Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
How susceptible was Athens to one-man rule? - Coggle Diagram
How susceptible was Athens to one-man rule?
Thesis
Athenian democracy was structurally designed to prevent one-man rule through mechanisms like allotment and short tenures, yet it remained susceptible to the dominance of charismatic leaders and systemic subversion during times of crisis
The "leading citizen" and Rhetorical Dominance
Despite its democratic framework, Athens frequently fell under the long-term influence of individual leaders who used rhetoric to guide the Assembly
Thucydides 2.65
famously asserts that under Pericles, Athens was "nominally a democracy, but in fact ruled by the leading citizen"
Eupolis, Demes
in this play, Pericles is describes as the "best speaker in the world" who cast a "spell" on the citizens, and was the only one to leave a mark on his audience
significance
the democracy could become a de facto one-man rule if an individual possessed enough prestige and rhetorical skill to consistently persuade the masses
Pericles facts
he held the annual office of general for fifteen consecutive years
Thucydides 2
when the Spartans are in Acharnae, ravaging the lands, some of them wished to march out and meet the enemy
Pericles did not call an Assembly or any other meeting, for fear that they would act out of anger rather than sense
he therefore effectively suspends the city's primary deliberative body for his own wishes
allowed to go against his own citizenship law by making his son of a non-athenian Aspasia a citizen - the people let him do this
The Demos as a 'composite monarch'
the theoretical structure of the democracy allowed for the demos itself to act as a monarch, which was susceptible to the manipulation of demagogues
Aristotle, Politics
argues that when the decrees of the Assembly are sovereign rather than the law, the "common people become a single composite monarch", and demagogues arise to flatter them
Aristophanes, Knights (424)
parodies this dynamic by depicting the character Demos as a master who is easily deceived and bamboozled by his slave Paphlagon (Kleon)
that the Paphlagonian is supplanted by the even more vulgar sausage-seller demonstrates the ongoing corruptibility of the demos
significance
the susceptibility of the Assembly to flattery and deception meant that political control often shifted into the hands of whoever could most effectively sweeten the people with popular proposals or state pay
Institutional Sabotage and the 411 Coup
Athens proved particularly vulnerable to one-man rule when traditional institutions were subverted by hetaireiai
Thucydides 8
these hetaireiai used targeted assassinations and fear to cow the democratic majority into silence during the Oligarchic coup of 411
Thucydides 8
during the coup, the conspirators forced the Assembly to meet at Kolonos, an irregular location where they suspended the right to prosecute for unconstitutionality (graphe paranomon)
significance
the sudden dissolution of free speech (isegoria) and legal protections shows that the democracy could be easily shattered by organised factions willing to use force
charisma and the suspicion of tyranny (Alcibiades)
the career of Alcibiades serves as the primary case study for the city's fear of, and fascination with, a potential tyrant
Thucydides 6
notes that Alcibiades' "lawless lifestyle" and "magnitude of his license" led the masses to believe he was "aiming at a tyranny"
Aristophanes, Frogs
the city is described as "agonising" over him, with the advice that one should not "raise a lion in the city", but if one has, one must "humour its ways"
Xenophon, Hellenika
Alcibiades was proclaimed "supreme commander with full powers" in 407 BC, showing that the people were willing to entrust their safety to a single individual during military desperation
Alcibiades facts
he demonstrated his disregard for the law by physically beating a rival choregus, Taureas, in the theatre during a competition
despite this, the judges - either out of fear or a desire to curry favour - granted Alcibiades the victory
this meant the judges were 'rating him of more importance than their oath''
when his wife, Hipparete, tried to divorce him, Alcibiades seized her and dragged her through the agora, with no one daring to stop him (Plutarch, Alcibiades)
Fourth-Century Safeguards
Following the trauma of the 411 and 404 coups, the Athenians introduced explicit legal measures to prevent the return of one-man rule
RO 79
Law of Eukrates
passed in 337/6 BC, stipulated that if anyone overthrew the democracy or set up a tyranny, whoever killed them would be "pure and free from guilt"
the law also barred members of the Areopagus from meeting if the democracy was overthrown, reflecting a suspicion that this elite body was a potential source of counter-revolutionary leadership
Ath Pol
the names of ephebes were written on a bronze stele in front of the Council chamber, a 4th century reform intended to ensure a patriotic and disciplined citizen body to defend the constitution
Significance
the persistent creation of such laws in this later period indicates an ongoing anxiety about the fragility of democratic rule