The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy presents a series of essays that trace the Greeks path to democracy and examine the connection between the Greekpolis as a citizen state and democracy as well as the interaction between democracy and various forms of cultural expression from a comparative historical perspective and with special attention to the place of Greek democracy in political thought and debates about democracy throughout the centuries.

Johann P. Arnasonis Emeritus Professor of Sociology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, and visiting professor at Charles University in Prague. His previous works includeDomains and Divisions of European History(with N. Doyle, 2010),The Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives(with K. Raaflaub, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), andNordic Paths to Modernity(with B. Wittrock, 2012).

Kurt A. Raaflaubis the David Herlihy University Professor and Professor of Classics and History Emeritus at Brown University. His previous works includeGeography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies(with R. J. A. Talbert, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010),Epic and History(with D. Konstan, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), andThe Roman Empire in Context: Historical and Comparative Perspectives(with J. Arnason, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011).

Peter Wagneris ICREA Research Professor in the Department of Sociological Theory, Philosophy of Law, and Methodology of the Social Sciences at the University of Barcelona. His previous works includeTheorizing Modernity: Inescapability and Attainability in Social Theory(2001),Modernity as Experience and Interpretation(2008), andModernity: Understanding the Present(2012).

Series Editors Preface vii

Contributors viii

Introduction 1
Johann P. Arnason, Kurt A. Raaflaub, and Peter Wagner

Part I The Greek Experience in Long-term Perspective 19

1 Exploring the Greek Needles Eye: Civilizational and Political Transformations 21
Johann P. Arnason

2 Transformations of Democracy: Towards a History of Political Thought and Practice in Long-term Perspective 47
Peter Wagner

Part II Ways of Polis-making: Grasping the Novelty of the Political 69

3 To Act with Good Advice: Greek Tragedy and the Democratic Political Sphere 71
Egon Flaig

4 Democracy and Dissent: the Case of Comedy 99
Lucio Bertelli

5 Democracy, Oratory, and the Rise of Historiography in Fifth-century Greece 126
Jonas Grethlein

6 Political Uses of Rhetoric in Democratic Athens 144
Harvey Yunis

7 Law and Democracy in Classical Athens 163
Adriaan Lanni

8 Democracy and Political Philosophy: Influences, Tensions, Rapprochement 181
Ryan K. Balot

9 Inscriptions and the City in Democratic Athens 205
Elizabeth A. Meyer

Part III Changing a Way of Life: Democracys Impact on Polis Society 225

10 The Impact of Democracy on Communal Life 227
Sara L. Forsdyke

11 The Demoss Participation in Decision-making: Principles and Realities 260
Claude Mossé

12 Democracy and Religion in Classical Greece 274
Robin Osborne

13 Democracy and War 298
Lawrence A. Tritle

Part IV Political Concepts and Commitments 321

14 Perfecting the Political Creature: Equality and the Political in the Evolution of Greek Democracy 323
Kurt A. Raaflaub

15 Tyranny and Tragedy in Nietzsches Understanding of the Greek Polis 351
Tracy B. Strong

16 The Liberty of the Moderns Compared to the Liberty of the Ancients 371
Nathalie Karagiannis and Peter Wagner

Index 389