The first translation is "Argos", or "Argos".Greecepeloponnesian peninsulaNortheast cities have a history of about 5000 years.
geographical position
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The population is about 20000.It is located on the Algif Plain at the foot of Castro and Saint Ilias.The transportation is developed, and it is the distribution center of surrounding agricultural products.The lowest altitude is 15m, the center altitude is 42m, and the highest altitude is 500-600m.
automobileLicense plateNo.: AP Argos, translated into "Argos".Greecepeloponnesian peninsulaNortheast cities.Near Agulycos Bay, near Mycenae.The population is about 20000.It is located on the Algif Plain at the foot of Castro and Saint Ilias.The transportation is developed, and it is the distribution center of surrounding agricultural products.The Dorians founded here in the seventh century BCSlaveryThe city-state, once dominating the peninsula, is one of the political and cultural centers of southern Greece.546 BCSpartaDefeat.1261-1460 genusByzantine Empire, after 1460Ottoman EmpireThe rule returned to Greece in the first half of the 19th century.Archaeological excavations have continued since the 19th century.A temple built between 1100 and 1000 BC was found,ancient Greek、RomeTemporalTemple of Apollo , Sheila TempleGrand TheatreAnd ancient towns.Tourism is flourishing.
Development history
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Argos
stayMYTHOSArgos is a very important city in China.legendDanausAfter escaping to Egypt, he became the ruler of Argos.His sonAdrastosIt's an attackthebes One of the seven kings and the only survivor.stayHomer EpicinDiomedesIs the king of Argos.The earliest archaeological discoveries prove that people have lived here since the Neolithic Age.Mycenaean civilizationAt that time, a castle had been built on the mountain here.Taurik people also left their traces here, and they also built aTemple of Apollo 。
ancient
In the seventh century BC, the Dorians established a slavery city-state here, once dominated the peninsula, and became one of the political and cultural centers of southern Greece.546 BCSpartaDefeat.stayPersian Wars Central Argos is neutral.In 460 years ago, Argos obtained a democratic constitution.In 451 years ago, it signed a 30-year peace treaty with Sparta.staypeloponnesian war Central Argos has allied with Athens, but this alliance has not brought any benefits to Argos.After that, Argos and Corinth formed a federal stateBattle of Leuctra They defeated Sparta together.Alexander the GreatAfter his death, Argos fell into the influence of different countries. In the first 146 years, he investedThe Republic of RomeSince then, its status has become unimportant.1261-1460 genusByzantine Empire, after 1460Ottoman EmpireThe rule returned to Greece in the first half of the 19th century.Archaeological excavations have continued since the 19th century. There are temples built between 1100 and 1000 BC,ancient Greek, RomanTemple of Apollo , Sheila Temple, Grand Theater, ancient town and other relics.Tourism is flourishing.
the medieval times
In order to strengthen thepeloponnesian peninsulaThe protection of the castle on Argos Hill was strengthened in the 12th century.1463turkeyThe people occupied Argos.From 1686 to 1716, the Venetians reoccupied Argos, but from then on Argos was occupied by Turkey until 1821.
modern
The first national conference of Greece after independence was held in Argos.In 1821, it was changed toNavprion。
Today Argos is a tourist attraction.Argos region's main economy comes from agriculture.
status
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Argos
Argos is one of the oldest cities in Greece,ArgolisCapital.To the east is the fertile Aiwe Plain.Since the early Bronze Age (3500 BC), people have settled down.With a long history, culture and places of interest, it is a popular tourist spot for tourists at home and abroad.Homer EpicIliadIn China, Argos represents all the settlements in the Aywe Plain.In Greek mythology, it is Diomedes (the successor of the King of Argos, Adelstos) who hid in the belly of a wooden horse during the Trojan WarTroyAnd Agamemnon（Agamemnon，Troy WarCentral GreeceThe hometown of the commander of the allied forces, King Mycenae).In the 7th century BC, Doris people established a slave city state here and once dominated the Greek Peninsula.In 546 BC, the country was defeated by Sparta and weakened.It was conquered by Rome in 146 BC.It belonged to the Byzantine Empire from 1261 to 1460, and after 1460, it wasOttoman EmpireIn 1830, it was part of Greece.During the Greek War of Independence, the city was looted and burned by Ibrahim Pasha.
