The Birth of the Athenian Community

The Birth of the Athenian Community offers a new interpretation of the origins and advancement of the city of Athens. Instead of approaching Athenian history traditionally, as a linear progression, this book presents it as a gradually rising complexity of a multidimensional social fabric comprised of distinct but closely interwoven kinship, legal, and political communities. Their evolving relationship determined the course of Athenian history, including Cleisthenes’ establishment of demokratia and Pericles’ political reforms, among other important events. Similar developments in other parts of the Greek world suggest that Athens’ evolution, while much better documented, was not unique.