Discussion - Polis: the Biography of the Ancient Greek City-State 650 BCE-350 CE

Catalog description

This course explores the history of the Greek city-state, first as a long narrative story from the obscure leap to stately forms in the Aegean basin during the early seventh century BCE, to the end of municipal forms in the late Roman empire in the fourth century CE. Is there a single polis form that develops and endures during this century ? This is the concern of the first half of the course. The second half explores implications of the polis as a social and political organism: as ideas, ideology and institutions; as self-interest; and as a site and a tool of domination. The possible consequences for the politics of living together will be examined throughout the course, which balances between history and political philosophy