Loting in het oude Athene

Athene was niet de enige 'polis', of stadstaat inclusief ommeland, die democratisch was. Van de in totaal ongeveer duizend Griekse stadstaten rond de Middellandse Zee en Zwarte Zee, waren er waarschijnlijk ongeveer tweehonderd in bepaalde mate democratisch en dus niet oligarchisch. Wel had Athene duidelijk de meest uitgesproken democratische variant van de door Aristoteles geclassificeerde regeringsvormen, én hebben we over Athene verreweg de meeste bewaarde bronnen, zoals de door het droge klimaat alleen in Egypte bewaard gebleven papyrus met de 'Grondwet van de Atheners'. Maar ook bijvoorbeeld Argos, Corinthe en Syracuse (op Sicilië) hadden democratie. Athene was verder de dominante partij in militaire allianties met andere Griekse stadstaten en probeerde bij bepaalde bondgenoten de oligarchie omver te werpen ten gunste van de democratie, maar deed dit niet consistent. De grote Griekse tegenstrever Sparta was een oligarchie die juist democratieën in andere stadstaten probeerde te bestrijden, ten gunste dus van oligarchieën. Je kunt tenslotte eigenlijk niet spreken van de Atheense democratie, want de Atheense democratie kende gedurende haar bestaan, van rond 500 tot 322 voor Christus, opeenvolgend een viertal verschillende vormen.
Bron: Democracy: A Life, Paul Cartledge, 2018
 

Citaten:

'Zo geldt het bijvoorbeeld als democratisch om bestuursbeambten toe te wijzen door loting (...); als oligarchisch, ze toe te wijzen door verkiezing.'
Aristoteles, 350 v.C.

"Sortition really is a distinctly under-studied feature of even professional/specialist democracy studies of Classical or Hellenistic Greek history (roughly the last seven centuries BCE), and this despite an emblematic, foundational passage in Herodotus' famous 'Persian Debate' (3.80) wherein his 'Otanes' discussant prescribes as a defining feature of isonomie that all offices shall be selected by lot."
Paul Cartledge, Journal of Sortition No. 1, 2025

 

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Boeken:

  • Drawing Lots: From Egalitarianism to Democracy in Ancient Greece | Bol.com | Bruna.nl | Amazon.com.be | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.fr
    auteurs: Irad Malkin en Josine Blok, mei 2024 (536 blz)
    '(...) a comprehensive study of drawing lots as a central institution of ancient Greek society. Drawing lots expressed an egalitarian mindset that guided selection, procedure, and distribution by lot and was eventually introduced for polis governance, a Greek innovation that appears to be of increasing relevance today. The authors explore the egalitarian, "horizonal," mindset expressed in using the lot instead of a top-down vision of authority and sovereignty. Drawing lots presupposed equality among participants deserving equal "portions" and was used for distributing land, inheritance, booty, sacrificial meat, selecting individuals, setting turns, mixing and reorganizing groups, and divining the will of the gods. (...) The book further investigates the transposition of the drawing of lots to the governance of the polis. The implied egalitarianism of the lot often conflicted with top-down perceptions of society and the values of inequality, status, and merit. Drawing lots was introduced into oligarchies and democracies at an uneven pace and scale. Its wide use in the democracy of classical Athens was an exceptional case, eye-catching both in antiquity and today.'
     
  • The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles, and Ideology | Amazon.com
    auteur: Mogens Herman Hansen (A4-fotokopieĂ«n van origineel, met aanvulling op de oorspronkelijke uitgave)
    oorspronkelijke uitgave: 1998, 466 blz
    Het is enigszins onduidelijk welke uitgave je krijgt als je bestelt bij Libris of Amazon.nl (de aangegeven afmetingen zijn daar kleiner, maar lees de reviews)
    'Covering the period 403-322 B.C., Mogens Herman Hansen focuses on the crucial last thirty years, which coincided with the political career of Demosthenes. Hansen distinguishes between the city’s seven political institutions: the Assembly, the nomothetai, the People’s Court, the boards of magistrates, the Council of Five Hundred, the Areopagos, and ho boulomenos. He discusses how Athenians conceived liberty both as the ability to participate in the decision-making process and as the right to live without oppression from the state or other citizens.'
    De serie Franse artikelen die Arthur Massicot in het voorjaar van 2024 publiceerde (DĂ©mocurieux, zie ook hierboven) zijn op dit boek van Hansen gebaseerd. Voor wie het Frans onvoldoende beheerst en geen vertaalsoftware gebruikt, zijn de duidelijke schematische weergaven van de organisatie van de Atheense democratie wellicht alsnog interessant.
     
  • Democracy: A Life | Bol.com | Amazon.nl | Amazon.com.be | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.com.au | Amazon.fr
    auteur: Paul Cartledge, 2018 (416 blz)
    '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.'
     
  • The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece | Libris | Bol.com
    auteur: Josiah Ober, 2016 (448 blz)
    'Why did Greece reach such heights in the classical period—and why only then? And how, after “the Greek miracle” had endured for centuries, did the Macedonians defeat the Greeks, seemingly bringing an end to their glory? Drawing on a massive body of newly available data and employing novel approaches to evidence, Josiah Ober offers a major new history of classical Greece and an unprecedented account of its rise and fall.'
     
