Politics and the street in democratic Athens / Alex Gottesman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gottesman, Alex, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy--Greece--Athens--History.

Democracy.

Athens (Greece)--Politics and government--Early works to 1800.

Athens (Greece).

Agora (Athens, Greece)--History.

Agora (Athens, Greece).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 247 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Politics & the Street in Democratic Athens

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book is the first in-depth study of the classical Athenian public sphere. It examines how public opinion was created by impromptu theatrics and by gossip, and how it flowed into and out of the civic institutions. Athenians did not have hookah bars or coffee shops but they did socialize in symposia and gymnasia and workshops, and above all in the Agora. These represented the Athenian 'street', an informal political space that was seen as qualitatively different from the institutional space of the assembly, the council and the courts where elite orators held sway. The book explores how Athenians of all sorts, such as politicians, slaves and philosophers, sought to exploit the resources of the 'street' in pursuit of their aims.

Contents:

Cover; Half-title; Title page; Copyright information; Table of contents; List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Approaching the Athenian public sphere; The institutional public sphere; The extra-institutional public sphere; A synthesis; Plan of the book; Chapter 1 A tour of the Agora; A brief history of the Agora; How pure an Agora?; Chapter 2 Athenian social networks; Citizen associations; "Mixed" associations; Socializing in shops; Putting the networks to work: enforcement and the public sphere; Chapter 3 The problem of non-institutional politics

Separating the institutional from the extra-institutionalThe problem of supplication; "Pitiable theatrics": further critics of supplication; Chapter 4 Institutionalizing theatricality in the Assembly; Supplication on the schedule; The sponsors of the suppliants; Chapter 5 Publicity stunts in Athenian politics; A woman named Phye; Ephialtes "naked" at the altar; A mournful Apaturia; The decline of the political stunt; The rise of logography; Chapter 6 Slaves in the Theseion; Slaves on the run; Aphairesis; False citizens; What was going on in the Theseion?; Chapter 7 The Magnesian Street

Absent presence in the electionsWomen as "bearers" of the Magnesian public sphere; The guardianship of the Nocturnal Council; Disciplining Magnesian praise and blame; Conclusion; Works cited; Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-316-08370-5

1-316-05770-4

1-316-05533-7

1-108-43905-5

1-316-07661-X

1-316-08134-6

1-107-30050-9

1-316-07188-X

1-316-07424-2

1-316-07898-1