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Drawing lots : from egalitarianism to democracy in ancient Greece /

"This book offers the first comprehensive study of drawing lots as a central institution of ancient Greek society. It reveals how an egalitarian mindset guided selection, procedure, and distribution by lot and how drawing lots was introduced for polis governance, a Greek innovation that may be...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Malkin, Irad (Author), Blok, Josine (Author)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024]
Subjects:
Equality > Greece > History > To 1500.
Social participation > Greece > History > To 1500.
Political participation > Greece > History > To 1500.
Democracy > Greece > History > To 1500.
Greece > Civilization > To 146 B.C.
Grèce > Civilisation > Jusqu'à 146 av. J.-C.
Ancient.
HISTORY.
Greece.
Legal History.
LAW.
Democracy.
Political Ideologies.
POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Sociology & anthropology.
Society.
Electronic books.
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Table of Contents:
  • Cover
  • Drawing Lots
  • Copyright
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Preface Josine Blok, Irad Malkin
  • Acknowledgements Irad Malkin, Josine Blok
  • Abbreviations
  • Introduction: Irad Malkin Greeks Drawing Lots: The Practice and the Mindset of Egalitarianism
  • 1. An egalitarian mindset
  • 2. From egalitarianism to democracy
  • 3. What is new about this book? The previous discussion of the field of inquiry
  • 4. A mindset for drawing lots
  • 5. Vocabulary and mindset
  • 6. Portions and fairness
  • 7. Equality and the "middle"
  • 8. Mixture lotteries and the egalitarian mindset
  • 9. Mixture, equivalence, and interchangeability
  • 10. Did Greeks draw lots to divine the will of the gods?
  • 11. The lot and democracy, ancient and modern
  • 12. Contents and contours: Parts I and II
  • Part I Irad Malkin The Lottery Mindset: Religion and Society
  • 1. Lotteries Divine and Human: The World of the Homeric Epics
  • Endnote 1: The debate about the distribution of spoils in the Iliad and the Odyssey
  • Endnote 2: "Getting by lot" and the verb lanchano
  • Lanchano as simply "to get"?
  • Etymology
  • Endnote 3: Group distribution and the verb dateomai in Homer, Hesiod, and the Homeric Hymns
  • 2. When Does the Lot Reflect the Will of the Gods? Lots, Oracles, Divination, and the Notion of Moira
  • 2.1 Lot oracles and divination
  • 2.2 The god Hermes
  • 2.3 The lot oracle at Delphi
  • 2.4 Delphi: Themis, the Pythia, and the lot
  • 2.5 Delphi: Beans used as lots
  • 2.6 Delphi: Mythical history and oracular procedure
  • 2.7 The oracle of Dodona
  • 2.8 What is religious about lot oracles?
  • 2.9 One's portion in life: Moira between the concrete and the abstract
  • 3. Sacrifice and Feast: Social Values and the Distribution of Meat by Lot
  • 3.1 The lot and the sacrifice: Frequency and ubiquity
  • 3.2 Sacrifice, equality, and sharing in the city
  • 3.3 Expressions of citizenship and belonging
  • 3.4 Honorific shares
  • 3.5 The lot, the victim destined for sacrifice, and the priests
  • 3.6 The equal feast
  • 5. Drawing Lots on the Athenian Stage
  • 5.1 Inheritance, sortition, booty, captives, and military procedures
  • 5.2 The lot and Aeschylus's Seven against Thebes
  • 6. Founding Cities and Sharing in the Polis: Equality, Allotment, and Civic Mixture
  • 6.1 Introduction
  • 6.2 Section I: Things done
  • 6.2.1 The setting: Greek colonization
  • 6.2.2 Equal chances and equal outcomes: Kleros, inheritance, and colonization
  • 6.2.3 The archaeology of kleroi in the archaic period
  • 6.2.4 Egalitarianism and equality in a Greek colony
  • 6.2.5 Territories and grids
  • 6.2.6 Equal lots: Megara Hyblaia
  • 6.2.7 Syracuse
  • 6.2.8 Himera
  • 6.2.9 Perimeters
  • 6.2.10 Classical colonization
  • 6.2.11 Athenian klerouchies
  • 6.3 Section II: Things said: The lot, the "first plot," equality, and the unity of the kleros
  • 6.3.1 The First Lots articulated