Kosmos: Essays in Order, Conflict and Community in Classical Athens

by Paul Cartledge (editor), Paul Millett (Editor), Sitta von Reden (Editor)

This book examines how the various groups of people of which the polis of Classical Athens was composed got on together--or failed to do so. The authors collectively bring out what was distinctive about life in an ancient Greek city that was unusual both in its size and social complexity and in the extent of the democracy it practiced. The emphasis is broadly on the great success of the Athenians' communal experiment but tensions and fissures arising from religious, sexual, economic and political differences are not elided or glossed over.

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 1998

About the author

Paul Anthony Cartledge is the 1st A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge. He was educated at St Paul's School & New College, Oxford where he took his 1st degree & completed his doctoral thesis in Spartan archaeology in 1975 under Prof. Sir John Boardman. After a period at the University of Warwick he moved in 10/79 to Cambridge University where he's a fellow of Clare College.
He's a world expert on Athens & Sparta in the Classical Age & has been described as a Laconophile. He was chief historical consultant for the BBC TV series The Greeks & the Channel 4 series The Spartans, presented by Bettany Hughes. He's also a holder of the Gold Cross of the Order of Honour & an Honorary Citizen of modern Sparta. Besides the Leventis Professorship, he holds a visiting Global Distinguished Professorship at New York University, funded by the Greek Parliament.