Subject Communities of the Athenian Empire

Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas

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Leah Lazar and Christy Constantakopoulou join me in the Lesche to discuss their work on the relationship between Athens and its subject communities (the "allies") during the fifth-century Athenian "empire" (ἀρχή). Leah has a new book out on the subject, Athens and Power in the Fifth Century BC; Christy’s monograph Dance of the Islands (a favorite of my Classical Greek History students) opened up new ways of thinking about the interconnectivity of the empire’s communities when it came out in 2007.

About our guests

Leah Lazar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents in Oxford. She is part of the ERC-funded CHANGE Project, researching the monetary and economic history of Anatolia. In January 2025, she will be starting as a lecturer at the University of Manchester. Her first book, Athens and Power in the Fifth Century BC, came out this year with Oxford University Press.

Christy Constantakopoulou is a researcher in the National Hellenic Research Foundation. She was previously Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck College, University of London. She has published on the history of the Aegean islands, ancient historiography, Greek religion, and the Athenian empire. Her book The Dance of the Islands: Insularity, Networks, the Athenian Empire, and the Aegean World came out in 2007 with Oxford University Press (paperback 2010).

Ancient texts

• Thucydides
• Aristophanes, Babylonians (fragmentary) and Acharnians
• The lapis primus of the Athenian Tribute Lists, 454/3 BC: IG I3 259
• The 'Chalkis Decree', 446/5 (or 424/3?): IG I3 40
• Decrees for Methone, 430/29–424/3 BC: IG I3 61

Also mentioned

• Anthropologist Veena Das's work on "poisonous knowledge".
• R. Meiggs (1972), The Athenian Empire. Oxford.
• B. D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery, and M. F. McGregor (1939-53), The Athenian Tribute Lists, Vols. 1-4. Princeton.
• L. Nixon and S. Price (1990), "The Size and Resources of Greek Cities," in O. Murray and S. Price, eds., The Greek City. Oxford: 137–70.
• R. Osborne (1999), "Inscribing Performance," in S. Goldhill and R. Osborne eds., Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy. Cambridge: 341–358.

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Thanks for joining us in the Lesche!
Podcast art: Daniel Blanco
Theme music: "The Song of Seikilos," recomposed by Eftychia Christodoulou using Sibelius
This podcast is made possible with the generous support of Brown University’s Department of Classical Studies and the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study.

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