 1,700 hoplites (700 helots and 1000 Peloponnesian mercenaries) and joined Perdiccas II of Macedon. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Mattingly
Harold Mattingly (24 December 1884 – 26 January 1964) was a British classical scholar, specialising in art history and numismatics. His interests included the history of Ancient Rome, Etruscan and Roman currency, and the Roman historian Tacitus. Early life and education Harold Mattingly was born in Sudbury, Suffolk on 24 December 1884. From 1896 to 1903, he was educated at The Leys School, a private school in Cambridge. He then studied classics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he achieved a double first and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1907. Career In 1910 he joined the Department of Printed Books of the British Museum. In 1909 and 1914, showing his interest in Roman history, he published two books on the subject. During the First World War, worked for the Postal Censorship Bureau. At the close of hostilities he returned to his work at the British Museum and his attention carried him towards the study of antique coins. From 1912, Har ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of The Athenians (Aristotle)
The ''Constitution of the Athenians'', also called the ''Athenian Constitution'' (), is a work by Aristotle or one of his students. The work describes the constitution of Athens. It is preserved on a papyrus roll from Hermopolis, published in 1891 and now in the British Library. A small part of the work also survives on two leaves of a papyrus codex, discovered in the Fayum in 1879 and now in the papyrus collection of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. Discovery The Aristotelian text is unique because it is not a part of the ''Corpus Aristotelicum'' as preserved through medieval manuscripts. It was lost until two leaves of a papyrus codex carrying part of the text were discovered in the Fayum in 1879 and published in 1880. A second, more extensive 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 editio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athenian Democracy
Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Ancient Greece, Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Classical Athens, Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and focusing on supporting liberty, equality, and security. Although Athens is the most familiar of the democratic city-states in ancient Greece, it was not the only one, nor was it the first; multiple other city-states adopted similar democratic constitutions before Athens. By the late 4th century BC, as many as half of the over one thousand existing Greek cities might have been democracies. Athens practiced a political system of legislation and executive bills. Participation was open to adult, free male citizens (i.e., not a metic, woman or slave). Adult male citizens probably constituted no more than 30 percent of the total adult population. Solon (in 594 BC), Cleisthenes (in 508–07 BC), and Ephialtes (in 462 BC) contributed to the development of Athenian democrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
5th-century BC Books
The 5th century is the time period from AD 401 (represented by the Roman numerals CDI) through AD 500 (D) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The 5th century is noted for being a period of migration and political instability throughout Eurasia. It saw the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Empire, which came to a formal end in 476 AD. This empire had been ruled by a succession of weak emperors, with the real political might being increasingly concentrated among military leaders. Internal instability allowed a Visigoth army to reach and Sack of Rome (410), ransack Rome in 410. Some recovery took place during the following decades, but the Western Empire received another serious blow when a second foreign group, the Vandals, occupied Carthage, capital of an extremely important province in Africa (Roman province), Africa. Attempts to retake the province were interrupted by the invasion of the Huns under Attila. After Attila's defeat, both Eastern and W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