The site of the semi-circular theater built by digging into Castro Mountain City was built in the 4th century BC. It was repaired twice in the Roman period and can accommodate 20000 audiences.orchestra pit28 yards in diameter, decorated with blue and white marble.There are also 81 rows of stone seats in the center of the seatVIP SeatsEmperorsthrone。Greek Revolutionary WarThe two National Conferences were held here.
The Roman bathtub is a relic of the 2nd century A.D. in the south of the amphitheater. There are three bathtubs in the bathtub, and three sarcophagus were found in the basement nearby.
medieval castle
The top of Castro Mountain was originally the Acropolis of Argos, where there was a medieval castle, built aroundByzantiumAnd the Franks, later expanded by the Venetians and Turks.
Mycenae Tomb
At the southern foot of the east of Saint Iliars, the Mycenaean tomb, 26 underground tombs and 6 vertical pit tombs, as well as the middle Bronze Age buildings in 2000 BC, were found after excavation in the late 1950s.
This human monument commemorates the God who prophesied and saved mankind——ApolloThe temple of Apollo Epicurea (Epicurea means the God who saves mankind), built in the middle of the 5th century BC, is located among the uninhabited peaks of Acadia.Here are the oldest Corinthian capitals ever discovered.The whole memorial building uses boldbuilding structureThe ancient early Greecearchitectural styleCombined with the bright Tauric style.
Site of Athena Temple
Temple of Athena Nike Built in 449-421 BC, the Athena Victory Temple, also known as the Wineless Victory Temple, is located on the Acropolis Mountain.useIonic orderThe foundation is 8.15m long and 5.38m wide, front and rearcolonnadeIt is beautifully carved and co created by the Dorians and Ionians living in Athensarchitectural artcrystal.
Argos Hera Temple(°ρ , ργ /Active Heraion) is located near Argos, Greece (10km)Hera TempleRuins, about halfway between Argos and Mycenae.It is located at the foot of Mt. Euboea, overlooking the whole Argos Plain.
International research programmes
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Argos
From 1997 to 1998, an unpredictable current cycle occurred on the west coast of South America, leading toSea water temperatureThe sharp rise has caused an atypical destructive upheaval in the climate, which isel nino phenomenon。This phenomenon has prompted scientists to concentrate on the study of "ocean -atmosphere”Principle.The density of water is 800 times that of airHeat capacityFour times as much as air.The heat capacity of the ocean 3 meters thick is equal to that of the entire atmosphere.However, the energy transformation speed of the atmosphere is several times that of the ocean.In the "ocean atmosphere" system, the ocean is inertialmediumThe atmosphere changes slowly, and its global stability depends on the oceans.It can be concluded that in theglobal climateThe formation of the world ocean waters plays an important role.
People began to study the theory of "global ocean transport" according to the principle of double layer (surface and deep) circulation of the world ocean waters.North AtlanticIt is the most active area of ocean multi-layer cycle. It is like a "keyhole" where the key rotates, causing the instability of the earth's climate.Northern HemisphereThe climate change in the past 10 years is completely consistent with the theory of "global ocean transport".
Scientists admit that in the oceanocean currentThere are still many unanswerable questions about circulation, but it is clear that the impact of the world's ocean waters on the thermal and dynamic state of the atmosphere is far more thanhuman activityImpact on climate.
In order to fill the knowledge gap in the principle of "ocean atmosphere",world meteorological organizationLaunch an international project called "Argos"Research programme。This programme includes the establishment of a global ocean observation network, usingDrifting buoyMonitor the change of seawater.Drifting buoys are distributed in sea areas all over the world and are equipped with measurement devicesSea water temperatureandsalinitySensor of.Scientists believe that it is the temperature and salinity of seawater that affect the atmosphere.
Argos
After the buoy is fixed at the sea surface of the designated waters, it shall contact the satellite.Then, the buoy sucked in seawater with its own water pump. After diving to a depth of 2000 meters, the pressure gauge issued a command to stop diving, and the buoy began to collect information in the current.Ten days later, the buoy will float out of the sea and send the collected information to satellites in orbit.After sending, the buoy will dive again and enter the next detection cycle.At the same time, the satellite sends the received information toMeteorological CenterFor researchers to analyze and study.This study has reached preliminary conclusions:the pacific oceanandthe indian oceanOfTropical oceanThe water area is rapidly warming, and the upper atmosphere is also warming accordingly.
