Alcibiades was one of the most dynamic and engaging figures of the Peloponnesian War. Like a chameleon, he managed to change himself to fit almost any occasion and audience; few historical figures can claim to have successfully switched allegiances as many times during a conflict. Starting as a general in Athens, he moved on to side with the Spartans, then the Persians, and then returned to Athens. Some would consider him a young and impulsive egoist, but a closer investigation indicates that he more than likely had a larger, pragmatic goal motivating his actions. This essay will aim first to establish his break from the philosophical status quo of Athens, and then to determine the nature of these larger goals. It will pivot around Alcibiades’ address to the Athenian assembly, using it in a comparative analysis of both Pericles’ Funeral Oration, and briefly supplementing it with Plato’s Alcibiades I.

This study will explore the similarities and differences between Alcibiades and Nicias’ speeches to the Athenian Assembly in 415 BC and Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Donald J. Trump’s first presidential debate in 2016. The ancient speeches were regarding the Sicilian Expedition, while the modern speeches focused on each candidates’ foreign policy plan regarding Syria and the Islamic State (IS). Despite the near 2,500-year difference between these two democracies, there are striking similarities between the ways their governments are structured as well as the values they uphold. I explore the significance of the fact that the Athenians and the modern-day Americans have two ostensibly functioning democracies yet the candidates whom they elected and the subsequent results were disadvantageous for the long-term sustainability of their countries. I will look at the differences between the expectations of the democratic institutions and what the outcomes of the debates were. Additionally, I compare the differences between the Athenian democracy and the American democracy.

Cette étude a pour but d’analyser l’attitude de Xénophon vis-à-vis d’Athènes et de la démocratie. En retraçant les événements de l’histoire athénienne comme ils sont relatés dans les Helléniques et comme l’auteur les a vécus, le travail vise à démontrer : - que Xénophon ne condamne pas la démocratie comme une forme politique injuste, bien qu’il n’approuve pas ses choix politiques au cours du Ve siècle ; - que, grâce à la leçon tirée de l’expérience de l’échec subi au Ve siècle, Athènes est la seule cité capable, aux yeux de l’auteur, de résoudre le conflit entre Grecs et d’apporter la paix en Grèce au IVe siècle ; - que Xénophon essaie d’améliorer la démocratie sans apporter de réformes structurelles, mais à travers une réforme des mentalités politiques selon le modèle socratique. / The following study aims to analyse Xenophon’s attitude to Athens and democracy. By recounting the events of Athenian history as they are related in Hellenica and as the author experienced them, the work aims to demonstrate: - that Xenophon does not condemn democracy as an unfair form of politics, even though he does not agree with the political decisions made by Athens during the 5th century B.C. - that, due to the lessons it learnt from its defeat in the 5th century B.C., Athens is the only city capable, in the eyes of the author, of resolving the conflict between Greeks and bringing peace to Greece in the 4th century B.C. - that Xenophon would like to improve democracy, not through structural reforms but through a reform of political thinking based on the Socratic model.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo a análise do processo histórico que leva ao desenvolvimento de uma consciência democrática em Atenas no final do século V a.C. Para isto observa alguns processos concomitantes que confluem no despontar desta consciência democrática. Quais sejam: 1 - O desenvolvimento dos hábitos epigráficos em Atenas, em especial acerca da produção epigráfica e da organização destas inscrições enquanto hábitos arquivísticos. A relação da escrita com a organização da polis também faz parte deste processo. 2 - O desenvolvimento do conceito de democracia e sua relação com o termo demokratia. Esta investigação é feita através da análise tanto da literatura quanto da epigrafia. 3 – O desenrolar de uma disputa política entre oligarcas e seus opositores, associado ao desejo do fim da guerra do Peloponeso que era almejado pela maioria dos atenienses, mas por motivos diversos. Durante este processo há uma disputa pela autoridade das propostas dos grupos concorrentes. Esse critério gira em torno da ancestralidade da constituição ateniense indicada por cada grupo. As argumentações que procuram justificar a ancestralidade de suas propostas levam a um entrelaçamento com os processos acima mencionados. Desta confluência surge o desenvolvimento de uma consciência democrática entre os opositores dos oligarcas extremistas, os demotikoi. / This work aims to analyze the historical process that leads to the development of a democratic awareness in Athens at the end of the Fifth century b.C. In order to do that it observes synchronous processes that converge in the rise of such democratic awareness. Those processes being: 1 – The development of the epigraphical habits in Athens, specialy concerning the epigraphical production and its organization, developing in archival practices. The association between writing and the administration of the polis is also a part of this process. 2 – The development of the concept of democracy and its connection with the term demokratia. This investigation is done through the analysis of literature as well as epigraphy. 3 – The meanders of a political dispute between oligarchs and their opposition. This dispute is connected with a general desire to end the Peloponesian War, although each group for its own reasons. During this process there is a challenge of ancestry of the proposed, and purported, ancestral constitution of each group. The debate for the right to call their propositions as “the” ancestral constitution ends up entwining with the processes described above. From this convergence arose the development of a democratic awareness among the opposition of the oligarchs, the demotikoi.