  • Democracy and Knowledge: Innovation and Learning in Classical Athens | Bol.com
    auteur: Josiah Ober, 2010 (368 blz)
    'Combining a history of Athens with contemporary theories of collective action and rational choice developed by economists and political scientists, Josiah Ober examines Athenian democracy’s unique contribution to the ancient Greek city-state’s remarkable success, and demonstrates the valuable lessons Athenian political practices hold for us today. He argues that the key to Athens’s success lay in how the city-state managed and organized the aggregation and distribution of knowledge among its citizens.'
     
  • Athenian Legacies: Essays on the Politics of Going On Together | Bol.com
    auteur: Josiah Ober, 2007 (288 blz)
    'Athenian Legacies demonstrates with flair and verve how the people of one influential political community rebuilt their democratic government, rewove their social fabric, and, through thick and thin, went on together. The book’s essays address amnesty, civic education, and institutional innovation in early Athens, a city that built and lost an empire while experiencing plague, war, economic trauma, and civil conflict. As Ober vividly demonstrates, Athenians became adept at collective survival. They conjoined a cultural commitment to government by the people with new institutions that captured the social and technical knowledge of a diverse population to recover from revolution, foreign occupation, and the ravages of war. Ober provides insight into notorious instances of Athenian injustice, explaining why slaves, women, and foreign residents willingly risked their lives to support a regime in which they were systematically mistreated. He answers the question of why Socrates never left a city he said was badly governed.'
     
  • The Athenian Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory | Bol.com
    auteur: Josiah Ober, 1998 (224 blz)
    'Where did “democracy” come from, and what was its original form and meaning? Here Josiah Ober shows that this “power of the people” crystallized in a revolutionary uprising by the ordinary citizens of Athens in 508-507 B.C. He then examines the consequences of the development of direct democracy for upper-and lower-class citizens, for dissident Athenian intellectuals, and for those who were denied citizenship under the new regime (women, slaves, resident foreigners), as well as for the general development of Greek history. When the citizens suddenly took power into their own hands, they changed the cultural and social landscape of Greece, thereby helping to inaugurate the Classical Era. Democracy led to fundamental adjustments in the basic structures of Athenian society, altered the forms and direction of political thinking, and sparked a series of dramatic reorientations in international relations. It quickly made Athens into the most powerful Greek city-state, but it also fatally undermined the traditional Greek rules of warfare. It stimulated the development of the Western tradition of political theorizing and encouraged a new conception of justice that has striking parallels to contemporary theories of rights.'
     
  • Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People | Bol.com
    auteur: Josiah Ober, 1991 (408 blz)
    'Why did Athenian democracy work as well and for as long as it did? Josiah Ober seeks the answer by analyzing the sociology of Athenian politics and the nature of communication between elite and nonelite citizens. After a preliminary survey of the development of the Athenian “constitution,” he focuses on the role of political and legal rhetoric. As jurymen and Assemblymen, the citizen masses of Athens retained important powers, and elite Athenian politicians and litigants needed to address these large bodies of ordinary citizens in terms understandable and acceptable to the audience. This book probes the social strategies behind the rhetorical tactics employed by elite speakers.'
     
  • Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece | Bol.com
    auteurs: Kurt A. Raaflaub, Josiah Ober, Robert Wallace (Paul Cartledge en Cynthia Farrar), 2008 (256 blz)
    'Why was democracy first realized in ancient Greece? Was democracy “invented” or did it evolve over a long period of time? What were the conditions for democracy, the social and political foundations that made this development possible? And what factors turned the possibility of democracy into necessity and reality? The authors first examine the conditions in early Greek society that encouraged equality and “people’s power.” They then scrutinize, in their social and political contexts, three crucial points in the evolution of democracy: the reforms connected with the names of Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes in the early and late sixth and mid-fifth century. Finally, an ancient historian and a political scientist review the arguments presented in the previous chapters and add their own perspectives, asking what lessons we can draw today from the ancient democratic experience.'
     
  • Demokratia: A Conversation on Democracies, Ancient and Modern | Bol.com
    redactie: Josiah Ober en Charles Hedrick, 1996 (496 blz)
    'The issues and tensions examined here are basic to both history and political theory: revolution versus stability, freedom and equality, law and popular sovereignty, cultural ideals and social practice. While the authors are sharply critical of many aspects of Athenian society, culture, and government, they are united by a conviction that classical Athenian democracy has once again become a centrally important subject for political debate.'
     
  • Athenian Political Thought and the Reconstitution of American Democracy | Bol.com | Amazon.nl 
    redactie: J. Peter Euben, John R. Wallach en Josiah Ober, 1994 (360 blz)
    'What does it mean to be a citizen in a democracy? Indeed, how do we educate for democracy? These questions are addressed here by thirteen historians, classicists, and political theorists, who critically examine ancient Greek history and institutions, texts, and ideas in light of today's political practices and values. They do not idealize ancient Greek democracy. Rather, they use it, with all its faults, as a basis for measuring the strengths and shortcomings of American democracy. In the hands of the authors, ancient Greek sources become partners in an educational dialogue about democracy's past, one that goads us to think about the limitations of democracy's present and to imagine enriched possibilities for its future. The authors are diverse in their opinions and in their political and moral commitments. But they share the view that insulating American democracy from radical criticism encourages a dangerous complacency that Athenian political thought can disrupt.'
     
