Classical Greek Oligarchy thoroughly reassesses an important but neglected form of ancient Greek government, the 鈥渞ule of the few.鈥� Matthew Simonton challenges scholarly orthodoxy by showing that oligarchy was not the default mode of politics from time immemorial, but instead emerged alongside, and in reaction to, democracy. He establishes for the first time how oligarchies maintained power in the face of potential citizen resistance. The book argues that oligarchs designed distinctive political institutions鈥攕uch as intra-oligarchic power sharing, targeted repression, and rewards for informants鈥攖o prevent collective action among the majority population while sustaining cooperation within their own ranks.
To clarify the workings of oligarchic institutions, Simonton draws on recent social science research on authoritarianism. Like modern authoritarian regimes, ancient Greek oligarchies had to balance coercion with co-optation in order to keep their subjects disorganized and powerless. The book investigates topics such as control of public space, the manipulation of information, and the establishment of patron-client relations, frequently citing parallels with contemporary nondemocratic regimes. Simonton also traces changes over time in antiquity, revealing the processes through which oligarchy lost the ideological battle with democracy for legitimacy.
Classical Greek Oligarchy represents a major new development in the study of ancient politics. It fills a longstanding gap in our knowledge of nondemocratic government while greatly improving our understanding of forms of power that continue to affect us today.
Awards and Recognition
- Co-Winner of the 2018 Runciman Award, The Anglo-Hellenic League
"A valuable exploration of the means by which Greek oligarchic r茅gimes sought to maintain themselves in power."鈥擯. J. Rhodes, Sehepunkte
"[A] fascinating and insightful book."鈥擥anesh Sitaraman, Guardian
"Meticulous, accessible, and insightful, Simonton presents a fresh and much-needed account of oligarchy and how it worked during antiquity. . . . Classical Greek Oligarchy is a masterful book."鈥擫ee Trepanier, voegelview.com
"Stimulating and thought-provoking. . . . I would happily recommend this book to scholars of Classical history and politics."鈥擠aniel B. Unruh, Classical Review
"Remarkable and innovative. . . . This book is a major contribution to the political history of the classical antiquity and to classical scholarship at large. There is no doubt it will soon become a must-read for all students of ancient Greek history and ancient Greek political thought . . . [and] will most likely prove engaging far beyond the field of classical scholarship."鈥擬arek W臋cowski, Ancient History Bulletin
"Highly recommended."鈥�Choice
"Well-researched, clearly written, and vigorously argued."鈥擥reg Anderson, American Historical Review
"An important and pioneering book."鈥擜lex Gottesman, Classical World
"A densely argued and challenging book. . . . All serious students of ancient political history will need to engage with it."鈥擯hilip Harding, Phoenix Journal
"Simonton鈥檚 social science perspective provides a highly productive theoretical framework: by drawing on New Institutionalism he is able to shed new light on patchy evidence and make a major contribution to ancient political history. This theoretical framework is well integrated into the discussion of the ancient source material so that it has genuine explanatory power rather than being alienating to the reader unfamiliar with this literature."鈥擟laire Taylor, Polis, The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought (AGPT)
"This engaging monograph provides thoughtful and persuasive treatment of oligarchic government in the Greek world ca. 500鈥�300 BC. . . . One of the pleasures of this book is the fact that [Simonton] manages to offer radically new and
highly persuasive readings of well-known texts, in addition to offering to readers a wide gamma of texts . . . that have been consistently overlooked in modern discussions."鈥擱ichard Westall, Ancient West and East
"In contrast to the huge amount of work done on ancient and modern democracy and democrats, there is a yawning absence of work on ancient鈥攐r modern鈥攐ligarchs and oligarchy. That gap is now triumphantly filled by Matthew Simonton's brilliant book on oligarchy in the ancient Greek world."鈥擯aul Cartledge, author of Democracy: A Life
"This is the first full-length study of Greek oligarchy as a regime type in more than a century. Well-crafted and multilayered, this important book does much more than situate oligarchy within the spectrum of Greek and Aristotelian regimes; it argues the provocative new thesis that oligarchy came into existence in the early fifth century BCE as a reaction to democracy, and it seeks to understand how, despite being unpopular and authoritarian, oligarchies thrived throughout the fifth and fourth centuries."鈥擯eter van Alfen, Margaret Thompson Curator of Ancient Greek Coins, American Numismatic Society