Esta pesquisa tem como foco a investigação das formas de expressão dos grupos familiares a partir dos espaços da morte da pólis ateniense no período inscrito entre aproximadamente 430 e o final do século IV a.C. Definido em função de um conjunto de mudanças significativas no conjunto arqueológico de contexto funerário no referido intervalo, o recorte cronológico adotado segue, portanto, as pistas de fenômenos da cultura material profundamente interligados e que nos sugerem uma forma peculiar dos grupos familiares se apresentarem e serem vistos nestes espaços. De fato, o desenvolvimento progressivo de novas formas de enterrar, de estruturas tumulares tipicamente clássicas e o surgimento de uma nova série de monumentos funerários com um repertório iconográfico tão original quanto padronizado, constituíram as bases para um estudo da categoria histórica ‘família’ (para aplicarmos um termo genérico, embora desconhecido na cultura clássica helênica em questão, senão como múltiplos termos e conceituações). Partindo majoritariamente de uma documentação de natureza arqueológica, procuramos, no decorrer do trabalho, identificar os principais conceitos e valores produzidos ao longo da trajetória de uso dos espaços funerários pelas famílias e como estes significados resultantes da intervenção direta em tais espaços remetem à dinâmica de reprodução dos próprios grupos e podem ser compreendidos à luz da conjuntura histórica de Atenas do século IV, principalmente. / The research that follows is focused on the investigation of the ways in which family groups expressed themselves within the funerary contexts of the Athenian polis from about 430 to the end of the fourth century. Defined by a set of remarkable changes registered in the archaeological material precisely in this period, the chronological span adopted follows thus the hints of material culture phenomena, all of them deeply interwined, suggesting that the family groups came up with a particular way of exposing themselves to social gazes. As a matter of fact, the development of new ways of burying, the equally new typical Attic tomb structures, as well as a freshly arising series of funerary monuments with new imagery (original and standardized at the same time) set the framework for the study of the historical category so-called ‘family’ by contemporary scholarship. We have chosen a set of archaeological evidences as a starting point so that it might help us to identify the main concepts and values created and performed by the families. We are interested in clarifying how the intervention of families in these spaces can lead us to the dynamic of its own reproduction and ultimately may be articulated to the fourth-century Athens and its particular historical moment.

Esta tese discute a produção do espaço urbano em Atenas de 200 a.C. a 14 d.C., analisando a interação entre práticas evergéticas, propaganda dinástica/imperial, e tradições e demandas locais. Após um extensivo levantamento dos estudos sobre o tema, assim como suas fontes e paradigmas, os capítulos que seguem discutem as intervenções espaciais em Atenas realizadas por ou em associação a reis helenísticos, potentados romanos e a casa imperial. Argumenta-se que estas intervenções formaram diferentes programas urbanos com lógicas espaciais específicas; e cada programa urbano deveria dialogar com os anteriores para afirmar sua própria lógica. Mais do que uma mera metáfora da história política, a história espacial de Atenas tardo-helenística e romana é tomada como parte da cultura material pela qual as estruturas políticas locais e imperiais se (re)produziam, no contexto de processos de integração mediterrânicos específicos. / This thesis discusses the production of the Athenian urban space from 200 BC to 14 AD, analyzing the interaction between euergetic practices, dynastic/imperial propaganda, and local traditions and demands. After a extensive survey of the studies on this subject and their sources and paradigms, the following chapters discuss the Athenian spatial interventions made by or in association with Hellenistic kings, Roman rulers and the imperial family. It is argued that these interventions formed different urban programs with specific spatial logics; and each urban program must dialogue with the earlier ones to assert its own logic. More than a mere metaphor of political history, the spatial history of Late Hellenistic and Early Roman Athens is taken as part of the material culture by which imperial and local political structures (re)produced themselves, in the context of specific Mediterraneans process of integration.

