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Athenian Democracy
Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Ancient Greece, Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Classical Athens, Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, and focusing on supporting liberty, equality, and security. Although Athens is the most familiar of the democratic city-states in ancient Greece, it was not the only one, nor was it the first; multiple other city-states adopted similar democratic constitutions before Athens. By the late 4th century BC, as many as half of the over one thousand existing Greek cities might have been democracies. Athens practiced a political system of legislation and executive bills. Participation was open to adult, free male citizens (i.e., not a metic, woman or slave). Adult male citizens probably constituted no more than 30 percent of the total adult population. Solon (in 594 BC), Cleisthenes (in 508–07 BC), and Ephialtes (in 462 BC) contributed to the development of Athenian democrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peloponnesian War
The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancient Greece, Greek world. The war remained undecided until the later intervention of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire in support of Sparta. Led by Lysander, the Spartan fleet (built with Persian subsidies) finally defeated Athens which began a period of Spartan hegemony over Greece. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. The first phase (431–421 BC) was named the Ten Years War, or the Archidamian War, after the Spartan king Archidamus II, who invaded Attica several times with the full hoplite army of the Peloponnesian League, the alliance network dominated by Sparta (then known as Lacedaemon). The Long Walls of Athens rendered this strategy ineffective, while the superior navy of the Delian League (Athens' all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temnos
Temnos or Temnus (; ) was a small Greek ''polis'' (city-state) of ancient Aeolis, later incorporated in the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of Anatolia. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Ephesus, the capital and metropolitan see of the province, and is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. The little town was near the Hermus River, which is shown on its coins. Situated at elevation it commanded a view of the territories of Cyme, Phocaea, and Smyrna. Under Augustus it was already on the decline; under Tiberius it was destroyed by an earthquake; and in the time of Pliny it was no longer inhabited. It was, however, rebuilt later. One of the city's more noteworthy figures was the rhetorician Hermagoras. During the Byzantine period, most probably, it renamed to Archangelus. In 1413 the Turks seized the fortress of Archangelus, which they called Kaiadjik, i.e., small rock; this fortress was situated on the plains of Maenomenus, now known as Menemen. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeolis
Aeolis (; ), or Aeolia (; ), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of Mysia, and is bounded by it to the north, Ionia to the south, and Lydia to the east. Geography Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of Asia Minor. It extended along the Aegean Sea from the entrance of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles) south to the Hermus River (now the Gediz River). It was named for the Aeolians, some of whom migrated there from Greece before 1000 BC. Aeolis was, however, an ethnological and linguistic enclave rather than a geographical unit. The district often was considered part of the larger northwest region of Mysia. History According to Homer's ''Odyssey'', Odysseus, after his stay with the Cyclopes, reached the floating island of Aeolia, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isonomia
''Isonomia'' (ἰσονομία "equality of political rights,"Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English LexiconThe Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes", Mogens Herman Hansen, , p. 81-84 from the Greek ἴσος ''isos'', "equal," and νόμος ''nomos'', "usage, custom, law,") was a word used by ancient Greek writers such as HerodotusHerodotus 3.80 and Thucydides to refer to some kind of popular government. It was subsequently eclipsed until brought back into English as isonomy ( "equality of law"). Economist Friedrich Hayek attempted to popularize the term in his book '' The Constitution of Liberty'' and argued that a better understanding of isonomy, as used by the Greeks, defines the term to mean "the equal application of the laws to all." Ancient usage Mogens Herman Hansen has argued that, although often translated as "equality of law," ''isonomia'' was in fact something else. Along with ''isonomia'', the Athenians used several terms for equality al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Histories (Herodotus)
