Athenian Democracy in the Classical Age

This subject includes the constitutional, social, economic and cultural history of Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The paper will range over such topics as the workings of the Assembly and Council, military organization, the development of political leadership, the workings of the Athenian law courts, legal procedure and the law code, citizenship, theoretical attitudes to democracy and its alternatives, public festivals and public entertainments, attitudes to religion and the rights of the individual, freedom of speech, kinship organizations and the position of women, the provision of education, the status of metics, slavery, the workings of taxation and liturgy systems, the organization of trade (especially the corn trade), the characteristics of Athenian manufacturing industry and the workings of the silver mines. Opportunity is given to study the archaeology of classical Athens.

All texts are available in translation; the texts prescribed for special study are not examined by compulsory passages, though optional passages are set together with essay questions specifically on the texts, and candidates are expected to show knowledge of the texts in their answers. Only such knowledge of external affairs is expected as is necessary for an understanding of the workings of the democracy.