ALBERT

Description: The expression “poiesis of democracy” in the title refers to its central concern: to understand “democracy” not as a univocal and absolute concept, but as a result of historical permanencies and transformations inherent of both its Greek formulation and its contemporary uses, that is, as a problem whose answers derive from permanently meditated and mediated negotiation. Thus, the main problem dealt with in the volume is the analysis — preferably interdisciplinary and open to multiple theoretical methodological approaches — of the construction of the concept of Athenian democracy as a problematic political and cultural arena (and not as a goal, structure or program), perceptible in different authors and discourses of the classical period, as well as reflections that supplemented them throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

Description: The vast and varied work of Plutarch naturally allows an approach from different perspectives, with a variety of intentions and plural purposes. However, it is also important to identify common lines of approach, because they demonstrate, both formally and in terms of content, that there are many customary elements underlying his work. The thirteen contributions to this volume are linked by the names of three cities: Sparta, Athens and Rome. They represent diverse political and institutional spaces because of their geographical extension and chronology, and they symbolize as well different models of social organization through which Greece can be contrasted with Rome, or Athens compared to Sparta — but perhaps their most interesting feature in Plutarch's work is that they are paradigmatic places where men live and coexist together. Therefore, the Plutarchists who contributed to this volume analyze for each of these cities, by assimilation or contrast, the way the author from Chaeronea envisages the connection between individual and community as reflected in the exercise of power and the living of religious experiences; the role played by education and private affairs in the public image of Plutarch’s protagonists; or the extent to which the image of the first lawgivers and mythical founders was conditioned by the historical development of these cities.

Description: No prefácio da sua obra, Heródoto, a quem Cícero haveria de chamar 〈em〉pater historiae〈/em〉, usa precisamente a palavra historia para caracterizar o relato que se preparava para iniciar. O termo – que tanta fortuna iria conhecer no futuro – designava naquele contexto a “exposição das informações” resultantes de um processo de indagação dos acontecimentos, onde a observação direta dos eventos narrados detinha ainda um papel importante. Às razões que lhe justificavam a preocupação em registar feitos pretéritos vêm referidas logo a seguir: zelar pela preservação de acontecimentos passados; tributar a devida homenagem a quem se distinguiu pelas suas empresas; conhecer a causa dos acontecimentos referidos. E tudo isto permeado pela afirmação discreta da imparcialidade no juízo. Numa altura em que o Instituto de Estudos Clássicos celebra os sessenta anos de existência, as palavras de Heródoto voltam a soar com toda a limpidez e sentido de oportunidade, pela forma como recordam o dever que cada geração tem de garantir a preservação da memória dos acontecimentos que mais a marcaram. No caso concreto do Instituto de Estudos Clássicos, essa memória próxima abarca já três gerações, mas continuamos a ter a fortuna de poder testar quase todas as informações junto dos verdadeiros histores, na aceção de testemunhas diretas dos acontecimentos narrados. E mesmo que a imparcialidade não seja total (pois todo registo implica uma triagem da informação, com alguma dose de subjetividade), continua a levar-se vantagem sobre a frigída indiferença do mármore partido. Foi desta consciência que decorreu a ideia de elaborar o presente livro, o qual gostaríamos que constituísse uma evocação das pessoas e dos eventos que ajudaram a dar ânimo a um sector específico da vida universitária, mas também que foram construindo, com dedicação e empenho, a escola dos Estudos Clássicos em Coimbra.

Description: The texts gathered here invite usto approach the work of Plutarch according to thechosen prism: they portray different “figures” accordingto six sections, whichare obviously not without some relations with each other, but whichalso strive when possible todistinguish between“wise” and “philosopher”: wisdom and types ofSages; “mythical” figures; the Sage and the politician; figures of philosophers; exemplary figures “in context”; representations and new readings.

Description: This Portuguese contribution to the debate on the concept of “Empire” brings together 17 essays covering various areas and periods across Antiquity. Biblical sources allow us to structure various categories and organize their related meanings as valuable paths to inform our understating of the idea of “Empire”. Egypt first serves as the opportunity to inquire the usefulness of “Empire” as a concept within the larger discussion of periodization in History, as well as the scope and limitations of its definitions, as the observed political dissolution in the Late New Kingdom shows. Regarding Ancient “Mesopotamian Empires”, the first “Empire” is usually attributed to the political formulas brought forth by the dynasty of Akkad, which emerged before the hegemony of Babylon. The underlying ideology to Hammurabi’s social and military policies through two crucial moments in Babylonian History provides the ground to analyze the emergence of its first hegemony: the war with Elam and the expedition to the Kingdom of Larsa. Approaches to the Anatolian and the Phoenician/Syrian-Palestinian territories follow a methodology focused on myth and religious narratives and the traces of political realities found there, as well as a reflection on the validity of “imperialism” when applied to the Phoenician colonial world. Later Mesopotamian imperial formulas are analyzed within the context of violence, military and ritual: on Jeremias and the rationale for a heavenly justified submission of Judah to the so-called “Neo-Babylonian Empire”; on Nabonidus, the last king of this dynasty; and on the diverging behavior of both Nabonidus and Cyrus to the cult of Marduk. Herodotus, a privileged source for the classical perception of eastern formulas, displays the Persian Empire as the background for different Greek political proposals at play (famously in 3.80-82), and informs us of the queenship and the queens of Ancient Persia. Moreover, the role and status of women in Hellenistic societies is further examined, most notably in its relations to power. The last four essays propose a conceptual genealogy for the idea of imperium through the Roman World: from the representation Ancient Historiography creates of the processes structuring Roman “imperialism” and their agents; the interpretation Suetonius proposes of imperial power and how it ought to be used; to the validity of a certain notion of “globalization” applied to the Late Roman expanse.

Description: Em 〈em〉A globalização no mundo antigo〈/em〉, o autor analisa o fundo político, económico e social que marcoua passagem da cidade-estado grega (〈em〉polis〈/em〉)para a realidade mais ampla dos reinos helenísticos. Do empenho numcompromisso coletivo (〈em〉ta politika〈/em〉),que remetia para segundo plano os anseios pessoais (〈em〉ta idia〈/em〉), passou-se a privilegiar a busca da felicidade individual— não tanto porque a grandeza de pessoas singulares não se conseguisse acomodarnas calhas estreitas das obrigações sociais, mas antes porque a fraqueza dasociedade deixara de motivar o indivíduo particular (〈em〉idiotes〈/em〉), libertando-o para o anonimato de um circuito demobilidade mais vasto. Do 〈em〉polites〈/em〉 seevoluía assim para o 〈em〉kosmopolites〈/em〉, doâmbito local da cidade-estado para o mundo globalizado da 〈em〉oikoumene〈/em〉.〈br /〉