Tyranny and Political Culture in Ancient Greece by James F. McGlew (Repost)

McGlew's work is divided into six chapters which trace the genesis, decease and aftermath of Archaic tyranny through this "language of representation." In "Tyrannus fulminatus: Power and Praise," McGlew, on the basis of a Flavian age declamatio, argues for a perceived Greek polarity between founders and tyrants and "the (post-tyrannical) city's mastery over their stories, both of which are basic to a polis's political identity and its conceptions of sovereignty" Chapter Two, "Justice and Power: The Language of Early Greek Tyranny," focusses on dike and its implication with rulers from Homer. Having no real concern for dike, Homeric kings were self-absorbed with honor and vengeance; leaders contemporary with Homer and Hesiod, on the other hand, were responsible for the community's welfare, most especially the preservation of justice. When these were deemed to have perverted justice, a way was opened for tyranny. In "The Lawgiver's Struggle with Tyranny: Solon and the Excluded Middle," McGlew argues that Solon, who diagnosed tyranny's causation and aimed to inure the Athenian polity, sought to preempt the tyrant's claim to possess sole authority to correct injustice and thus to short-circuit the process by inserting first himself, then the adamant rule of law. Solon's reforms failed because the Athenians rejected his solution, opting instead for the autocratic correction of Peisistratos. Chapter Four, "Master and Slave: The Fall of Tyranny," attempts to demonstrate that later Archaic tyrants dissembled for their constituents, striving to survive in a changing political environment. In "Narratives and Autonomy: Greek Founders" we learn that foundation stories, invented for the most part, helped secure the polis' political existence. Finally, in "Lovers of the City: Tyranny and Democracy in Classical Athens," McGlew argues that tyranny's freedom functioned at Athens as a conceptual model for the idea of citizenship.

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