SUBMITTED ARTICLES
Lucia Cecchet: “The Speech of Athenagoras in Thucydides 6.36–40: Demagoguery and Democracy in Syracuse”
Abstract
This paper discusses the speech of Athenagoras in Thucydides 6.36–40. Thucydides sketches Athenagoras’ profile based on his knowledge of Athenian demagogues, his (probably scanty) knowledge of the Syracusan opposition to Hermocrates, and his knowledge of Syracusan democracy. I argue, first, that, despite freely composing Athenagoras’ speech, Thucydides does follow the principle of τὰ δέοντα and ξυμπάση γνώμη τῶν ἀληθῶς λεχθέντων that he introduces in his methodological chapter at 1.22.1. Second, that the picture of Syracusan democracy that Athenagoras provides in his excursus on democracy is not simply a mirror of Athenian democracy. The speech contains clues about a specific Syracusan view of democracy, power and leadership, which might also explain why Aristotle defines Syracuse in the period from 466/5 to 413 BC as a πολιτεία (i.e., a mixed constitution, halfway between oligarchy and democracy) and not as a δημοκρατία.
Matteo Barbato: “L’ultimo ostracismo: l’origine comica del complotto contro Iperbolo”
Abstract
The last instance of ostracism, which befell Hyperbolus between 417 and 415 BC, is described by Plutarch as the outcome of a pact between Alcibiades and Nicias, who, despite their rivalry, united their hetaireiai against the demagogue. Many scholars interpret Hyperbolus’ expulsion as a misuse of ostracism and use it to explain the causes of the abandonment of the practice. Others question the historicity of the pact against Hyperbolus and view it as a fourth-century invention. This article analyses Plutarch’s sources without his filter and argues that the conspiracy originated in Plato Comicus’ Symmachia. The poet invented an unlikely alliance between Alcibiades and Nicias to provide a comical aition for the surprising ostracism of Hyperbolus. Although it can be traced back to a contemporary source, Plutarch’s account thus remains unreliable and cannot be used as a source to understand why ostracism fell into disuse.
