This book draws on a wide range of evidence to study the history of Athens from 386 to 322 B.C. Taking a sympathetic view of the Second Athenian League, Sealey focuses on the career of Demosthenes to provide important insights into Athenian politics and policies. Demosthenes experienced repeated setbacks in his early attempts at public activity, but found his mission as a statesman in the conflict with Macedon and subsequently became the leading man in Athens. Sealey rejects theories that assume programmatic divisions among Athenian statesmen into pro- and anti-Macedonians, and argues that all Athenians active in politics resented Macedonian ascendancy but recognized the necessity of accommodation to superior power. His account concludes with the defeat of Athens and its allies and the suicide of Demosthenes, presenting new insights not only into the life of Demosthenes and the turbulent years of his political career, but also the social and international factors bearing on Athenian political activity in general.
Author(s): Raphael Sealey
Year: 1993
Language: English
Pages: 352
Contents......Page 10
Introduction: The Subject......Page 16
1. The Crisis of 387/6......Page 20
2. The Athenians and Their Environment......Page 32
3. Athens and the New League......Page 63
4. Destabilization in the North......Page 87
5. Before and After the Social War......Page 115
6. War and Peace in the North......Page 150
7. The Athenians Frustrated......Page 173
8. The Athenians Defeated......Page 207
APPENDIX 1. The Transmission of the Demosthenic Corpus......Page 234
APPENDIX 2. Questions of Authenticity of Some Demosthenic Speeches......Page 243
APPENDIX 3. Autonomia......Page 254
APPENDIX 4. Dates in the Early Life of Demosthenes......Page 258
APPENDIX 5. Chronological Notes on the 360s......Page 262
APPENDIX 6. The Theoric Fund......Page 269
APPENDIX 7. Euboia 343–340......Page 272
APPENDIX 8. The Chronology of the Scandal of Harpalos......Page 278
APPENDIX 9. The Athenian Calendars......Page 281
Notes......Page 284
Bibliography......Page 332
Index of Passages......Page 344
A......Page 346
C......Page 347
E......Page 348
K......Page 349
M......Page 350
P......Page 351
S......Page 352
Z......Page 353
Map of Greece and the Aegean Area......Page 13