Today, there are 3000 drifting buoys working day and night in sea areas around the world.Scientists hope to use the obtained data to finally draw“Marine meteorological chart”。
Architecture
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Argos
Dorus built a Taolik style temple in the Juno Holy Land of the ancient city Argos.The temple building is the building that best embodies greatness, dignity and power.The subtle nature of each templeSymmetry, all have a divine aura.Initially, there were three types of columns in the temple architecture.DoricIt first appeared in ancient times.Dorus, the son of Helen and the fairy Orsay, ruled Ahaia andPeloponneseThe whole territory.Dorus built a Taolik style temple in the Juno Holy Land of the ancient city Argos.Later, some temples with the same columns were built in other cities of Ahaia.At that time, the rule of symmetry had not yet emerged.In search of a model, they turned to the human body itself.
When they wanted to set columns in this temple, because there was no symmetry rule, they explored how to make it suitable to bear loads and have a generally recognized beautiful appearance.They tried to measure the man's foot length and compare it with his body length.It was found that the foot length of men was one sixth of their body length, so they moved the same principle to the pillarColumn shaftSix times the thickness of the base is taken as the height of the column including the column head.In this way, the Tauric columns began to show the strength and beauty of the male body proportion on the building.
Other interpretations
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Rygar: The Battle of Argus
Argos of Pelasgi refers to a region of Thessaly in Homer's epic.NiobeThe son of Zeus and Neobai,ArgosUrbanFamous ancestor。
A hundred eyed giant.
The son of Karkapo, the son of Friksos and Karkapo.
OdysseusThe dog of OdysseusLoyal dog, died of joy after the master returned.
Game name.The original name of the game: Warrior in Argus,Hong Kong and TaiwanName: Argus Warrior, mainland name: Argos Warrior.
Argos' Democratic Politics in the 5th Century BC
SummaryThe democratic politics of Argos in the 5th century BC was born in the process of the disastrous defeat of the battle of Sepia and the subsequent change of the composition of the civil ranks.stayDemocratic political systemNext, the basic system of Argos includesCivic Assembly, council and officials.Compared with Athens and others, the term of office of Argos officials is only half a year, and is restricted by the Council of Councils and the Citizens' Congress, with distinctive democratic characteristics.However, the relative strength of the Argos Council and officials and the restriction of the attendance of the citizens' assembly make its democracy closer toAristotleThe moderate type defined, its democratic degree andAthenian democracyThere is a certain distance: on the one hand, Argos in the era of democracy is a first-class power, but it rarely plays a decisive role in the Greek world;On the other hand, in the highly competitiveGreek city-stateIn the world, Argos has successfully maintained political independence, especially for about 200 yearsPolitical stabilityA very important reason lies in its democratic system design.The study of Argos' democratic politics is not only helpful to understandClassical timesThe history of Argos and Peloponnesus will also be enrichedAncient GreeceThe prospect of democratic politics is conducive to breaking the study of Greek historyCentral AthensAnd the tendency of Spartan center.[1]
Argos is an important city-state on the Peloponnese Peninsula. Its democracy was established in the early 5th century BC and lasted untilhellenistic age。It was briefly overthrown only in 418-417 BC.becauseClassical literatureDeficiency,archaeologyDue to the limited evidence available and the tendency of Athens and Sparta centers in the study of ancient Greek history, Argos' democratic politics has not received due attention.To this day, many issues concerning Argos' democratic politics are still unclear.Waller's Study of Argos' Political History in the 5th Century BC is still the authority in this field.He made comprehensive use of literature and archaeological materials, first described the tribal system of Argos, and then discussed the citizen assembly, councilCouncil of Ten The origins and functions of generals, generals, etc., outlined the development of Argos' political system in the 5th century BC;However, his statement that democracy was born in the 5th century BC is hard to agree with due to the lack of explanation of the internal and external environment of Argos.Forrester placed the history of Argos in the special background of Peloponnese in the early 5th century BC, and analyzed the relationship between Sparta, Argos, Arcadia and AthensInternational politicsIt points out that Argos' democratic politics may have been born after 494 BC, and there was no essential change until 461 BC.Kagan analyzed the impact of the struggle between the democratic factions and oligarchs in Argos on the relations between Nichias and the post treaty Peloponnese city-state, especially some actions of Argos. He believed that the defeat in the war between 418 BC and 416 BC originated from the betrayal of generals;However, he classified the general of Argos and the Thousand People Team as oligarchs and accused them of deliberately defeating in order to overthrow democracy.This view is hardly convincing, because in the battle of 418 BC, ordinary soldiers were easily defeated, and it was precisely the 1000 specially selected soldiers who fought to their death.Tomlinson and Robinson discussed the emergence and operation of Argos' democratic politics on the basis of new information, but the two were tit for tat on the nature of democratic politics.The former believes that Argos' democratic politics belongs to a moderate democracy dominated by heavy infantry, while the latter proves that the emergence of people's leaders and the people's political enthusiasm imply that the democratic politics there can be almost the same as that in AthensAnd propose。Pierre talked about Argos' system, but he did not make a basic discussion about the historical data on which he was based, so his conclusion was bold.
