Publisher's Synopsis
This book presents the historical period 507-450 BC, which corresponds to the growth phase of democratic Athens, in a compact but detailed and integrated fashion. Its aim is to reveal the forces which led to the transformation of Athens from a city-state to an empire in just fifty-seven years while its constitution evolved towards pure, direct Democracy, where all decisions were taken in the Assembly by all citizens. The studied period includes an interval (almost thirty years) of what is known as Pentecontaetia (479-433 BC), which is a poorly documented and obscure period of the Athenian history of the 5th century BC. The integrated approach of the present book, which links the events of 479-450 BC to the political situation in Athens during the previous twenty years (499-480 BC), views this period from a new perspective. With this book the author introduces several innovations. The most important ones are summarized as follows: 1) The presence of two parties or factions representing the Athenian populace is recognized. These two parties had conflicting interests and competed for power. 2) The 2nd Persian War is analyzed on the basis of the Decree of Troezen rather than on the basis of Herodotus' Histories. This book shows that most discrepancies between these two sources can be resolved. 3) The Areopagus Council which held power during the decade following the battle of Salamis is shown to have been a government of national unity, rather than a conservative institution.
