Contained in:
Book Chapter

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,
+ Show More

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

  1. Aristotelis. 1968. Ἀθηναίων πολιτεία. Leipzig: Teubner.
  2. Bearzot, Cinzia. 1979. “Teramene tra storia e propaganda”. RIL 113: 195-219.
  3. Bearzot, Cinzia. 1991. “Per una nuova immagine di Teramene. P. Mich. inv. 5982 e il processo di Eratostene”. In: L'immagine dell'uomo politico: vita pubblica e morale nell'antichità (CISA 17), edited by Marta Sordi, 65-87. Milano: Vita e Pensiero.
  4. Bearzot, Cinzia. 1994. “Τἀπόρρητα ποιεῖσθαι. Ancora su Ermocrate e Teramene”. RIL 128: 271-281.
  5. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2001. "Il ‘papiro di Teramene’ e le Elleniche di Ossirinco. Sileno 27: 9-32.
  6. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2006. “Atene nel 411 e nel 404. Tecniche del colpo di stato”. In: Terror et pavor. Violenza, intimidazione, clandestinità nel mondo antico (Atti del Convegno, Cividale del Friuli 22-24 settembre 2005), edited by Gianpaolo Urso, 21-64. Pis
  7. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2012a. “Democrazia e oligarchia, memoria e oblio: a proposito di due libri recenti”. IncidAntico 10: 223-240.
  8. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2012b. “Eforo e Teramene”. MeditAnt 15: 293-308.
  9. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2013a. Come si abbatte una democrazia: Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica. Roma, Bari: Laterza.
  10. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2013b. “Soteria oligarchica e soteria democratica tra 411 e 404”. In: Xenia. Studi in onore di Lia Marino, edited by Nicola Cusumano and Daniela Motta, 113-122. Caltanissetta, Roma: Salvatore Sciascia.
  11. Bearzot, Cinzia. 2015. “Diodoro sul processo delle Arginuse”. In: Gli amici per Dino. Omaggio a Delfino Ambaglio, edited by Umberto Bultrighini and Elisabetta Dimauro, 173-195. Lanciano: Rocco Carabba.
  12. Bevilacqua, Fiorenza. 2018. “Socrates’ Attitude towards Politics in Xenophon and Plato”. In: Plato and Xenophon: Comparative Studies, edited by Gabriel Danzig, David Johnson, and Donald Morrison, 461-486. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
  13. Burckhardt, Leonhard. 2000. “Eine Demokratie wohl, aber kein Rechtsstaat? Der Arginusenprozeß des Jahres 406 v. Chr.”. In: Große Prozesse im antiken Athen, edited by Leonhard Burckhardt und Jürgen von Ungern-Sternberg, 128-143. München: Beck.
  14. Carawan, Edwin. 2007. “The Trial of the Arginusai Generals and the Dawn of ‘Judicial Review’.” Dike 10: 19-56.
  15. Cartledge, Paul. 1996. "Comparatively equal”. In: Demokratia: A Conversation on Democracies, Ancient and Modern, edited by Josiah Ober and Charles Hedrick, 175-186. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  16. Delebecque, Édouard. 1957. Essai sur la vie de Xénophon. Paris: Klincksieck.
  17. Dillery, John. 1995. Xenophon and the history of his times. London, New York: Routledge.
  18. Engels, Johannes. 1993. “Der Michigan-Papyrus über Theramenes und die Ausbildung des ‘Theramenes-Mythos'.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 99: 125-155.
  19. Flower, Michael. 2015. “Implied Characterization and the Meaning of History in Xenophon’s Hellenica”. In: Fame and Infamy: Essays for Christopher Pelling on Characterization in Greek and Roman Biography and Historiography, edited by Rhiannon Ash, Judith M
  20. Forsdyke, Sara. 2013. “The Impact of Democracy on Communal Life”. In: The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy: A Politico-Cultural Transformation and its Interpretations, edited by Johann Arnason, Kurt Raaflaub, and Peter Wagner, 227-259. Chicheste
  21. Frank, Jill and Sara Monoson. 2003. “Aristotle’s Theramenes at Athens: a Poetic History”. Parallax 9, 4: 29-40.
  22. Frank, Jill and Sara Monoson. 2009. “Lived Excellence in Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens: Why the Encomium of Theramenes Matters”. In: The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought, edited by Stephen Salkever, 243-270. Cambridge: Cambridge
  23. Gallego, Julian. 2012. “La liberación del dêmos, la memoria silenciada. Atenas, de la violencia oligárquica a la amnistía democrática”. AHAMyM 44: 11-31.
