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Democracy under the kothornos: Thucydides and Xenophon on Theramenes

  • Lucia Sano
  • Breno Battistin Sebastiani

We analyze the political actions of Theramenes as described by Thucydides (during the coup of 411 BCE) and Xenophon (under the Thirty, 404-403 BCE) to map the features that converged to make him a paradigmatic character in the ancient Greek political imaginary. Xenophon, at least, may have been an eyewitness to the facts reported and both historians have conditioned Theramenes’ portrayal by later authors. We highlight the traits of Theramenes that fostered his identification as either the quintessence of the turncoat or as a role-model for moderate politics. Our goal is also to discuss the implications of his political stances for the configuration of Athenian democracy in the last quarter of the 5th century and how this may still help us consider our own democratic system and its flaws.

  • Keywords:
  • Thucydides,
  • Xenophon,
  • Theramenes,
  • Athens,
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Lucia Sano

University of Sao Paulo, Brazil - ORCID: 0000-0003-3928-4277

Breno Battistin Sebastiani

University of Sao Paulo, Brazil - ORCID: 0000-0002-3777-6086

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  • Publication Year: 2022
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  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
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Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Democracy under the kothornos: Thucydides and Xenophon on Theramenes

Authors

Lucia Sano, Breno Battistin Sebastiani

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-612-4.06

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2022

Copyright Information

© 2022 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Crises (Staseis) and Changes (Metabolai)

Book Subtitle

Athenian Democracy in the Making

Editors

Breno Battistin Sebastiani, Delfim Ferreira Leão

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

140

Publication Year

2022

Copyright Information

© 2022 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/978-88-5518-612-4

ISBN Print

978-88-5518-611-7

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978-88-5518-612-4

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978-88-5518-613-1

eISBN (xml)

978-88-5518-614-8

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Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

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