Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People

by Josiah Ober

This book asks an important question often ignored by ancient historians and political scientists Why did Athenian democracy work as well and for as long as it did? Josiah Ober seeks the answer by analyzing the sociology of Athenian politics and the nature of communication between elite and nonelite citizens. After a preliminary survey of the development of the Athenian "constitution," he focuses on the role of political and legal rhetoric. As jurymen and Assemblymen, the citizen masses of Athens retained important powers, and elite Athenian politicians and litigants needed to address these large bodies of ordinary citizens in terms understandable and acceptable to the audience. This book probes the social strategies behind the rhetorical tactics employed by elite speakers.


A close reading of the speeches exposes both egalitarian and elitist elements in Athenian popular ideology. Ober demonstrates that the vocabulary of public speech constituted a democratic discourse that allowed the Athenians to resolve contradictions between the ideal of political equality and the reality of social inequality. His radical reevaluation of leadership and political power in classical Athens restores key elements of the social and ideological context of the first western democracy.

Genres: History, Politics, Classics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Greece, Political Science

408 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

About the author

Josiah Ober is Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Professor in honor of Constantine Mitsotakis, and Professor of Classics and Political Science, at Stanford University.

Reviews

[AC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tiddlywinks. Basically... just playing with the tokens or counters (rearranging bits of text) unearthed by other (and real) scholars from 100 years ago
... imposing modern day political categories on ancient and archaic societies (where none of those categories fit or are in the least relevant, a procedure which is then justified by 20 pages of talking about Althusser... (who is equally irrelevant to a study of ancient Athens).

A good example of what passes for the Humanities in this day and age.

But hey..., I'm on Goodreads and he's at Princeton.... so take this magno cum grano salis...

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very impressed with Ober’s mastery of the source materials and approach to ancient democracy. He shows how it worked and why it proved so efficient.

[Israel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent introduction to Athenian political forms and realities. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the ancient world, but also to anyone interested in understanding the history of Democracy, its flaws, and its strengths.

[Will S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will not pretend to be an expert in classical history, oratory, etc. as I do not read ancient Greek. I will say two things in defense of this book.

1) The arguments in this book are wildly interesting and provocative. Ober claims to have shown that the Athenian democracy genuinely defied Michels' famous iron law of oligarchy and explain the underlying ideological and institutional mechanisms for how.

2) This is not just some random, fringe theory of Athenian history and democracy. Ober is one of the two most important, widely cited Athenian historians of the last 40 years (along with Mogens Hansen). This is the most widely cited text on Athenian history I have been able to find on Athens according to google scholar. When I consulted a professional historian of Athens, herself influential and respected in the field, for advice on sharpening my use of sources on Athenian history, one of her main recommendations was to use this book more.

These two considerations lead me to trust this book's main argument captured something importantly correct even if every detail did not ultimately withstand scrutiny (but no book of this ambition does) and given that, this is a highly worthwhile read for someone looking to understand how Athenian democracy worked.

[蓝 幻 · Rating 4 out of 5]

城邦雅典的民主制，依托着「由大地而生」的神话基础。大地即（某种意义上）永存的雅典城邦，雅典人紧紧依托着这一存在，以排除一半内部居民（女性）和阻断所有外部（外邦人）为代价，实现了一个高度限制下均一的共同体（雅典男子自由民）内部的平等。而在这个共同体内部，等级被尽量削弱，而个体也同时被尽可能的削弱，每个人的生存意义都仅为城邦而存在。每个制度均有其存在的历史环境，不想轻率的进行批评，只是从审美上，我确实不喜欢这样的社会，更偏好希腊化君主国，那种公开承认社会阶层、但无论对内对外都有更大流动性和多样性的世界

[Austyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Josiah Ober tries so hard to pretend hoplite social structure, or warfare at all, affected Athenian Democracy. And he is very, very wrong to do so. He is a weak writer, and at times I almost fell asleep trying to finish it. I would NOT recommend to anyone who doesn't know enough about ancient Greece to recognize Ober's oversights.

[AskHistorians]

Examines the political dynamics between different classes in democratic Athens, with an emphasis on the role of persuasive speaking in the assembly and the court system.