POPULATION AND ECONOMY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS This is the rst comprehensive account of the population of classical Athens for almost a century. Cleisthenes disliked the Spartan rule, along with many other Athenians, and so made his own bid for power. A population as large as that of classical Athens could be supported only by the regular importation of food 2 from abroad, which had to be financed by trade and other revenues. (Herning 1985). Learn more about the history and significance of Athens in this article. To these he would add 40,000 or 30,000 non-hoplites, respectively, for the total citizen adult male population, but his grounds for doing so are unclear at this stage, since he addresses neither the distribution of wealth in Athenian society nor the relation, if any, of the Solonian census classes to military functions until later in the book. Sparta's hegemony was passing to Athens, and it was Athens that took the war to Asia Minor. That provoked two Persian invasions of Greece, both of which were repelled under the leadership of the soldier-statesmen Miltiades and Themistocles (see Persian Wars). To sum up my conclusions at the outset, I would observe that much more space is given to question 1 than to question 2, and that when the author turns to the bigger picture, the results must, given the state of the evidence, remain ambiguous. The population’s needs for barley, olive oil, and wine are helpfully set out in Table 6.1; the obvious takeaway is that Athens depended on imports to meet its needs, given its own limited area of cultivable land. The walled city measured about 1.5 km (0.93 mi) in diameter, although at its peak the city had suburbs extending well beyond these walls. The ensuing discussion of metics is striking for its insistence that the label “metic” connoted servility and that Athenian citizens aligned metics more closely with slaves than citizens. During the winter of 338 BC /337 BC Macedonia, Athens and other Greek states became part of the League of Corinth. [9] Instead Akrigg suggests that overall growth benefited the rich alone (226), but we simply do not know. [4] Did the average Athenian really view the family of Cephalus—wealthy, pro-democratic metics from Syracuse—as closer to slaves than citizens? 'θi.na]) during the classical period of ancient Greece (480–323 BC)[1] was the major urban centre of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. • Born in Athens • Male Many would argue that Athens did not have a true democracy because not everyone could participate. The Plague of Athens (Ancient Greek: Λοιμὸς τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, Loimos tôn Athênôn) was an epidemic that devastated the city-state of Athens in ancient Greece during the second year (430 BC) of the Peloponnesian War when an Athenian victory still seemed within reach. Hence, he gave his name to the Athenian Golden Age. The total population in the 4th cent. The entire circuit of the walls was 174.5 stadia (nearly 22 miles, 35 km), of which 43 stadia (5.5 miles, 9 km) belonged to the city, 75 stadia (9.5 miles, 15 km) to the long walls, and 56.5 stadia (7 miles, 11 km) to Piraeus, Munichia, and Phalerum. In 403, democracy was restored by Thrasybulus and an amnesty declared. Athens consisted of two distinct parts: The city was surrounded by defensive walls from the Bronze Age and they were rebuilt and extended over the centuries. When Ephialtes was assassinated by personal enemies, Pericles stepped in and was elected general, or strategos, in 445 BC; a post he held continuously until his death in 429 BC, always by election of the Athenian Assembly. The war ended with the complete defeat of Athens in 404. On the other hand, Akrigg rightly emphasizes that the single legal category “metic” comprised a heterogeneous population of wealthy Greeks, freedpeople, and non-Greek traders and laborers. ), Demography and the Graeco-Roman World: New Insights and Approaches (Cambridge 2011): 37-59; “Metics in Athens,” in C. Taylor and K. Vlassopoulos (eds. Answers to those questions, however, remain open. Akrigg believes that we can do better than Hansen’s conclusions on this front. According to the Greek mythology, Cecrops, who was half man and half serpent, founded Athens and became the first king. Approximately 140,000; Approximately 40,000 men were citizens; and slaves (about 40,000). In 490 the Athenians, led by Miltiades, prevented the first invasion of the Persians, guided by king Darius I, at the Battle of Marathon. It is also worth noting that the numbers involved in individual colonial and cleruchal projects appear rarely to have surpassed 1,000 citizens at a time. Document B (population estimates from mixed sources…) states that the population of classical Athens in 422 B.C.E was to be 315,000 total. Citizens, Metics, and Slaves: The population of Athens was made up of three distinct groups: citizens, or men who were of Athenian birth and free-born; metics, or foreigners who lived in Athens but who had no citizenship rights, and slaves It is estimated that in 431 B.C. The author also now attends to the issue of the wealth distribution of Attica, discussing previous arguments by R. Osborne, L. Foxhall, and