Democracy: A Life

by Paul Cartledge

Overview

Ancient Greece first coined the concept of "democracy", yet almost every major ancient Greek thinker-from Plato and Aristotle onwards- was ambivalent towards or even hostile to democracy in any form. The explanation for this is quite simple: the elite perceived majority power as tantamount to a dictatorship of the proletariat.

In ancient Greece there can be traced not only the rudiments of modern democratic society but the entire Western tradition of anti-democratic thought. In Democracy, Paul Cartledge provides a detailed history of this ancient political system. In addition, by drawing out the salient differences between ancient and modern forms of democracy he enables a richer understanding of both.

Cartledge contends that there is no one "ancient Greek democracy" as pure and simple as is often believed. Democracy surveys the emergence and development of Greek politics, the invention of political theory, and-intimately connected to the latter- the birth of democracy, first at Athens in c. 500 BCE and then at its greatest flourishing in the Greek world 150 years later. Cartledge then traces the decline of genuinely democratic Greek institutions at the hands of the Macedonians and-subsequently and decisively-the Romans. Throughout, he sheds light on the variety of democratic practices in the classical world as well as on their similarities to and dissimilarities from modern democratic forms, from the American and French revolutions to contemporary political thought. Authoritative and accessible, Cartledge's book will be regarded as the best account of ancient democracy and its long afterlife for many years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190866273
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	465,099
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Paul Cartledge is A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture Emeritus at the University of Cambridge. He is an honorary citizen of modern Sparta and holds the Gold Cross of the Order of Honor awarded by the President of Greece. His previous books include The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece (Cambridge, 1997, 2002), The Spartans (Random House, 2004), Alexander the Great (Random House, 2005), Thermopylae (Random House, 2007), Ancient Greece (OUP, 2009), and After Thermopylae: The Oath of Plataea and the End of the Graeco-Persian Wars (OUP, 2013).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Timeline
Prologue Introduction: Lost in Translation? Modern and Contemporary Appropriations of Democracy I

ACT I
Chapter 1 Sources, Ancient and Modern
Chapter 2 The Emergence of the Polis/Politics/the Political: Modern and Contemporary Appropriations of Democracy II

ACT II
Chapter 3 The Emergence of Greek Democracy I: Archaic Greece
Chapter 4 The Emergence of Greek Democracy II: Athens 508/7
Chapter 5 The Emergence of Greek Democracy III: Athens 508/7-451/0
Chapter 6 Greek Democratic Theory?

Chapter 7 Athenian Democracy in Practice c. 450-335
Chapter 8 Athenian Democracy: Culture and Society c. 450-335
Chapter 9 Greek Democracy in Credit and Crisis I: Fifth Century
Chapter 10 Athenian Democracy in Court: the Trials of Demos, Socrates and Ctesiphon

ACT III
Chapter 11 Greek Democracy in Credit and Crisis II: The Golden Age of Greek Democracy (c.375-50) and its Critics
Chapter 12 Athenian Democracy at Work in the 'Age of Lycurgus'?
Chapter 13 The Strange Death of Classical Greek Democracy: a Retrospect

ACT IV
Chapter 14 Hellenistic 'Democracy'? Democracy in Deficit c. 323-86 BCE
Chapter 15 Roman Republic: a sort of Democracy? I: Polybius's Roman Constitution
II: the 'Millar Thesis'
Chapter 16 Democracy Denied: the Roman and Early Byzantine Empire
Chapter 17 Democracy Eclipsed: Late Antiquity, European Middle Ages & the Renaissance

ACT V
Chapter 18 Democracy Revived I: England in the 17th Century II: France in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries
Chapter 19 Democracy Reinvented I: the United States in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries II: Tocqueville's America
Chapter 20 Democracy Tamed: 19th-century Britain

Epilogue Democracy Now: Retrospect & Prospects
Endnotes: References and Further Reading
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

