Pour quelques échalas… De la violence démocratique (Thucydide, III, 70 sq.)
According to the opponents of democracy, violence was a defining feature of the Athenian regime and a character trait of all its supporters. However, the surviving sources make no mention of any act of violence during the heated sessions of the Assembly or the lawcourts. To make sense of this parado...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
| Published: |
Presses universitaires du Midi
2018-12-01
|
| Series: | Pallas |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/pallas/9910 |
| Summary: | According to the opponents of democracy, violence was a defining feature of the Athenian regime and a character trait of all its supporters. However, the surviving sources make no mention of any act of violence during the heated sessions of the Assembly or the lawcourts. To make sense of this paradox, a necessary step back from Athens will lead us to examine the political tension that shook Corcyra in 427 BCE. Indeed, while democrats were in power in the city, oligarchs went after Peithias, prostatēs tou dēmou and an influential member of the Boulē, and accused him of treason. The latter’s retort appears rather moderate : he filed a lawsuit against the wealthiest five, charging them with unlawfully taking wood from a sanctuary to make stakes for their own vineyards. And yet, Thucydides framed it as an unbearable provocation driven by class hatred, and thus, as one of the causes for the extremism and the stasis which soon wreaked havoc on the city. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0031-0387 2272-7639 |