The ''Histories'' (, ''Historíai''; also known as ''The History'') of Herodotus is considered the founding work of history in Western literature. Although not a fully impartial record, it remains one of the West's most important sources regarding these affairs. Moreover, it established the genre and study of history in the Western world (despite the existence of historical records and chronicles beforehand). ''The'' ''Histories'' also stands as one of the earliest accounts of the rise of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Empire, as well as the events and causes of the Greco-Persian Wars between the Persian Empire and the Polis, Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. Herodotus portrays the conflict as one between the forces of slavery (the Persians) on the one hand, and freedom (the Athenians and the confederacy of Greek city-states which united against the invaders) on the other. ''The Histories'' was at some point divided into the nine scroll, books that appear in modern editions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histories'', a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars, among other subjects such as the rise of the Achaemenid dynasty of Cyrus. He has been described as " The Father of History", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero, and the " Father of Lies" by others. The ''Histories'' primarily cover the lives of prominent kings and famous battles such as Marathon, Thermopylae, Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. His work deviates from the main topics to provide a cultural, ethnographical, geographical, and historiographical background that forms an essential part of the narrative and provides readers with a wellspring of additional information. Herodotus was criticized in his times for his inclusion of "legends an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Suppliants (Aeschylus)
''The Suppliants'' (, ''Hiketides''; Latin: ''Supplices''), also called ''The Suppliant Maidens'', ''The Suppliant Women'', or ''Supplices'' is a play by Aeschylus. It was probably first performed "only a few years previous to the '' Oresteia'', which was brought out 458 BC." It seems to be the first play in a tetralogy, sometimes referred to as the ''Danaid Tetralogy'', which probably included the lost plays ''The Egyptians'' (also called ''Aigyptioi''), and ''The Daughters of Danaus'' (also called ''The Danaïdes'' or ''The Danaids''), and the satyr play ''Amymone''. The 1952 publication of Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2256 fr. 3 confirmed the existence of a trilogy, probably produced in 463. See Garvie 163-97, Friis Johansen/Whittle 1.23-25 and Sommerstein 141-52 for discussions of the trilogy's date, constituent plays and a hypothetical reconstruction of the plot. It was long thought to be the earliest surviving play by Aeschylus due to the relatively anachronistic function of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demarchy
In governance, sortition is the selection of public officer, officials or jurors at random, i.e. by Lottery (probability), lottery, in order to obtain a representative sample. In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy. Sortition is often classified as a method for both direct democracy and deliberative democracy. Today sortition is commonly used to select prospective jurors in common law (legal system), common-law systems. What has changed in recent years is the increased number of citizens' assembly, citizen groups with political advisory power, along with calls for making sortition more consequential than elections, as it was in Athenian democracy, Athens, Republic of Venice, Venice, and Republic of Florence, Florence. History Ancient Athens Athenian democracy developed in the 6th century BC out of what was then called isonomia (equal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, magistrate is a word applied to a person responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions (e.g., England and Wales), magistrates are typically trained volunteers appointed to deal with criminal and civil matters in their local areas. Original meaning In ancient Rome, the word '' magistratus'' referred to one of the highest offices of state. Analogous offices in the local authorities, such as '' municipium'', were subordinate only to the legislature of which they generally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Municipal
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the governing body of a given municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The English word is derived from French , which in turn derives from the Latin , based on the word for social contract (), referring originally to the Latin communities that supplied Rome with troops in exchange for their own incorporation into the Roman state (granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants) while permitting the communities to retain their own local governments (a limited autonomy). A municipality can be any political jurisdiction, from a sovereign state such as the Principality of Monaco, to a small village such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The territory over which a munici ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayoralty
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as the means by which a mayor is elected or otherwise mandated. Depending on the system chosen, a mayor may be the chief executive officer of the municipal government, may simply chair a multi-member governing body with little or no independent power, or may play a solely ceremonial role. A mayor's duties and responsibilities may be to appoint and oversee municipal managers and employees, provide basic governmental services to constituents, and execute the laws and ordinances passed by a municipal governing body (or mandated by a state, territorial or national governing body). Options for selection of a mayor include direct election by the public, or selection by an elected governing council or board. The term ''mayor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