  • Politika
    auteur: Aristoteles (ongeveer 350 voor Christus)
    gratis downloads van Engelse vertalingen
    gratis e-book versies op Gutenberg 
    The Politics, Engelse, herbewerkte vertaling van Sir Ernest Barker
    Politica, Nederlandse vertaling door Jan-Maarten Bremer en Ton Kessels, 2011 (€45,00)
    'Aristoteles' Politica is een sleuteltekst in de geschiedenis van het westerse politieke denken, zowel van de politieke theorie als van de politieke praktijk. Het is een fundamenteel werk over de organisatie van het staatkundige verband en de plaats van de burger daarin. Aristoteles baseert zijn beschouwingen op uitvoerig onderzoek naar bestaande staatsinrichtingen, en formuleert op basis hiervan zijn scherpe kritiek op Plato's beide utopieën in Staat en Wetten.
    In de Politica geeft Aristoteles ook in het verlengde van het onderzoek een schets van wat in zijn ogen het beste staatkundige verband is en hoe de opvoeding de burger dient voor te bereiden op zijn rol in de gemeenschap. De beste staat is een onafhankelijke, van beperkte omvang, die een zekere welvaart kent als basis voor het uiteindelijke doel, het goede en gelukkige leven dat op deugd is gebaseerd.
    De mens is een 'politiek dier', en van nature ontplooit de burger zich optimaal in de 'polis'. In de Politica behandelt Aristoteles de politieke en ethische kwesties die nog steeds een belangrijke rol spelen in de discussie en de gedachten over de beste staatsvorm: de verantwoordelijkheid van de macht, het doel van de staat, de rol van het onderwijs, de vorming van de burger, de criteria en de aard van het burgerschap, de verhouding tussen volksvergadering en de uitvoerende en rechtsprekende machten.
    De invloed van de Politica op de Europese cultuur begint in de middeleeuwen, wanneer het werk in het Latijn wordt vertaald.'
    Zie ook:
    Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens | Bol.com
    De staatsinrichting van de Atheners (papyrusvondsten van de grondwet)
    De staatsinrichting van Athene | Libris | Bol.com
     
  • Die Verwendung und Bedeutung von Losverfahren in Athen und im griechischen Raum vom 7. bis 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. | Amazon.de
    auteur: Aaron Gebler, 1 maart 2024 (321 blz)
    'In der Diskussion zur Krise moderner Demokratien erfreut sich das Losen einer wachsenden Aufmerksamkeit. Dabei wird oft auf die Verwendung von Losverfahren in der politischen Praxis der griechischen Antike verwiesen. Jedoch kam dem Losen auch in anderen Bereichen eine wichtige Funktion zu. Aaron Gebler fokussiert in seiner Studie ebendiese Bereiche und untersucht umfassend die Verwendung von Losverfahren in der attischen Demokratie im 6. und 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Er zeigt, dass die Verwendung des Loses im politischen Kontext möglicherweise aus dem militärischen Bereich übernommen wurde. Im Zuge einer Transformation der Partizipationskultur im griechischen Raum etablierte sich im 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. das Losverfahren zu einer bedeutenden Technik. Wurde es im 7. und 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr. noch beliebig eingesetzt – meist als Problemlöser einer spezifischen Situation im militärischen Kontext, zur Verteilung von Erbschaften oder zur Befragung der Götter –, entwickelte sich das Losverfahren spätestens ab den letzten Jahren des 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zu einem festen Bestandteil politischer Ordnungen.'
     
  • Die athenische Demokratie | Amazon.de
    auteur: Jochen Bleicken, 1995 (747 blz)
    'Die Entwicklung Athens zur Demokratie, ihr sozialer und politischer Aufbau, Institutionen und Verfahrensweisen werden ebenso aufgezeigt wie die Grundlagen des demokratischen Gedankens und seine Umsetzung in die politische Praxis einer wirklich gelebten Verfassungsform.'
     
  • Demokratie und Populismus in der griechischen Antike und heute | Amazon.de
    redactie: Christoph Riedweg , Riccarda Schmid en Andreas Victor Walser, 2024 (524 blz)
    'Angesichts des weltweit evidenten Erstarkens populistischer Tendenzen in den letzten Jahren liegt es nahe, danach zu fragen, ob es bereits im klassischen Athen und dann auch in den hellenistischen Poleis politische Strömungen gab, die als populistisch qualifizieren werden können, und, falls ja, wie sich diese manifestiert haben. Ist es das Erstarken von Eliten, das zu populistischen Gegenbewegungen führt? Welche Rolle spielten autoritäre Führungspersönlichkeiten, die geradezu ein Merkmal moderner populistischer Strömungen sind?'


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