  24. Gallego, Julian. 2016. “De la democracia a la oligarquía y de la oligarquía a la democracia, una y otra vez: Atenas, 411-403 A. C.”. In: Regímenes políticos en el Mediterráneo antiguo, edited by Marcelo Campagno, Julian Gallego, and Carlos Gaw, 153-165.
  25. Gazzano, Francesca. 2020. “Lettere dal fronte: diplomazia e trame personali nei primi anni della guerra ionica (413–410 a.C.)”. Histos 14: 35-69.
  26. Gish, Dustin. 2012. “Defending dēmokratia: Athenian Justice and the Trial of the Arginusae Generals in Xenophon’s Hellenica”. In: Xenophon: Ethical Principles and Historical Enquiry, edited by Fiona Hobden and Christopher Tuplin, 161-212. Leiden, Boston:
  27. Gray, Vivienne. 1986. “Xenophon's Hiero and the Meeting of the Wise Man and Tyrant in Greek Literature”. CQ 36, 1: 115-123.
  28. Gray, Vivienne. 1989. The Character of Xenophon′s Hellenica. London: Duckworth.
  29. Gray, Vivienne. 2004. “Le Socrate de Xénophon et la démocratie”. Les études philosophiques 69: 141-176.
  30. Harding, Phillip. 1974. “The Theramenes Myth”. Phoenix 28, 1: 101-111.
  31. Hurni, Frédéric. 1991. “Comment les Cinq-Mille furent-ils sélectionnés en 411?”. Museum Helveticum 48: 220-227.
  32. Hurni, Frédéric. 2010. Théramène ne plaidera pas coupable. Un homme politique engagé dans les révolutions athéniennes de la fin du Ve siècle av. J.-C. (Schweizerische Beiträge zur Altertumswisseschaft – SBA 37). Basel: Schwabe.
  33. Kroeker, Ron. 2009. “Xenophon as a critic of Athenian democracy”. History of Political Thought 30, 2: 197-228.
  34. Leão, Delfim F. 2001. Sólon: Ética e política. Lisboa: Calouste Gulbenkian.
  35. Leão, Delfim F. 2010. “Tyche, Kairos et Chronos dans le Phocion de Plutarque”. In: Tychè et pronoia: La marche du monde selon Plutarque, edited by Françoise Frazier and Delfim F. Leão, 183-194. Coimbra, Paris: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
  36. Leão, Delfim F. 2018. “Demétrio de Fáleron e a reinvenção da polis democrática”. In: A poiesis da democracia, edited by Breno B. Sebastiani, Delfim F. Leão, Lucia Sano, Martinho T. M. Soares, and Christian Werner, 241-270. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidad
  37. Lee, John W. I. 2017. “Xenophon and his times”. In: Cambridge Companion to Xenophon, edited by Michael Flower, 15-36. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
  38. Lisia. (1991). 1997. Orazioni (I-XV): Introduzione, traduzione e note di E. Medda. Milano: BUR.
  39. Murphy, Thomas. 1989. “The Vilification of Eratosthenes and Theramenes in Lysias 12”. AJP 110: 40-49.
  40. Németh, György. 2006. Kritias und die Dreissig Tyrannen: Untersuchungen zur Politik und Prosopographie der Führungselite in Athen 404/403 v. Chr. Stuttgart: Steiner.
  41. Ober, Josiah. 1989. Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  42. Ober, Josiah. 2015. The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  43. Osborne, Robin. 2010. Athens and Athenian democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  44. Oudot, Estelle. 2003. “Athènes divisée et réconciliée: le point de vue des orateurs de la seconde sophistique sur les événements de 404-403”. In: Fondements et Crises du Pouvoir, textes réunis par Valérie Fromentin, Jean-Michel Roddaz, Sophie Gotteland et
  45. Paiaro, Diego. 2018. “La democracia ateniense entre la estabilidad y la anarquía”. Sociedades Precapitalistas 8, 1: 1-17.
  46. Patriquin, Larry. 2015. Economic Equality and Direct Democracy in Ancient Athens. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  47. Plácido, Domingo. 2008. “Las relaciones clientelares en la evolución de la democracia ateniense”. Circe 12: 225-242.
  48. Pritchard, David M. 2015. Public Spending and Democracy in Classical Athens. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  49. Pritchard, David M. 2016. “Public Spending in Democratic Athens”. Ancient History 46: 30-50.
  50. Pritchard, David M. 2019. Athenian Democracy at War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  51. Raaflaub, Kurt. 1996. “Equalities and Inequalities in Athenian Democracy”. In: Demokratia: A Conversation on Democracies, Ancient and Modern, edited by Josiah Ober and Charles Hedrick, 139-174. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  52. Raaflaub, Kurt. 2006. “Thucydides on Democracy and Oligarchy”. In: Brill’s Companion to Thucydides, edited by Antonios Rengakos and Antonis Tsakmakis, 189-222. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
