Every Athenian alliance, every declaration of war, and every peace treaty was instituted by a decision of the assembly, where citizens voted after listening to speeches that presented varied and often opposing arguments about the best course of action. The fifteen preserved assembly speeches of the mid-fourth century BC thus provide an unparalleled body of evidence for the way that Athenians thought and felt about interstate relations: to understand this body of oratory is to understand how the Athenians of that period made decisions about war and peace. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of this subject. It deploys insights from a range of fields, from anthropology to international relations theory, in order not only to describe Athenian thinking, but also to explain it. Athenian thinking turns out to have been complex, sophisticated, and surprisingly familiar both in its virtues and its flaws.

This book explores the thinking and feelings, often surprisingly modern, that determined Athenian foreign policy decisions in the fourth century BC.

About the Author
Peter Hunt is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has taught at Vassar and Davidson Colleges, the University of Colorado, and Harvard University, and his publications include articles in top academic journals and edited collections. His first book was Slaves, Warfare, and Ideology in the Greek Historians (Cambridge, 1998).


Book Information
ISBN 9781009159432
Author Peter Hunt
Format Paperback
Page Count 331
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 490g
Dimensions(mm) 227mm * 152mm * 18mm