New Institutionalism and Greek Communities

The federal phenomenon, which sees a structure called a koinon grouping together several cities, was widespread in the Greek world during the Classical and Hellenistic periods.

The Hellenistic age saw the development of many novel institutions, among which the use of foreign judges looms large. “Foreign judges”—or, to use the Greeks’ own terminology, dikastai who served as an “external legal panel,” xenikon dikastērion—were men sent from one polis to another in order to resolve intractable internal disputes.

This paper discusses the role of the Council of Five Hundred as a key deliberative institution of Athenian democracy. Scholars have usually agreed about the constitutional powers of the Council (Rhodes 1972; Hansen 1991) and focused especially on its agenda-setting and administrative functions ([Arist.] Ath. Pol. 43.2-47.1).

New Institutionalist (NI) approaches to Greek political history have up until now focused overwhelmingly on the situation in Athens and democratic institutions (Ober 2008). These NI approaches have mostly been based on Rational Choice and Historical Institutionalist models and have thus tended to draw a distinct line between institutions and ideational power.

This paper aims to advance our understanding of the role of justice in Athenian international relations. The relevance of justice in Athenian deliberation on foreign policy and the development of its relationship with self-interest throughout the classical age have long been the object of debate.

This paper analyses the ancient Greek legal notion of atimia, normally translated as ‘dishonor’, through the lens of New Institutionalism. MacDowell (1978: 75) once defined atimia ‘one of the most difficult topics in the study of Athenian law’. Its complexity lies primarily in its pervasiveness: atimia is found in many different sources and contexts, both literary and epigraphical, across all periods of Greek history.