2 ^nd ed. Princeton University Press, 1999. 212 p.

(c) 2000

Questions about the origins and significance of ancient Greek democracy occupy many scholars. One of the most famous experts in the field of Athenian democracy is Josh Ober, head of the Department of Classical Studies at Princeton University (USA). The book " The Athenian Revolution. Essays on the history of Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Thought " is a collection of his articles. First published in 1996, it received a wide response among specialists and aroused so much interest that it was reprinted in 1999 in a much larger print run. The book is provided with an extensive bibliography and index.

The publication of this, as well as some other books on the history of ancient democracy, was timed to coincide with the" round " date. Western, primarily American, scholars made extensive use of the celebration of the 2,500-year anniversary of democracy in the early 1990s to attract attention (and, just as importantly, funding) to their anti-history studies. J. Ober was one of the leaders of the Democracy 2500 project of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

Chapter 1. " Introduction: Athenian Democracy and the History of Ideologies "and Chapter 2" Models and paradigms in Ancient History " (very small in volume) are devoted to the research methodology: the author tries to pave the way for research, maneuvering between the Scylla of anti-historicism and the Charybdis of denial of theoretical approaches. The author also delineates the subjects of research - the analysis of the tradition of Athenian democracy, the relationship between the ideology and practice of democracy (p. 8). The author is primarily interested in Athens of the IV century BC - the period of Athenian history when democracy, in the author's opinion, was alive and stable (p. 7), but some chapters are devoted to others periods of Athenian history.

J. Ober considers it necessary to focus on the role of the historian in describing events. "The historical model grows out of the experience and thoughts of an individual or group, and there are no models that are free from evaluation. The use of models involves transferring aspects of ideology that are not inherent in the past to the past. Ideology, according to my definition, includes assumptions about human nature and behavior, views on morality and ethics, general political principles, and views on social relations " (p. 14).

In chapter 3, "Public Speech and the power of the people in a democratic Athens," the author gives his vision of Athenian democracy. "If we take democracy in the sense that it was understood by the ancient Greeks, i.e. as a political power actively and collectively exercised by the demos, then Athens was a true democracy" (p. 19). J. Ober points out the importance of public speeches in the functioning of democracy. Athenian citizens saw themselves as a "collective nobility", and it was public speeches in court and in the people's assembly that were important for suppressing the very possibility of creating an anti-democratic elite (p.22, 27). The author insists on the inapplicability of the" iron law of oligarchy " (a rule developed in relation to ancient Rome by R. Syme and which presupposes the behind-the-scenes rule of oligarchic groups under any state system) to democratic Athens.

Chapter 4, "The Athenian Revolution of 508/7: Violence, Authority ,and the Origin of democracy," is perhaps the key part of the book. The author's goal is to analyze the" revolutionary " actions of the Athenian demos. The author considers it possible to compare these events with the American, French, and Russian revolutions of 1917 and 1989-

page 197

1991 (p. 33). This work, published as an article, has sparked an interesting discussion ^.1

Josh Ober, emphasizing the role of the masses in historical events, interprets the Cleisthenes revolution as "a riot, i.e. a violent and more or less spontaneous uprising of a significant part of the Athenian citizens" (p. 43), comparing the siege of the Acropolis by the Athenians in 508/7 BC with the storming of the Bastille (p.48). In the interpretation of J. R. R. Tolkien Events in Athens are clearly being "revolutionized" in comparison with the meaning that Aristotle put into them. Ober exaggerates the spontaneity of demos ' actions and, on the contrary, downplays the role of the Council, which was able to organize the resistance. In this case, we can rather talk about the mobilization of the Athenian demos, the civil militia, than about mass riots ^.2

Chapter 5, "The Laws of War in Classical Greece," explores the koina nomima-a kind of informal rules of warfare. According to the author, they were associated with the "Hoplite ideology" and were used in intra-Greek wars in the archaic and classical periods. In the process of its replacement, these rules become less and less mandatory, and in the second half of the fifth and fourth centuries BC they are no longer widely used (p. 57). In this context, the success and stability of democratic Athens in comparison with the poleis based on the "Hoplite ideology" are significant (pp. 70-71).

