J. Ober’s work on defenses and C. Taylor’s on the increasing presence of rural demesmen in politics would seem to be compatible with the author’s picture. The society was divided into several sections such as citizens, freedman, upper class people, slaves, women etc. Towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, it contained more than 10,000 houses,[10] which at a rate of 12 inhabitants to a house would give a population of 120,000, though some writers make the inhabitants as many as 180,000. [2] Demography and Democracy: The Number of Athenian Citizens in the Fourth Century B.C. It is estimated that by 400 B.C, ancient Greece had a population of 13 million. This content was originally written for an undergraduate or Master's program. Evidence for this has come from pottery finds on and around the Acropolis but particularly from a group of about 20 shallow wells, or pits, on the northwest slope of the Acropolis, just below the Klepsydra spring. However, other Greek cities, including Athens, turned against Thebes, and its dominance was brought to an end at the Battle of Mantinea (362 BC) with the death of its leader, the military genius Epaminondas. Even if absolute inequality increased during the fifth century, as was probably the case, Akrigg does not sufficiently allow for overall income growth across the board,[9] nor does he explore at much length the possibility that the Athenian empire’s ability to export (and benefit) poorer citizens via colonies and cleruchies alleviated what otherwise would have been mounting population pressures. During the time of the ascendancy of Ephialtes as leader of the democratic faction, Pericles was his deputy. In 499 BC, Athens sent troops to aid the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who were rebelling against the Persian Empire (see Ionian Revolt). 101 N. Merion Ave., [8] The Athenian Nation (Princeton 2000). Akrigg questions W. Scheidel’s understanding of Athens as an exception to Scheidel’s general (bleak) picture of economic growth and wealth inequality. Close this message to accept … They established themselves near the crag, which later would become the Acropolis. [3] Hansen, in turn (above, n. 2), exploited the superior life tables of Coale and Demeny. The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles. Athens is named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, and daughter of Zeus. During the winter of 338 BC /337 BC Macedonia, Athens and other Greek states became part of the League of Corinth. When Ephialtes was assassinated by personal enemies, Pericles stepped in and was elected general, or strategos, in 445 BC; a post he held continuously until his death in 429 BC, always by election of the Athenian Assembly. [6] M. I. Finley, “The Fifth-Century Athenian Empire: A Balance Sheet,” reprinted in P. Low (ed. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. 3. Document B (population estimates from mixed sources…) states that the population of classical Athens in 422 B.C.E was to be 315,000 total. Overall, this is a thoughtful and learned volume by an experienced scholar.” —Konstantinos Kapparis, University of Florida Download PDF. to 400 B.C, the population in ancient Greece rose. Akrigg does not deny that democracy and empire could have mitigated growing inequality (if that is in fact what was happening), but he still maintains that without war or plague “the democracy would have come under increasing strain and might not have lasted long” (223). [5] See W. Scheidel, The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (Princeton 2017). Comments are moderated. He fostered arts and literature and gave to Athens a splendor which would never return throughout its history. [4] Embracing the Immigrant: The Participation of Metics in Athenian Polis Religion (5th-4th Century BC) (Stuttgart 2014). The tribes each selected fifty members by lot for the Boule, the council that governed Athens on a day-to-day basis. In a much shorter concluding section on sex structures, the author suggests that the practice of infanticide was relatively rare in Classical Athens, given that war casualties were consistently replaced. [8] But was fifth-century Athens the ticking time bomb of wealth inequality the author suggests? At least 32,000 enslaved men were required for the mines and the navy, with all that that implies for the number of enslaved women and children. Instead, the Persians were routed. With the pioneering work of M. K. Hopkins on the age structure of the Roman population, however, ancient demography was put on better footing, since Hopkins recognized the importance of UN model life tables. 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