Dēmos · Classical Athenian Democracy · a Stoa Publication
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The 4th c.: Intentional Homicide.
The 4th c.: Impiety and Olives.
History: Reforms of the early 5th c..
History: Cimon and Themistocles.
→ History: Areopagus and the Demos.
History: After the Thirty Tyrants.
A Check on the Assembly in the 4th c..
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Christopher W. Blackwell, edition of January 26, 2003
page 14 of 21
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Aristotle (Aristot. Ath. Pol.).
Aristotle (Aristot. Pol.).
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Athens.
According to Aristotle, Ephialtes brought about a reform of the Court of the Areopagus by denouncing the Court before the Council (τῆς βουλῆς τῶν πεντακοσίων) and the Assembly (ἐν τῷ δήμῳ) (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 25.4). So the reform was not, finally, the work of Ephialtes alone, but an act of legislation by two of the more democratic institutions in Athens. Aristotle connects this event to a newfound feeling of power among the common people of Athens following the Persian Wars, when the less wealthy citizens by serving in the navy had saved the city. He makes the connection between naval victories and the reform of the Court of the Areopagus explicitly in his Politics (Aristot. Pol. 1274a), and the Constitution of the Athenians strongly suggests the connection as well: “For he took away some of the functions of the Areopagus, and he urged the state very strongly in the direction of naval power, which resulted in emboldening the multitude, who brought all the government more into their own hands.” (Aristot. Ath. Pol. 27.1; note that “he” in this quotation is Pericles, but as we have seen this work attributes these reforms to Ephialtes and Pericles, as does the Politics; see Aristot. Pol. 1274a).
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Aristotle (Aristot. Ath. Pol.).
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