Athens 403. A Choral History.
Flammarion| N° d'inventaire | 23115 |
| Format | 15 x 24 |
| Détails | 464 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2020 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782081334724 |
At the end of the 5th century BC, the Peloponnesian War resulted in the defeat of Athens. Taking advantage of the debacle, a commission of thirty Athenians abolished the democratic institutions that had governed the city's political life for a century: this was the beginning of a bloody civil war that lasted a little over a year. For the democrats did not remain passive in the face of the oligarchs: from the end of 404, Thrasybulus gathered an army of volunteers and, after several resounding victories and difficult negotiations, reconciliation was concluded in the early autumn of 403, and democracy restored. Based on the fate of ten singular characters, this book approaches the event from a new angle. Inspired by the model of the ancient chorus, it aims to offer a renewed description of Athenian society, running counter to the rigid classifications separating citizens, metics, and slaves. Through its brutality, the civil war gave rise to multiple and shifting collectives, organized around key figures such as the unclassifiable Socrates, the oligarch Critias, the rhetorician Lysias, but also the scribe Nicomachos, the former slave Gerys, and the priestess Lysimache. By examining these choirs, the investigation reveals the hierarchies and tensions that run through them, but above all the practices and emotions that unite them. A new map of the Athenian community thus emerges, one marked by plurality and contingency. This choral history ultimately questions the way of "making society": by what processes does a community come to tear itself apart, even disintegrate, and then rebuild itself? An essential reflection, which echoes our tormented present.
At the end of the 5th century BC, the Peloponnesian War resulted in the defeat of Athens. Taking advantage of the debacle, a commission of thirty Athenians abolished the democratic institutions that had governed the city's political life for a century: this was the beginning of a bloody civil war that lasted a little over a year. For the democrats did not remain passive in the face of the oligarchs: from the end of 404, Thrasybulus gathered an army of volunteers and, after several resounding victories and difficult negotiations, reconciliation was concluded in the early autumn of 403, and democracy restored. Based on the fate of ten singular characters, this book approaches the event from a new angle. Inspired by the model of the ancient chorus, it aims to offer a renewed description of Athenian society, running counter to the rigid classifications separating citizens, metics, and slaves. Through its brutality, the civil war gave rise to multiple and shifting collectives, organized around key figures such as the unclassifiable Socrates, the oligarch Critias, the rhetorician Lysias, but also the scribe Nicomachos, the former slave Gerys, and the priestess Lysimache. By examining these choirs, the investigation reveals the hierarchies and tensions that run through them, but above all the practices and emotions that unite them. A new map of the Athenian community thus emerges, one marked by plurality and contingency. This choral history ultimately questions the way of "making society": by what processes does a community come to tear itself apart, even disintegrate, and then rebuild itself? An essential reflection, which echoes our tormented present.