Chinese academia rarely touches Argos' democratic politics, onlyHao JitaoandGuo XiaolingSome comments.Guo Xiaoling regarded Argos' democratic politics as the result of the expansion of Athens' democratic politics. Hao Jitao focused on the development of Argos' city-state, talked about the internal political reform of Argos after the battle of Sepia, and did not carry out the system and specific operation of Argos' democratic politics.Therefore, based on the analysis of relevant historical materials and the research results of Chinese and foreign scholars, this paper intends to make a brief discussion on Argos' democracy.
Argos
The Emergence of Argos Democratic Politics
Archaic eraArgos is a fast developing country among the Greek states.At the end of the 8th century BC, the Dorian people basically completed their conquest of the Argos Plain and initially formed a unified country.Around the 7th century BC, Fido foundedTyrant politics, for Argospolitical systemSome changes have been made, one of which is to give soldiers of the level of heavy infantry and above the status of full citizens. As a result, the state became one of the first countries in Greece to implement the heavy infantry regime.However, after Fidon, the nobles of Argos may have fought back to some extent.Some were obtained in the era of FiedonCitizenshipThe frontier people of the Dorian people may also lose their citizenship, and only the residents of the three Dorian tribes havepolitical rights。They pretend to be conquerors, and the upper class monopolizes themState power。Three inscriptions in the early middle of the 6th century BC show that Damiurgos held the judicial, financial and religious power, apparently the highest official position of Argos at that time.Although we don't know whether Argos had any other official positions at that time, nor can we determine whether Damiurgos was composed of 9 or 6 people, how long his term was, and how he was born, they probably only came from the three tribes of the Dorian people, suggesting that the upper class of the Dorian people monopolized the power of the state.
However, the battle of Sepia, which took place around 494 BC,DramaticAnd changed the history of Argos.When the Spartan king Cleo Menez led the invasion, Argos was defeated in the war due to his poor response. It is said that about 6000 people were killed.according toHerodotusIt is recorded that due to the serious loss of Argos adult males, the slaves (douloi) took power.It was not until the sons of the dead grew up that they expelled the slaves and regained power.Aristotle believed that the reason for being included in the ranks of citizens and leading Argos' political system to democracy was not that slaves had gained power, but that in order to supplement the population killed in the battle of Sepia, some border people were accepted as citizens, resulting in changes in the composition of the ranks of citizens, which led Argos to democracy.PlutarchHe added Aristotle and claimed that Spartans had attacked Argos City and were defeated by Argos people led by the poetess Teresa.In order to make up for the losses caused by a large number of citizens who died in battle, the best elements of the border people were recruited into the ranks of citizens.Although there are differences in their opinions, they all admit that because a large number of upper class citizens died in battle, border people joined the ranks of citizens, which caused changes in the composition of citizens and led to the establishment of democratic politics.