G. Kron. bc may have been about two million people.Demography is not just a matter of population size. This was due to healthy standards of living and an increase of medical inventions. Since many citizens were incapable of exercising political rights, due to their poverty or ignorance, a number of governmental resources existed … It is estimated that by 400 B.C, ancient Greece had a population of 13 million. Pericles – an Athenian general, politician and orator – distinguished himself above the other personalities of the era, men who excelled in politics, philosophy, architecture, sculpture, history and literature. That supposedly worked after a number of times, and Cleomenes led a Spartan force to overthrow Hippias, which succeeded, and instated an oligarchy. The Acropolis was just south of the centre of this walled area. Comments are moderated. [7] The Assembly or Ecclesia was open to all full citizens and was both a legislature and a supreme court, except in murder cases and religious matters, which became the only remaining functions of the Areopagus. Athens - Athens - History: The site of Athens has been inhabited since the Neolithic Period (before 3000 bce). ), Debating the Athenian Cultural Revolution: Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Politics 430-380 BC (Cambridge 2007): 27-43; “Demography and Classical Athens,” in C. Holleran and A. Pudsey (eds. The Legal and Social Condition of the Enslaved Population in Classical Athens. Sparta, also known as Lacedaemon, was an ancient Greek city-state located primarily in the present-day region of southern Greece called Laconia. In Chapter 3, “Population Size 1: Citizens,” Akrigg exploits our single most important piece of evidence, Thuc. 2 (Leiden 2008): 427-523. The victories enabled it to bring most of the Aegean and many other parts of Greece together in the Delian League, an Athenian-dominated alliance. 101 N. Merion Ave., He fostered arts and literature and gave to Athens a splendor which would never return throughout its history. The summit of the Acropolis was covered with temples, statues of bronze and marble, and various other works of art. Of the temples, the grandest was the Parthenon, sacred to the "Virgin" goddess Athena; and north of the Parthenon was the magnificent Erechtheion, containing three separate temples, one to Athena Polias, or the "Protectress of the State," the Erechtheion proper, or sanctuary of Erechtheus, and the Pandroseion, or sanctuary of Pandrosos, the daughter of Cecrops. Instead, the Persians were routed. By mid century, however, the northern Greek kingdom of Macedon was becoming dominant in Athenian affairs. ")[11], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}37°58′N 23°43′E / 37.97°N 23.72°E / 37.97; 23.72, Delian League ("Athenian Empire") shown in yellow, Athenian territory shown in red, situation in 431 BC, before the, Corinthian War and the Second Athenian League (395–355 BC), "Greece uncovers 'holy grail' of Greek archeology", "Ancient History in depth The Democratic Experiment", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Classical_Athens&oldid=1000515633, 4th-century BC disestablishments in Greece, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the symbol caption or type parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, ~250,000 (men with civil rights: ~30,000), This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 12:12. Most offices were filled by lot, although the ten strategoi (generals) were elected. We have also to deal with the fact that the institutions that E. E. Cohen sees as emblematic of the fourth century, such as commercialization and banking, probably emerged already in the fifth, albeit without the participation of women and slaves. On the west end of the Acropolis, where access is alone practicable, were the magnificent Propylaea, "the Entrances," built by Pericles, before the right wing of which was the small Temple of Athena Nike. The city of Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. ), Greek Colonisation Vol. At the time of the Peloponnesian war only the north part of this wall remained, and this portion was still called the Pelasgic Wall; while the south part which had been rebuilt by Cimon, was called the Cimonian Wall. The story of Athena is very similar to the story of the founding of Greece. [3] Hansen, in turn (above, n. 2), exploited the superior life tables of Coale and Demeny. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Cambridge Classical Studies: Population and Economy in Classical Athens by Ben Akrigg (2019, Hardcover) at the best online prices at eBay! It may be, then, that Athens was no less a “beneficiary” of two of Scheidel’s “four horsemen” of inequality reduction, war and disease. to 400 B.C, the population in ancient Greece rose. In 338 BC the armies of Philip II defeated Athens at the Battle of Chaeronea, effectively limiting Athenian independence. The book must serve as the prolegomenon to any future discussion of Athenian demography—but it aims at more. Athens (Attiki) was the largest Greek city-state, approaching a population of approximately 100,000 by 500-450 B.C. Download PDF. Antipater dissolved the Athenian government and established