Customer Reviews

Rural Athens Under the Democracy

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Nicholas Jones' new book is rather frustrating in a number of ways. He sets out, in his introduction, to challenge the scholarly assumption of "an undifferentiated 'state', 'city', or 'people' of Athens" and to show that there was a "fundamental cleft between town and country" (pp. 12-13). Neither of these goals is really achieved by the end of the book. In fact, they are not even really discussed toward the end of the book; Jones seems to have lost sight of his argument. Additionally, Jones' language sometimes gets in the way of his argument and the editing is truly subpar for a university press.

These points notwithstanding, there is some interesting material in the book. Jones first chapter, arguing for the existence of homestead farms in rural Attica, is quite convincing and demonstrates the effective combined use of literary and epigraphic evidence nicely. Chapter two on rural society is also well done, arguing for the existence of patronage relationships in rural Athenian society not unlike those more familiar to us from Roman society. Jones does not quite convince, but the argument is interesting. Chapter three presents some evidence from specific demes. It is superfluous. Chapter four argues that the "Rural Dionysia" was in origin an agrarian institution. Chapters five on realities, six on images and seven on philosophy discuss rural life in regard to the respective chapters' subject. At this point the book devolves into a bland examination of the urban "gaze" and re-construction of the rural "other". There is little new or interesting here and no sign of the argument that Jones set out to prove.

Overall, the book is of marginal usefullness. Those looking for a better work on the subject should consult David Whitehead's "The Demes of Attica: 508/7-ca. 250 B.C." to which Jones is largely indebted anyway. Lastly, the book is not designed for the general reader.