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Chapter 1. Introduction
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Athenian Democracy and the Problem of Empire In the Histories, Herodotus offers a political science that combines freedom for thought with action and deliberation and culminates with Athens’ manifestation as the best regime. Herodotus’ defense of Athenian democracy occurs within the context of his transcultural system of regime analysis , including Egyptian theocracy, Scythian nomadism, Persian monarchy, and Spartan aristocracy, in which democratic Athens stands at the peak of the political possibilities that he explores. Herodotus’ positive portrayal of democratic Athens is moderated, however, by his simultaneous critique of its inclination towards empire. The portrait of Athenian democracy, I argue, also comes to light against the background of Herodotus’ discussion of the founding of political regimes. In book 1 of the Histories, Herodotus investigates the origins of political power or the founding of such regimes as existed in Athens, Sparta, and Media. The stories of these regimes suggest that at the same time laws or regimes are founded, a notion of divinity behind the law arises that obscures the rational human agency involved. This leads to the discrepancy between what people say of the regime, that it is divinely inspired, and what actually operates in its creation, human reason or will. Herodotus illustrates the political dangers of founding myths in his story of Pisistratus, in which Athenian belief in divine support of their law left them susceptible to tyranny. 1 Chapter 1 Introduction Herodotus turns to the question of why a notion of divine support arises when the regime is founded in the story of Deioces’ founding of tyranny in Media. In his account of the rise of Deioces, Herodotus suggests that human beings are hard to govern because they are jealous of their freedom and equality and because they quickly conspire against any other human being whom they see trying to rule them. Political power is only possible if some men become like gods and other men become like beasts, and thus is inevitably based on a radical inequality and distortion of what is human. Herodotus therefore identifies the problem at the origin of the regime as the difficulty of combining freedom and equality with the need for political power and government. In book 5, which is a new beginning to the Histories, the Athenian democracy is founded anew. Within his account of this new founding, Herodotus shows the movement from a divine to a secular foundation of government. Athenians no longer support the regime because they believe it to be a product of the divine, but because they believe the regime is theirs; patriotism, as it were, is at the origin of the new democracy. Athenians believe the democratic regime is theirs, Herodotus indicates, in two ways. First, because the regime is Athenian, or native, and second, being characterized by the equality of speech, all share equally in deliberation, and thus all, it is thought, participate equally in its decisions. The Athenians themselves are the regime. Thus, Herodotus indicates that Athens managed to combine equality with government by instituting self-government. Also, that patriotism replaces divine support for the regime means that what people say of the regime, that “it is ours,” and what it actually is, a product of human agency, come closer together. This ability to capture what the regime actually is in speech allows the Athenians to internalize their regime. They believe it to be something within themselves and not a product of something outside of themselves, and thus possess a sense of wholeness rather than alienation. The regime, as it were, is in their hearts and minds. This internalization leads to their willingness, before the battle of Salamis, to forsake their city walls and therewith Athens’ physical location and take to their ships, defeating Xerxes and saving Greece. Athens, I argue, is also the most successful regime in taking account of the whole of human nature, both body and soul, thus making possible a life according to our highest human potential, the life of the mind. The Athenian integration of the desires of the body with the pursuits of the soul is illustrated when Herodotus says: “It is not only in respect of one thing but of everything that equality and free speech are clearly a good; take the case of Athens . . . when held in subjection [Athenians] would not do their best, 2 Herodotus and the Philosophy of Empire [54.172.169.199] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 03:02 GMT) for they were working for a task master, but, when freed, they sought to...