Chapter 6, "Thucydides, Pericles, and Defense Strategy," is devoted to Thucydides 'description of Pericles' strategy for the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides outlined his own scheme of Pericles ' defense strategy, based on the image he created of Pericles and the appearance of the Peloponnesian War. According to J. R. R. Tolkien, Pericles 'plans were less "strategic" in nature than the historian describes them, and took into account the interests of the rural inhabitants of Attica. The author emphasizes the importance of the "cavalry-garrison" strategy in the defense of both Athens and Syracuse.

In Chapter 7, " Power and Oratory in Democratic Athens: The 21st Speech of Demosthenes (against Media)" It is devoted to the interaction of the individual and society on the example of the Athenian society. J. Ober tries to define the concept of "power" in relation to democratic Athens, believing that without the mediation of the speaker, the Athenian democracy could turn into a collection of selfish individuals (p.106). It is possible that the author still somewhat underestimated the anti-plutocratic orientation of this particular speech of Demosthenes, which was caused by a very specific goal - to expose a wealthy politician who enjoyed the support of rich citizens. ³

The next two chapters (8 and 9) are extended reviews of books by well-known experts on the history and ideology of Athenian democracy. Chapter 8, "The Nature of Athenian Democracy", is a review of the book" The Athenian People's Assembly in the Age of Demosthenes "by the Danish scholar Mogens Hansen, ⁴ and Chapter 9," The Athenians and Their Democracy", is the author's reflections on Cynthia Farrar's" The Origin of Democratic Thought " ⁵ and some other works. J. Ober considered rather critically M. Hansen's point of view that the" sovereign power " in the fifth century was held by the people's assembly, and in the fourth century by the courts, and expressed disagreement with the opinion of S. Farrar, who ascribed the democratic ideology to Protagoras, Democritus and Thucydides.

In chapter 10, "How it was possible to criticize democracy in Athens in the late fifth and fourth centuries, "the author insists on the tolerance of Athenian democracy and writes about a certain" symbiosis " of democracy and its critics.

In Chapter 11, " Polis as a society: Aristotle, John Rawls and the Athenian Social Contract " examines the relationship between the ideas of Aristotle and the philosophical constructions of John Rawls, a thinker of the second half of the XX century. ,

¹ See a recent discussion about this by K. Raaflaub and J. Обера: Raaflaub К. Power in the Hands of the People: Foundations of Athenian Democracy // Democracy 2500? Questions and Challenges / Ed. I. Morris, K. Raaflaub. Dubuque, Iowa, 1997 (Archaeological Institute of America. Colloquia and Conference Papers. N 2. 1997). P. 31- 66; Ober J. Revolution Matters: Democracy as Demotic Action (A Responce to Kurt A. Raaflaub) // Ibid. P. 67-85; Raaflaub K. The Thetes and Democracy (A Response to Josiah Ober) // Ibid. P. 87-103. Ср. также Rhodes P.J. Review Article - How to Study Athenian Democracy // Polis. 1998. 15. P. 76.

² A more detailed critique of the concept by J. R. R. Tolkien. Obera, S. G. Karpyuk, "The role of the Crowd in the political life of Archaic and Classical Greece," VDI. 2000, No. 3, pp. 3-15.

^{Marinovich L. P.} 3 Media and his friends, or Demosthenes against the Plutocrats / / VDI. 1998. N 2. pp. 19-31.

^{Hansen М.Н.} 4 The Athenian Assembly in the Age of Demosthenes. Oxf., 1987.

^{Farrar С.} 5 The Origins of Democratic Thinking: The Invention of Politics in Classical Athens. Cambr., 1988.

page 198

Described in the seventh book of Aristotle's Politics, with an ideal society based on the social contract and game theory, designed by J. R. R. Tolkien. Rolls. This helps to analyze the views of Aristotle. According to the author, "Aristotle's polis is both a pluralistic, differentiated society and a state" (p.172). Aristotle used the term "polis" in two senses: as a community of citizens ("politiko-polis") and as a community of residents of a certain territory, including non-citizens ("geo-polis") (p.161).

The book of J. R. R. Tolkien Obera is a good example of publishing a collection of articles prepared by the author himself (each chapter is accompanied by a fairly extensive author's introduction, which introduces the reader to the context of scientific discussions). Like any such collection, it is unequal. From our point of view, the most powerful chapters are chapter 5, which analyzes the unwritten rules of warfare, and chapter 6, which deals with the defense strategy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War. However, other chapters also provide plenty of food for thought and plenty of discussion. Undoubtedly, this book will stimulate further research on Athenian democracy.

Permanent link to this publication: