Solón

El proyecto eunómico de Solón, plasmado en sus reformas normativas, pero ya expresado en líneas generales en su poesía, responde a un cuestionamiento “teórico” de la estructura de la pólis griega que, enredada en un planteamiento hegemónico y unilateral, se veía abocada a una ruta tiránica clara. La fenomenología política soloniana, al poner el acento en el carácter de conjunto de la pólis, supuso un primer paso, aunque no desde luego el último, para el reconocimiento jurídico de secciones de la ciudadanía ateniense distintas del grupo hegemónico. Con las reformas solonianas, destinadas a hacer justicia a la parte olvidada pero no a igualarla, Atenas dio sus primeros pasos para convertirse en el núcleo cultural de la civilización griega. La isonomía, en cuanto programa constitutivo de la pólis griega, aparece aquí dependiente de un particular acto “teórico” que, desde una posición atópica respecto de las partes, es capaz de hacerlas comparecer como tales, como una estructura conflictivo-relacional. Los griegos vincularon así la “universalidad” con la “theoría”, mostrando el acto teórico-práctico de la legislación como el único garante del mantenimiento de la pólis mediante un reconocimiento de aquellas partes que, contribuyendo a la pólis, se veían aplastadas por las partes privilegiadas que, de ese modo, perdían la posición de privilegio al no poder sostenerse en las otras. Se entiende así que el proyecto político igualitario de la Ilustración haya fijado su mirada en la edad antigua, reclamándose imaginariamente herederos directos de la civlización griega y de sus “ideales”. Aunque el proyecto griego no sea de arranque ni mucho menos igualitario, es cierto que el gesto que lo caracteriza, el reconocimiento del nómos, conlleva unos resultados igualitarios que justifican la voluntad de filiación ilustrada. De este modo, la “resistencia a la tiranía” moderna, que plantea la necesidad de detener la inercia de la formación de hegemonías mediante un aparato coactivo-legal que disuelva los focos de desigualdad, puede reconocerse en los planteamientos eunómicos de Solón y, más en general, en los gestos de reconocimiento global que se producen en la cultura griega, culminando en las monumentales obras de Platón y Aristóteles.

Solon in his poetry -mostly elegies- blames the Athenian demos and its leaders for the political and economic crisis of his days as well as the aristocrats. In my paper I underline the specific responsibilities of the former found in Solon's poetry together with the factors that eventually led to Peisistratus' tyranny from Solon's point of view. I also try to make clear that Solon's poems show for the very first time in history the political philosophy of a legislator who was of democratic mentality.

Collected and translated from Ancient Greek into Turkish with an introduction, notes, glossary, and indices, an anthology of Archaic Greek Poetry to exemplify the archaic aesthetic, including Homeric Hymns, Archilochus, Callinus, Semonides, Tyrtaeus, Hipponax, Mimnermus, Solon, Theognis, Alcman, Stesichorus, Ibycus, Sappho, Alcaeus, Sappho or Alcaeus, Anacreon, Simonides, Korinna, Praxilla, Carmina Popularia, Carmina Convivalia, Bacchylides, and Pindar.

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Bu kitap bir şiir antolojisidir, sözcüğün Yunancadaki anlamıyla şiirin bir “çiçek-dermesi”dir. Homerosçu İlahiler’in huşu veren buhuru, Arkhilokhos, Semonides ve Hipponaks’ın taşlamalarının keskin aromasıyla karışır; Kallinos ve Tyrtaios’un askeri teşviklerinden heyecanlanan okur, Solon’un yahut Ksenophanes’in bilge dizelerinin ferahlatıcı deminde soluklanır. Theognis’in kadim sofralarında, aşk hasretiyle kavrulan Mimnermos, Sappho, Alkaios ve Anakreon’un rayihaları yarışır. Bu bir demet çiçeğe kulak verenler Alkman, Stesikhoros ve Ibykos’un anlattığı mitlerin kokusundan sarhoş olur. Simonides yeğeni Bakkhylides’le birlikte Keos’un ıtırlarını sunarken, Pindaros Thebai’ın geniş düzlüklerinin eşsiz goncalarıyla rakip olur onlara. Korinna ve Praksilla’nın tenlerinde kadınca sedalar tüter ve daha nice isimsiz şair kendi kokularıyla temsil edilirler. 2750 yıl önceden 300 yılı aşkın süre boyunca kokularla Yunan dünyasında bir seyahattir Arkaik Yunan Şiiri!

Ebat: 13.5 x 21 cm
Sayfa Sayısı: 592
ISBN: 978-975-08-4132-3
Fiyatı: 42 TL
Kâzım Taşkent Klasik Yapıtlar Serisi 98

Una de las figuras históricas más atractivas de la Grecia Arcaica es, sin duda, la de Solón. Miembro de una de las familias más distinguidas de Atenas, dedicó buena parte de su vida a limitar los excesos de los aristócratas, a introducir una serie de reformas para garantizar los derechos y obligaciones de sus conciudadanos y a elaborar una legislación para impedir que los poderosos pudiesen cometer en el futuro los desmanes que habían llevado a la ciudad de Atenas al borde del desastre. Solón se nos presenta, además, con voz propia, puesto que a su importante labor política y legislativa se añade su condición de primer poeta ateniense del que tenemos noticia.
La historia de Solón es la de un hombre a quien, a pesar de habérsele ofrecido explicíta e implícitamente el poder absoluto, la tiranía, sabe renunciar a ella tanto por responsabilidad moral cuanto por ahorrar sufrimientos a su patria y es también la del individuo que tiene que sobrellevar, una vez que abandona la política, la incomprensión que sus mectidas provocaron en sus contemporáneos. No obstante, la posteridad le recompensó elevándole a la categoría de Sabio y, al integrarlo dentro del grupo de los Siete Sabios, le convirtió en paradigma de moderación, de mesura y de justicia; con ello, su figura se proyectó más allá de su propio periodo histórico, sirviendo como ejemplo y modelo durante los siglos venideros. Este libro, que nos ofrece una visión integral de Solón, como político activo en la Atenas de su tiempo y como intelectual preocupado por los males de la sociedad, constituye un modelo de historia total conseguido a partir del estudio específico de una personalidad histórica de extraordinario interés.

In the 1960s and early 1970s it was fashionable among academics to identify Atlantis with Minoan Crete or Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean Sea. This Minoan hypothesis or Thera-Cretan theory was proposed in 1909 but did not attract much attention until it was popularised by three books in 1969. However, the hypothesis was criticised and arguably refuted in the late 1970s. Today there is consensus among archaeologists Atlantis never existed. This article details the background, heyday, and demise of the Minoan hypothesis, furthermore, it looks at why the Thera-Cretan theory collapsed

Al nome di Teognide di Megara è legata l’unica ampia raccolta di poesia monodica arcaica e classica a noi giunta per tradizione diretta: un insieme di elegie per un totale di poco più di 1400 versi, ai quali si devono aggiungere, per tradizione indiretta, almeno altre 4 elegie monodistiche (non considerando altri versi di dubbia attribuzione). Il testimone più antico di questa raccolta è il cod. A (Parisin. Bibl. Nat. Suppl. Graec. 388), del X secolo, pubblicato nel 1815; nella cosiddetta elegia del "sigillo", collocata più o meno all’inizio della raccolta (vv. 19-26), esso presenta l’affermazione: «sono versi di Teognide il Megarese» (v. 22 sg.). Il cod. A appare diviso in due libri A e B, di cui il secondo scompare nei testimoni recenziori della tradizione manoscritta: oggi si ritiene che il libro B sia una selezione delle elegie erotiche, operata in età bizantina (IX-X sec. d. C.). Teognide è noto come autore di elegie, radunate in una raccolta scritta, almeno a partire dal tardo V secolo a. C.: suoi versi vengono citati o imitati da Ferecrate, Crizia il tiranno, Senofonte, e da Platone, che ne parla come di un autore ben conosciuto e stimato. Secondo la Suda (X sec. d. C.), Teognide è vissuto nel VI sec. a. C. e ha scritto elegie per un totale di 2800 versi, come ammaestramenti morali per il suo giovane amante Cirno. È solo a metà del 1500 che si notano dei difetti nella raccolta di Teognide: alcune elegie sono assegnate dalla tradizione indiretta ad altri autori (Tirteo, Mimnermo, Solone), un certo numero di poesie è stranamente ripetuto due volte nella raccolta, e il disordine tematico regna ovunque. Si comincia dunque a dubitare che quanto tramandato sotto il nome di Teognide sia effettivamente tutto suo, e nasce la moderna Questione teognidea. La raccolta viene interpretata come un corpus, dal momento che non tutte le poesie possono essere del poeta Teognide, e il problema cui si cerca a lungo di dare risposta (principalmente nel XIX e nel XX secolo) è quello di come questo corpus si sia costituito: la risposta che generalmente viene data è che il corpus teognideo è un’antologia, formata per aggregazione di due, o tre, o quattro, oppure molteplici fonti, in un’epoca variamente identificata (le proposte vanno dallo scorcio del VI sec. a. C. alla tarda età bizantina). Sono state però individuate anche sequenze di elegie che devono ricondursi alle recitazioni simposiali dell’età greca arcaica: esse mostrano che la costituzione di almeno buona parte del corpus si deve ad un apporto simposiale molto antico, e possono far interpretare l’intero corpus come una raccolta nata dalla registrazione scritta di varie elegie eseguite oralmente nei simposi.
Per ricevere il libro, inviare un'email a giuliocolesanti@libero.it
To take the book, send an email to giuliocolesanti@libero.it

This study of Greek time before Aristotle’s philosophy starts with a commentary on his first text, the Protrepticus. We shall see two distinct forms of time emerge: one initiatory, circular and Platonic in inspiration, the other its diametrical opposite, advanced by Aristotle. We shall explore this dichotomy through a return to poetic conceptions. The Tragedians will give us an initial outline of the notion of time in the Greek world (Fate); we shall then turn to Homer in order to better grasp the complex relations between time and the religious sphere (the Hero); the work of the great theologian Hesiod will confirm this initiatory vision, later set out in remarkable fashion by Nietzsche (Myths); we shall then dive deep into Pythagoreanism to complete our account (Mysteries). Having understood this current of thought, powerfully influenced by the Iranian theogony, we shall be able to discern its clear differences from the so-called “Ionian” current, and thus to move away from Plato (Ideology). Lastly, we shall return to the early Ionian thinkers Thales and Anaximander to analyse whether this really was the vision of the world that Aristotle adopted in developing the first model of time (Science). In the second volume we shall see the return of the thought of the theologoi within the Aristotelian corpus itself, and will question our distinction between the being and existence of time.

Régis Laurent is a philosopher and member of the association Kairos Kai logos (Centre for the study of ancient philosophy). This book is the first part of his doctoral thesis in philosophy, undertaken under the aegis of three French universities (Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand and Rennes). In addition to his philosophical training, the author is also qualified to Masters level in linguistics and in general psychology, and studied theology at the Thomist University in Paris (ULSH) and at the CEJ of the EHESS.
Trad Trista SELOUS of the book of Régis LAURENT : METAPHYSIQUE DU TEMPS CHEZ ARISTOTE - I - Recherches historiques sur les conceptions mythologiques
et astronomiques précédant la philosophie aristotélicienne, villegagnons-plaisance, 2009/04/16, Paris, www.editions-villegagnons.com

"Rethinking the Presocratics" / "Ripensare i presocratici" is a book of mine, published by MIMESIS, Milano in July 2023..
A considerable discontinuity from the current image of most Presocratics marks it.
To begin with: it is still widespread the idea that Thales was all about water, Anaximander all about apeiron and Anaximenes all about air, while no fourth prominent Milesian happens to be at least mentioned in current surveys on the Presocratics. Parmenides, in turn, continues to be considered the great philosopher of being and nothing else, Zeno a volunteer fighter in defense of the honor of Parmenides, and so on.
As it will be apparent from the synopsis, I can no more adhere to such an orthodoxy. In my opinion these ancient intellectuals did much more and much better.
In previous books and papers I argued for individual points (on Thales, on Parmenides, etc.), while this time I tried to  look around and submit a whole group of ancient investigators (a 'world', one could say) to a renewed curiosity. As a consequence, their portrayals are becoming remarkably different from those that are in circulation. For example, a Presocratic Botany now surfaces for the very first time...
SINCE  MANY CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS AND SCIENTISTS, NOT UNLIKE ALMOST ALL TEXTBOOKS, SEEM TOO OFTEN PRONE TO THE MOST CONVENTIONAL PORTRAYALS OF THIS WORLD, MY BOOK IS PRIMARILY ADDRESSED TO ALERT THEM.

The election of Solon as Archon in Athens at the beginning of the 6th century BC brought about significant revisions to both the sacrificial calendar and the code of civil laws. Dr Valdés Guía’s work represents a detailed analysis of the background and implementation of Solon’s major reforms that were to put an end to the stasis of the City, by means of a fresh definition of the internal and external frontiers of the polis, at a crucial moment in Athens’ consolidation as a city-state.

Si bien en el presente trabajo nos centraremos en una serie de problemáticas que se desenvuelven durante el arcaísmo ateniense, sin embargo, el objetivo general de la indagación se relaciona con la búsqueda de comprender aquello que hemos decidido llamar “la singularidad ateniense”. La demokratía ática ha sido frecuentemente y a partir de un amplio abanico de motivos, señalada como una formación social singular, excepcional, particular, incluso, “paradójica”. En relación a ello, según nuestro parecer, un elemento que resulta fundamental para comprender el funcionamiento de la democracia y la “singularidad” de la sociedad ateniense clásica está dado por el hecho de que los pequeños y medianos agricultores se encontraban – gracias a los derechos de ciudadanía – en una situación de igualdad jurídica y política con respecto a los miembros de la aristocracia terrateniente lo que operaba limitando las posibilidades de desarrollo, al interior del cuerpo cívico, de las diversas formas de dependencia que suelen caracterizar a las sociedades precapitalistas . Para entender dicha característica de la democracia ateniense, entonces, en este trabajo estudiaremos algunas transformaciones que se desarrollan durante la época arcaica y ayudan a explicar la génesis histórica de la mencionada “singularidad”. En lo que sigue argumentaremos que las reformas de Solón implicaron una transformación de peso en la estructura sociopolítica ateniense puesto que habilitaron la integración de los pequeños y medianos agricultores de forma definitiva y estable en la ciudadanía permitiéndoles una participación política que funcionó, en última instancia, como una protección contra la explotación.

The aim of the article is to identify the tradition to which the Herodotean version of Solonian’s apodemia (latency) can be traced. While scholars recognised the dependence of the later sources (Aristotle and Plutarch) on Herodotus and also identified the alternative traditions to Herodotus to which Aristotle and Plutarch would have referred, the origin of the Herodotean version of the story remains debated, generally explained by the dependence on traditions outside the polis such as the tradition of the Seven Wise Men or the "legend" of Greek legislators. This article discusses the hypotheses already put forward in order to identify the possible cultural matrix of the Herodotean version and considers the possibility of identifying its most plausible context of elaboration in the oral traditions of the polis. Herodotus offers the version of a story that he knows through Athenian traditions that had fixed its main contents: (a) the pact established between citizens and legislator in the phase of the origins of Athenian democratic legislation; (b) the role in that pact of the sworn commitment not to repeal any law for ten years. Thus we have a story that is already structured, rather than being an uncritical collection of data, and whose context of elaboration
is more plausible in the Athenian cultural environment.
Keywords: Solon - apodemia – Herodotus – Aristoteles - Athenaion Politeia – Plutarch

Mostramos cómo el pensamiento logotectónico (H. Boeder) vincula las posiciones de Homero, Hesíodo y Solón en la unidad de una "figura sapiencial" (una "sophía") en relación con la cual se despliega luego la obra íntegra de la filo-sofía griega.

Introductory background for a first-year literature course. In addition to major figures and events in the history of Athens, topics include: the rise of the polis and attendant political stresses, Alcaeus, Theognis, colonization, Solon on divine justice, the Athenian radical democracy.

En el presente artículo voy a abordar los análisis de Aristóteles sobre la democracia ateniense de sus días; para comprender en profundidad su alcance, me será necesario reconstruir antes el suelo en el que se apoyan sus reflexiones. La necesidad de este periplo propedéutico viene dada desde el momento en que es preciso explicar por qué en todo el corpus griego no hay una fundamentación específicamente democrática de la propia democracia. Los primeros pasos de este artículo, pues, se dedicarán a mostrar el horizonte en el que se inscribe la reflexión política griega: la obra política de Solón y algunos pasajes de Heródoto me servirán para ilustrar el trasfondo que anida tras esos proyectos colectivos que son las póleis griegas. Una vez aclarado esto, abordaré cómo los planteamientos aristotélicos retoman ese horizonte a la hora de analizar y criticar el régimen ateniense.

This paper aims to analyze the way the statesmen of classical Athens make use of their money and wealth according to Plutarch’s view in Parallel Lives, to determine the consequences of this approach in the general characterization of the biographies.

Plutarch is against luxury and excessive money expenditures (this entails greed, ambition, manipulation and corruption of the people), attitudes that he observes in Athenian politician; nevertheless, on the basis of the moral objective of his work, Plutarch deals with the topic by introducing quotes and allusions of Old Comedy, so he can mitigate the criticism towards the Athenian leaders, because they are, above all, models for his readers. By means of this strategy, Plutarch is able to join his labor as philosopher and as biographer, combining his ethical (theoretical) ideas and the practical actions he describes. This strategy also supposes a critical reader who can decipher successfully Plutarch’s complex narrative device.

El tema general de la "Las «paradojas» de la democracia..." hace justamente referencia al desarrollo conjunto de la igualdad política y el desigual acceso a la riqueza, especialmente en relación a la distribución de la tierra, entre los ciudadanos. Por consiguiente, el objeto de nuestro trabajo consiste en tratar de resolver satisfactoriamente esta tensión entre igualdades y asimetrías que fueron constitutivas de la "demokratía" ateniense durante el siglo V a. C. Las preguntas que guían nuestra indagación son: ¿qué incidencia tiene la igualdad política en la estructura social ateniense? y ¿qué implicancias tuvo para el desenvolvimiento de la sociedad que una parte importante de los productores directos del mundo rural hayan sido incorporados a la pólis en un plano de igualdad jurídica y política con respecto a los "áristoi" durante la democracia? El problema que nuestra investigación intenta abordar es el de saber, efectivamente, qué consecuencias concretas tuvo la igualdad política entre los ciudadanos (isonomía) en relación a la estructura y la dinámica social de la Atenas clásica. La cuestión resulta de especial importancia ya que su resolución permitirá entender de un modo más completo cuál es el papel que les cabe, en las sociedades precapitalistas, a los llamados elementos "superestructurales".

This paper analyzes some of Solon’s verses (frgs. 9,1-2 and 12 West) transmitted by Plutarch, in the Vita Solonis, as well as the comments made by the biographer on the structural meaning of these compositions in what respects the ‘simplistic’ philosophical thinking of the Athenian poet. Along with frg. 9, also frgs. 10 and 11 West are presented in their testimonies as warnings against the tyranny of Pisistratus. That the idea of tyranny was very present in Solon’s poetry is undisputed, even if his feelings towards this form of government are not always unambiguous. Taking as a backdrop the notion of tyranny as a ‘forceful way or ruling’, a new explanation is proposed to the image of the undisturbed quietness of the sea’s surface, which Solon describes in frg. 12,2 as δικαιοτάτη: ‘the most righteous’, ‘the most just’ or ‘the most calm’.

The aim of this thesis is the study of the “democratic Solon”, whose genesis has been reconstructed through the ancients’ accounts and the works of modern scholars. To test the Aristotelian statement that traces the origin of democracy to Solon, we have primarily considered those measures that concern the constitution (Heliaia, boule of the Four Hundred, access to high offices), in order to understand if the ancients’ judgement was based on a shareable assessment of the legislator action. For that purpose some ordinary laws attributed to Solon - on idleness, on women, funerary and welfare laws - have been considered equally indicative. Of these laws it has been investigated the Solonian origin and compatibility with the rest of the Solonian legislation, starting from an assessment of their meaning. To complement the present thesis there are three appendixes which develop some of the themes that arose during the investigation and that have been considered worth to be deepened. It is the case of the procedural question regarding the law on idleness; the dating and comment of a funerary law concerning some duties of the demarch; of the connection between Solon and the Areopagos.

"Resumen: El rasgo distintivo de las sociedades precapitaslistas está dado por el hecho de que en ellas las relaciones de explotación se vehiculizan a partir de mecanismos coactivos (extraeconómicos) que aseguran la transferencia de los excedentes desde las clases productoras hacia las dominantes. Tales mecanismos suelen sostenerse por escisiones jurídicas, políticas, religiosas, etc. que delimitan y oponen claramente a los productores de los apropiadores del plusproducto. Teniendo esto en mente, en el presente trabajo se analizan las diferentes formas que adquirieron las relaciones de dependencia rural en Atenas a principios del siglo VI a.C. (hectemorazgo, endeudamiento, esclavización por deudas, etc.) y su evolución a partir las reformas encaradas por Solón. Desde nuestra perspectiva, este abordaje resulta fundamental para entender un aspecto singular de la democracia ateniense del siglo V a.C.: la igualación que se dio –en virtud de la extensión de los derechos de ciudadanía– en el plano jurídico y político entre los productores agrícolas directos y la aristocracia terrateniente y los límites que ello impuso a la posibilidad de desarrollo de relaciones de explotación entre los miembros del cuerpo cívico.
Palabras claves: Atenas arcaica, Solón, dependencia rural, coacción extraeconómica, ciudadanía
Abstract: The distinctive feature of pre-capitalist societies is that their exploitative relations are based on coactive extra-economic mechanisms that guarantee the translation of surplus production from the direct producers to the ruling class. Such mechanisms are regularly warranted by juridical, political, religious, etc. distinctions that set aside and oppose the direct producers from the non-productive and surplus appropriators classes. Having that in mind, this paper analyse the relations of rural dependency in its different forms at Athens during the beginnings of the VI century BC (hektemoroi, debt, debt bondage, etc.) and the evolution occurred since Solon's reforms. From our point of view, this approach is vital to understand one singular aspect of fifth-century Athenian democracy: the juridical and political equality –due to the extension of citizen's rights– between the direct agricultural producers and the landholders of the aristocracy and the limits that this situation imposed to development of exploitative relations between the members of the citizenry.
Keywords: archaic Athens, Solon, rural dependency, extra-economic coercion, citizenship"

Plutarch’s works — and especially the Life of Solon — are a major source for recovering of Solon’s laws. However, the biographer does not limit himself to be a simple transmitter of Solon’s legal activity: on the contrary, he comments as well on the consistency and importance of the material he is providing (sometimes for the first time and as the sole existing testimony). This paper intends to analyse the reliability of Plutarch as a legal source, taking as direct reference the laws of Solon recorded by him and considering especially those moments when he praises a regulation or on the contrary voices criticism, in order to perceive if that approach is consistent with the general scrutiny he applies to Solon’s legal activity.

O objetivo desta pesquisa é estudar a memória cultural de Sólon de Atenas no texto “A Constituição dos Atenienses”, atribuído a Aristóteles. Esta obra realiza uma interpretação da poesia de Sólon e do seu contexto histórico através de uma investigação historiográfica da memória política de Atenas. A formação da memória cultural de Sólon nesta obra é um objeto privilegiado para abordar a memória da democracia, a concepção de regime democrático no contexto do séc. IV ateniense, e o estatuto do conhecimento histórico no contexto intelectual da escola aristotélica.

