From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law

Law, Society, and Politics in Fifth-Century Athens

Martin Ostwald

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520054264
• eBook ISBN: 9780520909687
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Analyzing the "democratic" features and institutions of the Athenian democracy in the fifth century B.C., Martin Ostwald traces their development from Solon's judicial reforms to the flowering of popular sovereignty, when the people assumed the right both to enact all legislation and to hold magistrates accountable for implementing what had been enacted.


Analyzing the "democratic" features and institutions of the Athenian democracy in the fifth century B.C., Martin Ostwald traces their development from Solon's judicial reforms to the flowering of popular sovereignty, when the people assumed the right both

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS 1
• PREFACE
• ABBREVIATIONS
• PROLEGOMENA: SCOPE AND PURPOSE
• CHAPTER ONE Popular Sovereignty and the Control of Government SOCIAL ORDER AND POPULAR POWER FROM SOLON TO CLEISTHENES
• Solon and the Administration of Justice
• Cleisthenes and Legislative Procedure
• FROM CLEISTHENES TO EPHIALTES Jurisdiction in Crimes Against the State
• Accountability
• Scrutiny
• EPHIALTES, DEMOCRACY, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE JURY COURTS (DIKASTERIA)
• The Judicial Powers of the Council
• The Judicial Powers of the Assembly
• The Development and Function of the Jury Courts (Dikasteria)
• THE POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE
• CHAPTER TWO Popular Sovereignty and Social Thought
• NOMOS BEFORE CLEISTHENES
• NOMOS IN‘THE FIFTH CENTURY
• THE LANGUAGE OF RULE AND THE LANGUAGE OF PRACTICE
• Descriptive Social and Religious Norms
• Prescriptive Social and Religious Norms
• THE MEANING OF ENNOMOS
• THE MEANING OF PARANOMOS
• SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
• CHAPTER THREE Popular Sovereignty and the Control of Religion
• AESCHYLUS’S SUPPLICES: THE STATE PROTECTS RELIGION
• THE PRAXIERGIDAI DECREE: THE GENOS SUBMITS TO THE STATE
• SOPHOCLES’ ANTIGONE: THE FAMILY COLLIDES WITH THE STATE
• THE CASE OF ANDOCIDES: THE NOMOS OF THE STATE OVERRIDES “ANCESTRAL LAW” (PATRIOS NOMOS)
• POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY AND RELIGION
• Part II OPPOSITION TO POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
• CHAPTER FOUR The Prelude FROM CLEISTHENES TO PERICLES
• PERICLEAN DEMOCRACY AND ITS OPPOSITION Internal Policy
• Aristocratic Opposition
• Religious Opposition
• The Polarizations of the 420s SOCIAL AND POLITICAL POLARIZATION
• THE GENERATION GAP AND THE SOPHISTS
• INTELLECTUAL POLARIZATION: NOMOS, PHYSIS, AND NOMOS-PHYSIS The Establishment Mentality
• Physis versus Nomos
• Physis and the Athenian Intelligentsia
• RELIGION AND RATIONALISM: THE FEAR OF ATHEISM
• CHAPTER SIX Popular Sovereignty and the Intellectual: Alcibiades
• ARGOS: POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY MANIPULATED
• MELOS: THE POLITICS OF NOMOS-PHYSIS
• SICILY: THE PERIPETEIA OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY
• Part III TOWARD THE SOVEREIGNTY OF LAW
• CHAPTER SEVEN The Problem of the Patrios Politeia (Ancestral Constitution) AFTER SICILY
• THE FIRST OLIGARCHICAL CHALLENGE Preliminaries
• The Four Hundred
• RECONSTRUCTION AND THE FIRST RESTORATION
• CHAPTER EIGHT The Breakdown of Popular Sovereignty
• THE REVISION OF THE LAWS
• POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY ON TRIAL Democracy and Alcibiades
• The Denouement: Arginusae and Its Aftermath
• The Debacle: Aegospotami and Peace
• The Second Oligarchical Challenge and Its Failure POLITICS AFTER THE PEACE
• THE THIRTY The “Good” Period
• Oligarchy and Repression
• DISSOLUTION AND RECONSTITUTION
• CHAPTER TEN Toward a New Order: Democracy under the Law THE RESTORATION OF ORDER
• THE PROBLEMS OF THE AMNESTY
• RECONCILIATION AND LAW PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
• APPENDIX A: EISANGELIA CASES IN THE FIFTH CENTURY
• APPENDIX B: THE EARLIEST TRIALS FOR IMPIETY (ASEBEIA) AT ATHENS
• APPENDIX C:) THE SOCIAL AND INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND OF THE άσεβοϋντες OF 415 B.C.
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX LOCORUM
• GENERAL INDEX