a plutocratic system in 322 BC (see Lamian War and Demetrius Phalereus). Chapter 5, “Population Changes,” observes that the citizen population, at least, of Attica appears to have doubled during the pentecontaetia and then contracted again due to the Peloponnesian War and the plague. Further, the conquests of his son, Alexander the Great, widened Greek horizons and made the traditional Greek city state obsolete. Between the Parthenon and Erechtheion was the colossal Statue of Athena Promachos, or the "Fighter in the Front," whose helmet and spear was the first object on the Acropolis visible from the sea. We ask that comments be substantive in content and civil in tone and those that do not adhere to these guidelines will not be published. However, that delaying action was not enough to discourage the Persian advance, which soon marched through Boeotia, setting up Thebes as their base of operations, and entered southern Greece. Athenian democracy was briefly overthrown by the coup of 411, brought about because of its poor handling of the war, but it was quickly restored. ), Debating the Athenian Cultural Revolution: Art, Literature, Philosophy, and Politics 430-380 BC (Cambridge 2007): 27-43; “Demography and Classical Athens,” in C. Holleran and A. Pudsey (eds. The question just posed roughly maps on to Akrigg’s stated concerns: 1) to show that the population was in fact in that range, as scholars have previously suggested but have left relatively unexplored; and 2) to “show why such an account is necessary…and to persuade the reader that this subject…is an important part of the history of the city” (1). Population and Economy in Classical Athens by Ben Akrigg, 9781107027091, available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide. In addition the Long Walls consisted of two parallel walls leading to Piraeus, 40 stadia long (4.5 miles, 7 km), running parallel to each other, with a narrow passage between them and, furthermore, a wall to Phalerum on the east, 35 stadia long (4 miles, 6.5 km). In conclusion he makes the salutary point that there can be no single explanation for the development of Athenian society but that demography ought to be one tool among many for understanding history. However, other Greek cities, including Athens, turned against Thebes, and its dominance was brought to an end at the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) with the death of its leader, the military genius Epaminondas. Thanks to the author’s efforts, the fact of Athens’ population explosion during the pentecontaetia is now quite secure. ), Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World (Oxford 2015): 155-76. Bryn Mawr PA 19010. This set a mo… [1] The introductory Chapter 1 emphasizes that sustained studies of the fourth-century population of Athens, above all that by M. H. Hansen,[2] had as their impetus the questions of whether and how the Athenian constitution made good on its stated goal of a highly participatory state. Akrigg rightly notes that there are research questions beyond that of the fourth-century democracy’s ability to live up to its values and that the population of the fifth century has been largely sidelined, despite its importance. Each tribe was in turn divided into three trittyes (one from the coast; one from the city and one from the inland divisions), while each trittys had one or more demes, depending on their population, which became the basis of local government. The Parthenon, a lavishly decorated temple to the goddess Athena, was constructed under the administration of Pericles.[9]. Akrigg’s statement that “the role of metic women in the Panathenaic procession can hardly have been seen as anything other than servile” (134) finds its mirror opposite in the recent study of S. Wijma, with which the author does not engage. [4] Embracing the Immigrant: The Participation of Metics in Athenian Polis Religion (5th-4th Century BC) (Stuttgart 2014). By 431 BC Athens probably had 40,000 residents, and its harbor town Piraeus another 25,000. [8] The Athenian Nation (Princeton 2000). He was an expert in South Italian vases, namely the red-figured pottery produced by Greeks and the local population living in South Italy and Sicily in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Han china and classical Athens population was distributed differently. In a much shorter concluding section on sex structures, the author suggests that the practice of infanticide was relatively rare in Classical Athens, given that war casualties were consistently replaced. A.D. (Dale) Trendall (1909-1995) was a leading authority on ancient Greek vase painting and one of the foremost classical art historians of his time. With the pioneering work of M. K. Hopkins on the age structure of the Roman population, however, ancient demography was put on better footing, since Hopkins recognized the importance of UN model life tables. [Oxford 1933] 34, cf. The city was burnt by Xerxes in 480 BC, but was soon rebuilt under the administration of Themistocles, and was adorned with public buildings by Cimon and especially by Pericles, in whose time (461–429 BC) it reached its greatest splendour. 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