Citizenship in Classical Athens

by Josine Blok

Overview

What did citizenship really mean in classical Athens? It is conventionally understood as characterised by holding political office. Since only men could do so, only they were considered to be citizens, and the community (polis) has appeared primarily as the scene of men's political actions. However, Athenian law defined citizens not by political office, but by descent. Religion was central to the polis and in this domain, women played prominent public roles. Both men and women were called 'citizens'. On a new reading of the evidence, Josine Blok argues that for the Athenians, their polis was founded on an enduring bond with the gods. Laws anchored the polis' commitments to humans and gods in this bond, transmitted over time to male and female Athenians as equal heirs. All public offices, in various ways and as befitting gender and age, served both the human community and the divine powers protecting Athens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108702430
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/12/2019
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Josine Blok is Professor of Ancient History and Classical Civilization at Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands and a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. She has won wide acclaim for her innovative work on archaic and classical Greece, notably on the Greek polis, and is a winner of the prestigious VICI-award for groundbreaking research issued by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. She has been a Visiting Fellow at various universities including the University of Oxford and Paris Sorbonne, and is the founder and current chair of the European Network for the Study of Ancient Greek History.

Table of Contents

1. Rethinking Athenian citizenship; 2. A bond between polis and gods; 3. The value of descent; 4. Citizens, male and female: vocabulary; 5. Participation: public roles and institutions; 6. Outlook: Athenians and others.