  53. Rhodes, Peter J. 2005. A History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 BC. Malden, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
  54. Sancho Rocher, Laura. 2004. “Los 'moderados' atenienses y la implantación de la oligarquía. Corrientes políticas en Atenas entre 411 y 403 a.C.” Veleia 21: 73-98.
  55. Sancho Rocher, Laura. 2016a. “Terámenes: ¿traidor, 'coturno' o moderado?” In: Autorretratos: La creación de la imagen personal en la antigüedad, edited by Francisco M. Simón, Francisco P. Polo, and José R. Rodríguez, 13-40. Barcelona: Universitat de Barce
  56. Sancho Rocher, Laura. 2016b. “Sociología de la stásis, I. El dêmos y los oligarcas en 411 a.C.” Athenaeum 104, 1: 5-30.
  57. Sancho Rocher, Laura. 2016c. “Sociología de la stásis, II. El soporte social de los Treinta y el del dêmos en 404/3”. Athenaeum 104, 2: 373-396.
  58. Sano, Lucia. 2018. “O povo arrependido: Xenofonte e o julgamento dos generais da Batalha de Arginusas”. In: A poiesis da democracia, edited by Breno B. Sebastiani, Delfim F. Leão, Lucia Sano, Martinho T. M. Soares, and Christian Werner, 127-152. Coimbra:
  59. Sano, Lucia. 2021. “Terâmenes nas Helênicas de Xenofonte”. Ágora – Estudos Clássicos em Debate 23: 63-84.
  60. Sebastiani, Breno B. 2018a. “The Coups of 411 and 404 in Athens: Thucydides and Xenophon on Conservative Turns”. GRBS 58, 4: 490-515.
  61. Sebastiani, Breno B. 2018b. “Atenas, 411: do golpe oligárquico à poiesis da democracia”. In: A poiesis da democracia, edited by Breno B. Sebastiani, Delfim F. Leão, Lucia Sano, Martinho T. M. Soares, and Christian Werner, 68-94. Coimbra: Imprensa da Unive
  62. Sebastiani, Breno B., Leão, Delfim F., Sano, Lucia, Soares, Martinho T. M, and Werner, Christian, ed. 2018. A poiesis da democracia. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
  63. Sebastiani, Breno B. and Leão, Delfim F. 2020. “Crises e mudanças na democracia ateniense: a atuação de Terâmenes entre oportunismo, legalismo e a ‘terceira via’”. Boletim de Estudos Clássicos 65: 35-55.
  64. Shear, Julia L. 2011. Polis and Revolution: Responding to Oligarchy in Classical Athens. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  65. Somville, Pierre. 2004. “Xénophon narrateur: autour de Théramène”. L'Antiquité Classique 73: 25-30.
  66. Sordi, Marta. 1981. “Teramene e il processo delle Arginuse”. Aevum 55: 3-12.
  67. Thucydidis. 1967-70. Historiae. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  68. Teergarden, David A. 2014. Death to Tyrants! Ancient Greek Democracy and the Struggle against Tyranny. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  69. Tritle, Lawrence A. 2013. “Democracy and war”. In: The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy: A Politico-Cultural Transformation and its Interpretations, edited by Johann Arnason, Kurt Raaflaub, and Peter Wagner, 298-320. Chichester: John Wiley & Son
  70. Tuci, Paolo A. 2013. La fragilità della democrazia: Manipolazione istituzionale ed eversione nel colpo di stato oligarchico del 411 a.C. ad Atene. Milano: LED.
  71. Wolpert, Andrew. 2002. Remembering Defeat: Civil War and Civic Memory in Ancient Athens. Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  72. Wood, Ellen M. 2012. The Ellen Meiksins Wood Reader edited by Larry Patriquin. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
  73. Xenophontis. 1968. Opera omnia I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  74. Zumbrunenn, John. 2017. “Thucydides and Crowds”. In: The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides, edited by Sara Forsdyke, Edith Foster, and Ryan Balot, 475-489. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Pages: 73-92
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2022 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2022 Author(s)

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

eISBN (pdf)

978-88-5518-612-4

eISBN (epub)

978-88-5518-613-1

eISBN (xml)

978-88-5518-614-8

Series Title

Studi e saggi

Series ISSN

2704-6478

Series E-ISSN

2704-5919

321

Fulltext
downloads

225

Views

Export Citation

1,347

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,262

Book Chapters

3,790,127

Fulltext
downloads

4,421

Authors

from 923 Research Institutions

of 65 Nations

65

scientific boards

from 348 Research Institutions

of 43 Nations

1,248

Referees

from 380 Research Institutions

of 38 Nations