A peculiar variety of non-verbal communication, widely attested in ancient sources, is the codified transmission of cryptic messages through live images of metaphorical or symbolic value. Historians and theorists of intellectual games name this kind of double-sensed imagery Bilderrätsel (“riddle of pictures”); the same term may be used even in cases when the enigmatic image is not proposed as a playful pastime but serves the purpose of encrypted communication in serious circumstances. The Bilderrätsel is a form of visual conundrum, which does not employ verbal means (like the proper, textual riddle) but consists in material items or specific actions invested with a secret, underlying level of meaning. Like the intricate expressions, verbal metaphors and obscure words of the classic conundrum, the visual items or acts of the Bilderrätsel refer to a different order of reality, which the recipient of the riddle must decode. In particular, when the Bilderrätsel is made up of live actions and movements, instead of mere static objects, the message is turned into a kind of symbolic performance; the sender performs the meaning he wishes to convey, casting it into a series of deeds, operations or routines which he carries out before the recipient’s eyes.

Several visual or performed enigmas of this kind are described in Greek and Roman texts, from Herodotus to Imperial authors such as Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, Athenaeus and the fabulist Phaedrus. These ancient Bilderrätsel usually form part of wisdom narratives or historical legends with a didactic aspect. The paradoxical nature of the transmission is striking, since the narratives employ verbal means to describe and interpret an originally non-verbal form of communication. In several cases, the visual conundrums are also artfully interwoven with verbal signs, which operate as an adjacent or complementary code. In this paper, selected representative examples of this form of cryptic silent communication are studied, with a view to analysing the techniques of visual codification of the message and the polysemous process of the enigmatic performance. Also, a preliminary typology is sketched with regard to the purposes of the non-verbal encryption of meaning, which may range from spiritual tests and laconic wisdom to the concealment of secret missives from ignorant third parties.

Solon’s fr. 19 W is a farewell elegy to the king of the Cyprian city of Soloi. in the discourse, a xénos is leaving to his homeland after being with the king as his guest, we may suppose. Setting a tone of praise and gratefulness to his words, he brings forward two key-ideas to the archaic greek world: xenía (the laws of hospitality) and reciprocity. and by an indirect address to Aphrodite – here, as rarely in archaic greek poetry, represented as a sea goddess that watches over travelers and ships –, he gives the speech solemnity and a prayer quality. this tableau that raises the subject of Solon’s famous yet obscure travels will be herein studied in an approach that will take into consideration in the analysis of the poet’s fragmentary elegy its sources of transmission and the relations between Greece/Aphrodite and Cyprus.

Departing from the idea of díkē [justice], present in Homeric poetry and the different perspectives developed in the poems attributed to Hesiod, I highlight some of the significant adjustments of that concept made by Solon in his historical context. In my discussion, I read some of his political poems-mainly frs. 4 and 36 W. 2-, focusing on his allusions to writing. My purpose is to suggest new ways of comprehending díkē in Solon's poetry to reclaim his importance in the Hellenic tradition of thinking about justice and writing.

Upper-level history course with a special focus on the background, historical context and methodologies of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Plutarch’s Greek biographies are also considered. Critical analysis of, and writing about, problems posed by the historians’ writings is fundamental to the students’ learning in this course. Cross-listed as HIST 3311.

Solon’ s so-called “law against neutrality” has been the subject of much debate. Its study has given rise to a vast body of literature, begging many questions such as its authenticity and purpose which, to authors of the ancient world, seemed to contradict the politics and spirit of Solon. My aim here is to demonstrate that his law on stasis was perfectly in tune with his reforms and the way in which he envisaged the government
of Athens. Specifically, I will try to show, through the analysis of this law, that the sovereignty of the demos, understood above all politically as the civic body as a whole in assembly (ekklesia) and, therefore, as the city’ s legitimate power, along with representative council, the Boule of Four Hundred, already existed at that time.

