Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History

(Paperback)

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Classical Greek Oligarchy thoroughly reassesses an important but neglected form of ancient Greek government, the "rule of the few." 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

Reviews

"Co-Winner of the 2018 Runciman Award, The Anglo-Hellenic League"
"A valuable exploration of the means by which Greek oligarchic rgimes sought to maintain themselves in power."---P. J. Rhodes, Sehepunkte
"[A] fascinating and insightful book."---Ganesh 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."---Lee Trepanier, voegelview.com
"Stimulating and thought-provoking. . . . I would happily recommend this book to scholars of Classical history and politics."---Daniel 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."---Marek Wcowski, Ancient History Bulletin
"Highly recommended." * Choice *
"Well-researched, clearly written, and vigorously argued."---Greg Anderson, American Historical Review
"An important and pioneering book."---Alex Gottesman, Classical World
"A densely argued and challenging book. . . . All serious students of ancient political history will need to engage with it."---Philip Harding, Phoenix Journal
"Simontons 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."---Claire Taylor, Polis, The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought (AGPT)
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This engaging monograph provides thoughtful and persuasive treatment of oligarchic government in the Greek world ca. 500300 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.

Author Bio

Matthew Simonton is assistant professor of history in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies at Arizona State University. He received his PhD in classics from Stanford University.