The Discourse of Kingship in Classical Greece

Atack, Carol

doi:10.4324/9780429262036

Cited by 5 publications

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“…The position of ruler always entails priestly functions; status is dramatized and thus confirmed by ritual’ (Burkert, 1985: 257). More generally, anthropologists have suggested that the origin of kingship is found in the performance of rituals, with those chosen as kings performing special functions for the society (Atack, 2020 and the literature therein). It suits a rational, self-interested, ruler to claim endorsement by gods.…”

Section: Religion Priests and Rulersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

Tridimas

2021

Journal of Institutional Economics

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The paper examines doctrinal and political reasons to explain why the Ancient Greek religion did not feature a distinct class of professional priests as suppliers of religious goods. Doctrinal reasons relate to worshiping a multitude of powerful anthropomorphic gods with flawed characters; absence of a founder of religion and of a scripture; lack of religious doctrine and of a code of moral behaviour and piety manifested as mass participation in rituals. These factors denied religious suppliers the opportunity to form a monopoly acting as an autonomous intermediary between humans and gods. Political reasons relate to the supremacy of the demos which watchfully guarded its decision-making powers and prevented other actors like a priestly interest group to challenge its authority.

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Section: Religion Priests and Rulersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ancient Greek thinkers like Plato, Xenophon and Isocrates sympathetic to kingship spoke of a virtuous rather than a divine king. They sought to identify a 'kingly craft' which would bestow on its possessor the authority to rule and lead in peace and war and deliver the good life for their citizens (Atack, 2020).…”

Section: The Political Supremacy Of the Demosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

Tridimas

2021

Journal of Institutional Economics

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“… 9 See now Atack (2019), who provides a detailed overview of how ‘kingship’ evolved as a democratic ideology in the fourth century at Athens. Atack recognises a distinction between τυραννίς and βασιλɛία as residing in more than mere contextual usage, and that the idea of a king, as distinct from a tyrant, operating within the constraint of the law goes back at least to the time of Herodotus in the fifth century.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What is perhaps meant in context is that βασιλεύς and τύραννος could overlap, as is clear in the case of Alexander I of Macedon, described by Herodotus (9.44.1) as στρατηγός τε ἐὼν καὶ βασιλεὺς Μακεδόνων, but elsewhere the system of rulership in Macedonia is described as a tyranny (8.137.1). 13 Even if there 9 See now Atack (2019), who provides a detailed overview of how 'kingship' evolved as a democratic ideology in the fourth century at Athens. Atack recognises a distinction between τυραννίς and βασιλεία as residing in more than mere contextual usage, and that the idea of a king, as distinct from a tyrant, operating within the constraint of the law goes back at least to the time of Herodotus in the fifth century.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Positive Doctrine of Tyranny? The Rule of Law Vs. The Rule of a Tyrant in Archaic and Classical Greece

Joyce

2022

Antichthon

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The origins and definition of tyranny in ancient Greece have been debated in scholarship for well over three quarters of a century. Recently, it has been argued that tyranny as a political idea was not anathematised until late and that in the fifth century BCE and before, tyranny comported no negative judgment. While correct to point out that the distinction between ‘king’ and ‘tyrant’ in literature predating Aristotle was not clearly delineated, scholars have often failed to ask the more fundamental question of why that distinction was essential for Aristotle. This essay argues that Aristotle drew upon a much older intellectual tradition which saw tyranny as hateful and contrary to the rule of law. Though tyrants in many cases ruled lawfully, a distinction must be drawn between ‘lawful’ rule, which some but not all tyrants practised, and the rule of law, which anathematised tyranny.

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The ‘government of men’: Moving beyond Foucault’s binaries

Meloni,

Bashirov

2023

Economy and Society

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Recent controversies surrounding Michel Foucault suggest tensions and unresolved issues in his unfinished work. Here we interrogate Foucault's legacy in relation to his claim that the welfare-state is a secularization of the Christian pastorate. We challenge Foucault's binary narrative of the Christian flock vs. the Graeco-Roman citizen and expand the focus to other "technologies of power" in Medieval Islam. Rather than an outburst of governmentality in modernity, we suggest a longue-durée history of which the Christian pastorate was merely one facet. This non-binary framework indicates that Foucault's claim of a "demonic" fusion of sovereign and pastoral power in modern politics requires significant revisitation. Finally, we claim that Foucault's muchdiscussed fascination with neoliberalism may have roots in this one-sided narrative regarding the birth of the welfare-state.

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The Discourse of Kingship in Classical Greece

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

A Positive Doctrine of Tyranny? The Rule of Law Vs. The Rule of a Tyrant in Archaic and Classical Greece

The ‘government of men’: Moving beyond Foucault’s binaries

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