The meaning and the purposes of Solon's reforms have been broadly
disputed by contemporary authors, mainly regarding to his conception and
application of justice. In this article we analyse the coincidence between which is
known about his reforms in later sources and his direct testimony in his poems. The
political and judicial reforms of Solon (both, politics and justice, are strongly associated
at that time), reveal two main innovations which contribute to open the path
towards the democracy of the v
th
Century B.C. One of these innovations is the integration
of the demos without land (the thetes) in the citizenship (with political and,
over all, judicial active rights); the other measure is the possibility for the demos, as
a mechanism of judicial and political control of the aristocratic activity, to participate
actively in the political and judicial decision making (in a restricted way), which
increase the auto conscience and autonomy of this demos through the vith
Century

The paper outlines several forms of ethical attitude to good life and good death in the Socratic literature of the fourth century BCE. A model for the Socratic discussions could be found in Herodotus' story about the meeting between Croesus and Solon. Within their conversation, Solon shows the king of Lydia that death is a place from which the life of each man can be seen as the completed whole. In his Phaedo, Plato depicts Socrates' last day before his death in a similar spirit, as the completion of his beautiful life. However, there is no consensus regarding opinions on death among the Socratics. The final part of the paper outlines various meanings of death in the writings of the first generation of the Socratic authors, which arise from different attitudes that the individual philosophers hold regarding the soul as well as other topics. This part puts the principal emphasis on Aristippus, who is considered as the most controversial figure of the Socratic movement. Aristippus makes an interesting opposite to Plato concerning death, since he associates the philosopher's endeavour for a good life solely with that which is here and now.

The aim of this paper is to provide an almost exhaustive study about the Solon's citations throughout the Plutarch work. Actually Plutarch, author of a biography ofSolon included between the Parallelae Vitae, pays also his attention to the solonian thought along the several treatises of the Moralia. The puzpose of Plutarch differs from the Vita Solonis to the Moralia. In the first of these works the quotations are, as a general rule, used to emphasize personal features of the biographied. On the other hand. the Moralia treatises offer a minor number of citatiorzs, which, nevertheless, give a more exact account about the interlocutors oppinions. Plutarch has made use too in considerable amount of Solon verses, of which he is sometimes the only resting evidence. Plutarco, como de todos es sabido, ha dedicado una de sus Vidas al legislador ateniense, emparejándolo con el romano y legendario Publíco-la, pero también se ha ocupado de él en algunos lugares de sus otras obras. Este trabajo, pues, tiene en cuenta la Vita Solonis pero se basa ade-más en los pasajes de los Moralia en donde se cita a Solón y, especialmen-te, en aquéllos que se refieren menos al estadista y hombre político y más a la persona. Con ello querríamos determinar finalmente, en suma, el jui-cio de Plutarco sobre su biografiado.

The difficult with democracy is always how to define the demos—the people. Can we think of democracy in a different way? My starting point is to ask what it would mean to take kratos (power) rather than demos as the starting point of the thinking of democracy. I will argue that this is consistent with Solon's firs democratic constitution and that it leads to a thinking of democracy in terms of agonism. Maybe such a conception of agonistic democracy will allow us to conceptualize as well as actualize a political space not predetermined by the " fickle multitude " that can be manipulated and is pray to the forces of populism.

The group of the Seven Sages in the Septem Sapientium Convivium includes a number of figures whose presence is problematic due to their association with autocratic power. Although the invitation to the meeting was sent out by the tyrant Periander, he is nevertheless eliminated from the central core of the Sages. This decision may be justified, in the first place, by the fact that he is a tyrant and that there is a deep animosity towards this form of government in the Convivium. Nevertheless, Periander was expected to fulfil a more important function in his capacity as host, but, contrary to this scenario, his presence begins to recede, especially once the eulogy of the democratic system starts, to the point that the honour of closing the banquet falls to Solon. Even so, Pittacus has ruled over the destinies of Mytilene as an aesymnetes and
continues to figure among the sophoi, and the same can be said of Cleoboulus, the autocrat of Lindos. Taking these factors into account, I propose to discuss in this paper the reason why
Pittacus and Cleoboulus were able to remain as sophoi, while Periander ended up being relegated to a secondary place.