Essa dissertação de Mestrado trata das relações entre as transformações nas representações dos vasos áticos de figuras vermelhas do IV século a. C. sobre os Mistérios de Elêusis, e as transformações sociais ocasionadas pelo conflito bélico do Peloponeso do V século a.C. Partindo dessa relação, e seguindo a proposta de Henri Metzger, as mudanças identificadas nas representações vasculares do ciclo eleusino estão intrinsecamente ligadas às transformações sociais, religiosas, políticas e econômicas do IV século em Atenas. Essa dissertação se divide em questões teórico-metodológicas relativas à analise e interpretação das imagens nos vasos; a compreensão dos Mistérios; a contextualização social, econômica, política e religiosa de Atenas no IV século e por fim a analise das imagens do ciclo eleusino. / This work deals with the relations between the changes in the Eleusinian figuration of the Athenian red-figure vases in the fourth-century B.C. and the social changes related to the fifth-century Peloponnesian War. Our departure point lay in the proposition made by Henri Metzger that the changes identified in the images of the Eleusinian Mysteries are strictly connected with the social, religious, political e economic changes of the fourth-century Athens. This text is divided into theoretical-methodological questions about the analysis and interpretation of the images on vases; the comprehension of the Mysteries itself; the social, economical, political and religious contextualization of fourth-century Athens and finally the interpretation and analysis of the Eleusinian images.

<p>This paper deals with ancient Greek music, and in particular the relation of people to music during the fifth century BC in Athens. Music is believed to exercise great power over the human character and behavior, and at the same time is a means of emotional communication. For the first time during the fifth century, the power of music leaves the realm of the myths and becomes a subject of philosophical investigation. Two different types of sources are examined in order to study the relation of people to music: on the one hand the literary sources of this period,  and on the other the vase paintings. This method reveals various attitudes towards music by using two different perspectives. Possible explanations are given for the differing information, the purpose of each source being a decisive factor.</p><p>The paper suggests that although the information from the two types of sources varies and can even be contradictive, the recognition of the power music exercises is obvious in both cases .</p>

This paper deals with ancient Greek music, and in particular the relation of people to music during the fifth century BC in Athens. Music is believed to exercise great power over the human character and behavior, and at the same time is a means of emotional communication. For the first time during the fifth century, the power of music leaves the realm of the myths and becomes a subject of philosophical investigation. Two different types of sources are examined in order to study the relation of people to music: on the one hand the literary sources of this period,  and on the other the vase paintings. This method reveals various attitudes towards music by using two different perspectives. Possible explanations are given for the differing information, the purpose of each source being a decisive factor. The paper suggests that although the information from the two types of sources varies and can even be contradictive, the recognition of the power music exercises is obvious in both cases .

<p>This dissertation considers the role of the critic in democratic political culture by engaging Socrates. Since Socrates so often stands as an exemplar for many different styles of critical activity, both in political rhetoric and in popular culture, I address the roots of these many figures of Socrates by examining the multiple aspects of Socrates as they appear in Plato's dialogues. Starting from the different metaphors that Socrates uses to describe himself - the stingray, the master of erotics, the midwife, the practitioner of the true political art, and the gadfly - I parse these different strands of Socrates' character and assess their coherence. While each of these descriptions captures a different angle of Socrates' activity vis-à-vis Athenian democracy, I argue that together they also hold one essential aspect in common: Socrates' strange relationship to Athens as both connected and disconnected, immanent in his criticism and yet radically so. As strange both in the context of Athens and in relation to his interpreters, I further advance that the figure of Socrates suggests a kind of political activity committed to disturbance and displacement while also working across, with, and against conventional boundaries and languages. Moreover, I maintain that the Socrates suggests new forms of critical associations that take up his practice of philosophy in democratic culture today.</p> / Dissertation