05/16/2016
In this erudite and highly technical history, Cartledge (After Thermopylae), emeritus professor of Greek culture at Cambridge University, revisits the roots of democracy to understand how ancient Greeks understood and practiced it. Fundamentally distinct from democratic theories espoused today, the Greeks' notion of democracy emphasized the "rule of the poor" over the rich, creating a political system that was, to its detractors, little more than mob rule. As Cartledge moves through the history of this largely (but not solely) Athenian institution, he finds it constantly under threat from internal and external forces seeking to either pervert democracy or supplant it with oligarchy. Such turbulence means that there is no singular Greek democracy of which to speak, and Cartledge runs through a number of versions as they were implemented and practiced. In comparing these differing species to one another—and, in the final chapters, to the democratic systems birthed in the early modern era—Cartledge teases out what is essential and what is adaptive about ancient democracy. Piecing together a cogent narrative from a series of largely incomplete, inaccurate, or contradictory sources—many of them secondhand—is very difficult, but Cartledge nevertheless manages to bring ancient democracy to life, warts and all. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Cartledge reminds us that those we are led to believe played a major role in reviving democracy in the modern world, setting the standards the West has followed for the last 250 years, i.e. the Founding Founders of the American republic, were in fact vehement anti-democrats, fearing that Athenian direct democracy amounted to mob rule and devising a system to avoid such an unpalatable outcome." — John Akritas, Hellenic Antidote

"Paul Cartledge's Democracy: A Life is a fascinating read, looking at the origins of the democratic ideal in ancient Greece and how it has fared historically." —Times Higher Education Supplement

"A compact but rich education in classics and democracy, from a leading expert who delights in his subject... No library should be without this wonderful book, in which Cartledge has abundantly shared his love and knowledge of ancient Greece with us."-Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"The huge value of Cartledge's book is the reminder that 2016 is merely a way-stop on a very long journey indeed."-Tom Holland, The Guardian

"Thanks to Cartledge, Athenian democracy feels more vital than it has done for decades. It is a belter of a book."-Peter Thonemann, Books of the Year 2016, Times Literary Supplement

"Paul Cartledge subtitles his new study Democracy (Oxford) A Life, and was right to do so.... The clarity and zest with which he pursues his Snark-like quarry, the breadth and variety of his reading, and his cheerful persistence against odds (matching that of his subject) combine to make this an unexpectedly enjoyable page-turner."-Peter Green, Books of the Year 2016, Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

★ 2016-01-13
A compact but rich education in classics and democracy, from a leading expert who delights in his subject. Cartledge (Emeritus, Greek Culture/Univ. of Cambridge; After Thermopylae: The Oath of Plataea and the End of the Graeco-Persian Wars, 2013, etc.) easily entertains while teaching us of the reforms of Solon and Ephialtes, the histories of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Polybius, and the philosophical writings of Aristotle. Understanding the Greek terminology is a large part of the growth of demokratia, and the author, who holds the Gold Cross of the Order of Honor from the president of Greece, makes sure we understand the subtleties. There was no single form of democracy; in fact, there were as many as 1,000 different political entities in ancient Greece. Sparta's opposition to democracy played a large part in inhibiting its spread in the Aegean world. Plato, too, was anti-democratic, seeing the institution as mob tyranny. In Cartledge's view, there was no kratos (power) exercised by any demos (citizen) until at least 500 B.C.E. Argos, Naxos, Corinth, and Syracuse had popular governments, but Athens led the way as a direct democracy. Athens' system of self-government based national government on the local demes, where adult males had to be inscribed on the citizen register. The author stresses the difference between the direct and representative forms of government, noting how population numbers preclude direct participation in modern times. By 30 B.C.E., the Romans had engulfed the Hellenistic world, stamped out her democratic institutions, and set the tone for political life until the 18th century. Democracy was effectively shunted aside as the Catholic Church and feudalism dictated the divinely ordered power of kings and lords. Moving onward toward the Enlightenment, we find so many of the same arguments among Rousseau, Voltaire, Burke, and Thomas Paine, where men want equality, as long as some are more equal than others. No library should be without this wonderful book, in which Cartledge has abundantly shared his love and knowledge of ancient Greece with us.

Kirkus Reviews