Democracy beyond Athens Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age

What was ancient democracy like? Why did it spread in ancient Greece? An astonishing number of volumes have been devoted to the well-attested Athenian case, while non-Athenian democracy - for which evidence is harder to come by - has received only fleeting attention. Nevertheless, there exists a scattered body of ancient material regarding democracy beyond Athens, from ancient literary authors and epigraphic documents to archaeological evidence, out of which one can build an understanding of the phenomenon. This book presents a detailed study of ancient Greek democracy in the Classical period (480–323 BC), focusing on examples outside Athens. It has three main goals: to identify where and when democratic governments established themselves in ancient Greek city-states; to explain why democracy spread to many parts of Greece in this period; and to further our understanding of the nature of ancient democracy by studying its practices beyond Athens.

Introduction; 1. Classical demokratiai on the Greek mainland (central Greece and the Peloponnese); 2. Classical demokratiai in western and northwestern Greece (plus Cyrene); 3. Classical demokratiai in eastern Greece; 4. The spread of democracy in the Classical period; 5. The nature of Classical democracy outside Athens; Appendix.

Eric W. Robinson is Associate Professor in the Department of History, Indiana University. He has published widely on ancient democracy, and previous books include Ancient Greek Democracy: Readings and Sources (2003) and Oikistes: Studies in Constitutions, Colonies, and Military Power in the Ancient World Offered in Honor of A. J. Graham (co-edited with Vanessa Gorman, 2002).