In book 1 Thucydides’ Corinthians attribute Athenian military success in the Archidamian war to an inherent national character. They empahsize the characteristics of agility, speed, and common-good seeking. Thucydides’ readers come to realize that the Athenian “democratic advantage” stemmed from a superior capacity to organize useful knowledge. Knowledge management in military affairs can be le...

The Athenian recovery of Theseus’ bones from Scyros is known through a number of literary accounts spanning several centuries. The tradition dates the recovery to the early fifth century and connects it to the Athenian statesman Cimon. Modern reconstructions tend to rely on the combination of different (and possibly conflicting) sources. An analysis of the evidence, however, shows that the stor...

Based on ethnographic research in Athens, this paper argues that in vitro fertilization (IVF) in urban Greece does not so much make explicit the social construction of nature, as has been argued of the US and UK, but is accommodated into a prior understanding of "nature" as socially realized. Calling upon an ethic of maternal sacrifice, Athenian women see themselves taking charge of a natural p...

On the one hand, in his Ecclesiastical History, Sozomen presented qualities of ruler he held high esteem – Theodosius II; on other, listed characteristics ascetics admired, new sages, living view according to principles best philosophy. Interestingly, this presentation, applied an almost identical set virtues that attributed both rulers and monks. In cases equated piety with wisdom made them mo...

Democracy originated in Greece and has been an ideal way of citizenry coexistence for centuries. History tellers say that Athens, the world’s first democracy, was an extremely high performing organization due to the high level of commitment and engagement of the people. The three pillars of democracy (representation, participation, and deliberation) were then feasible. When a population grows i...

What I uttered in Athens moved with apparent emotion [that seem to have not escaped Jules Angst's concern] was spontaneous, except for what is printed in the program book, which has somehow vanished from my office, unlike him with his larger than life figure whose memory will live for as long as he lives in the minds and hearts of all those who were privileged to be his family, colleagues, pati...

This paper explores the mutual influence between the institutional development in Athens in the archaic and classical periods and the contemporary changes in economic life. This enhances our understanding of the causes and consequences of institutional change. It is also worth exploring in view of the suggested connections between economic development, markets and democracy. Between 600 and 322...

A mathematical model of Athenian democracy (594–322 BC) is considered. Indicators of popularity, universality, and goodness are introduced to evaluate single political leaders, the Assembly, the Council of 500, and magistrates. The popularity is a spatial characteristic of representativeness, the average percentage of the population whose opinion is represented on a number of questions. The uni...