Unthinking the Greek polis: ancient Greek history beyond Eurocentrism

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Abbreviations......Page 15
Introduction......Page 17
PART I Defining the contexts of thinking about the polis......Page 27
CHAPTER 1 An archaeology of discourses......Page 29
The Greeks and their History Genres......Page 31
Renaissance to the French Revolution......Page 33
Counter-tendencies......Page 38
From the French Revolution to the 1860s......Page 44
Temporalities......Page 46
Constructing the Subject......Page 52
Historical Narrative......Page 54
1860s to the Second World War: Restructuring and the Competing Currents......Page 60
The First Current: Fustel and Burckhardt......Page 61
The Second Current: Meyer, Beloch and Rostovtzeff......Page 63
The Post-War Period: The Formation of the Current Orthodoxy......Page 68
The polis as a distinctive Greek feature......Page 71
The polis as a stage in Greek history......Page 72
The polis as a solitary entity......Page 74
Towards an Alternative: Recent Developments since the 1980s......Page 79
CHAPTER 2 The ancient discourses on the polis......Page 84
The Aristotelian Definitions of the Polis......Page 87
The Polis of Aristotle and the Historical Greek Poleis......Page 93
CHAPTER 3 Making use of Aristotle: concepts and models......Page 101
The Poleis and the Koinôniai......Page 102
The Poleis and the Merê......Page 104
The Polis, the State and Interstate Relationships......Page 107
The Polis and the External Environment......Page 109
PART II Rethinking the contexts. The polis as an entity: a critique......Page 113
CHAPTER 4 East and West, Greece and the East: the polis vs. Oriental despotism......Page 117
General Issues......Page 120
City Identity......Page 122
Self-Government......Page 124
Magistrates and Assemblies......Page 125
Political Deliberation......Page 127
Settlement of Disputes......Page 129
Representation to Authorities......Page 130
Conclusions......Page 133
CHAPTER 5 The consumer city: ancient vs. medieval/modern......Page 139
The Distribution of Population......Page 144
Exports–Imports......Page 146
The Place of Cities within Wider Systems......Page 149
Cities within Systems......Page 151
The Role of the City in Pre-Industrial Times......Page 153
Conclusion......Page 156
PART III Beyond the polis: the polis as part of a système-monde......Page 159
CHAPTER 6 The polis as a unit of analysis: poleis and koinôniai......Page 163
CHAPTER 7 Poleis and space......Page 172
Varieties of poleis territories: a classification......Page 173
Poleis and networks......Page 178
Poleis, networks and spatial arrangements......Page 179
Settlement, territory and exploitation......Page 181
Poleis and regions......Page 182
Poleis and the Système-Monde......Page 184
World environment: bordering space, bordering communities......Page 185
The nature of bordering communities......Page 186
World processes: processes beyond control......Page 187
Movements of goods......Page 188
Movement of people......Page 190
Movement of ideas/technologies......Page 194
World Centres: Centres, Peripheries and Networks......Page 197
Epilogue......Page 202
CHAPTER 8 Poleis and polities......Page 206
Poleis and Sovereignty......Page 207
Poleis, Ethnê, Koina......Page 209
Poleis, Networks and the Système-Monde......Page 211
Polities, the Système-Monde and Forms of Change......Page 215
The Consequences of Eurocentrist Temporalities......Page 219
Linear Time......Page 225
A Temporality of the Polis?......Page 229
CHAPTER 10 Towards new master narratives of Greek history?......Page 237
Evidence......Page 238
What kind of history? A history of koinai praxeis......Page 242
History from above emplotments and metanarratives......Page 245
History from below: how to fit in the pieces......Page 249
References......Page 257
Index......Page 300