However, there are problems in the records of several ancient writers.Herodotus clearly knew the term "democratic politics", and more than once used equality to summarize the trend of Greek city-state politics at the end of the 6th century BC. However, on the issue of Argos' political system, he just avoided using this term, claiming that slaves held power.Because the Greek people use the word "slave" more broadly, modern scholars generally do not approve of what Herodotus said here, but prefer to accept Aristotle and Plutarch's opinion: those so-called slaves are actually border people of the former Dorian people in the region.During Argos' conquest of the Argolis Plain, some former Dorian residents were reduced to border people.Their status is similar to that of Sparta's Piriasi people. Although they lack of official positions and attendance at the civic assemblyPublic rightsHowever, he is still a free man to some extent.It was these people who joined the ranks of citizens after the battle of Sepia.What the three writers all ignored was that the battle of Semeya was a battle between heavy infantry, and Argos lost people above the level of heavy infantry.If Herodotus' 6000 people are true and credible, it means ArgosElite classPeople who were originally in the lower class or in the upper class who were inclined to democratic politics were basically eliminated. Some border people who were recently included in the ranks of citizens took the opportunity to seize the power, which caused what Aristotle called "disproportionate growth of a certain part". Aristotle cited three examples of the resulting changes in the political system:
In Tallington, a large number of dignitaries died in battle with the Yepighians shortly after the Persian War, so democracy replaced the politeia there;The Argos were eliminated by the Spartan Cleo Menez in the battle of the 7th day (originally the 7th tribe, which was changed to the 7th day), and the citizens were forced to accept some neighboring residents (periodikoi) to join;In Athens, the number of dignitaries who suffered disasters in the land war declined.
Although Aristotle did not explicitly declare that the political system of Argos and Athens was thus transformed into democratic politics (Athens was already democratic)contextIn terms of context, we can only understand that Argos joined the ranks of citizens due to border people, resulting in a disproportionate expansion of the lower strata and the emergence of Argos democracy.In the 5th century BC, the number of tribes constituting the Argos country increased from three to four, and the fourth newly added tribe was called Hyrnathioi, which was obviously different from the original three tribes of the Dorian people. The tribes were registered and divided into citizens in the Greek city statesBasic unitTherefore, the fourth tribe is likely to accommodateNew citizensSet.Other city states have had similar tribesInstitutional reform。In Sikuon and Corinth, Athens is the most typicalChristini ReformThere have been practices to reform the old tribal system to accommodate new citizens.As part of Argos city state, this tribe has been retained since then.If the scholars' conjecture is correct, Herodotus's argument that the descendants of those killed in the war will expel slaves when they become adults, and the slaves will run away and be eliminated in the confrontation with Argos cannot be established.Aristotle and Plutarch's judgment, though later than Herodotus', is more reasonable.
The ancient writers did not mention the institutional changes that took place after the birth of Argos' democratic politics.Aristotle's argument is quoted to imply that there has been no significant change in the political system.However, from only heavy infantry to ordinary people can participate in politicsstate controlThere must be necessary adjustment in the system of democratic politics.We have noticed that Damiurgos, which was quite important in the 6th century BC, disappeared in the 5th century BC.Around 450 BC, Argos and CreteKnossosAnd Tulysos signed the agreement, including the meeting on behalf of Argos（boule）, the moderator of the council, the citizen assembly and Wang, but Damiurgos did not appear.In 420 BC, Argos signed a treaty with Athens, Mantinya and Ellis. On behalf of Argos, the council and the 80 member committee swore（Eighty）And artunai.On other occasions, we have seen the civic assembly, ambassadors, generals and other officials, and Damiurgos was absent again.along withdemocracy The establishment of the "" and the establishment of the fourth tribe, the highest official position of the country, which was originally created only from the three Dorian tribes, is likely to be cancelled because it does not meet the needs of the new system, or replaced by other official positions, such as the Eighty People Committee or Altenai.Although there is a serious lack of classical literature, it is always risky to infer from the silence of historical data that a certain post disappears, as far as the post of Damiurgos in Argos is concerned, it is reasonable to admit that it has been replaced by democratic politics.
However, some scholars believe that Argos after the battle of Semeya is not democratic politics, mainly because Argos' council enjoys great authority.In 481 BC, Greece opposedPersiaThe Alliance appealed to Argos for help.Argos Council firstOracleIt was a pretext to forbid them to join the war, and later proposed that they could join the war, but Argos needed to obtain half of the command of the whole army and signed a 30 year peace treaty with Spartans.Since both requirements were not met, the Argos peopleGreco-Persian Wars Select neutral in.In the communication between Argos and the envoys, it is always the council that makes decisions. Therefore, some scholars suspect that the council is probably fromAristocratic politicsTimes continue, such as AthensZhanshen Mountain MeetingIt also determines the destiny of Argos.If so, then Argos was obviously a nobleOligarchy。
However, Herodotus' records cannot prove the conclusion that Argos practiced oligarchy at that time.First of all, it is uncertain whether the meeting in this record is a noble meeting or a democratic meetingGreekIn China, whether it is the Presbyterian Council, which has been inherited from the aristocratic era, or the newly established council in the democratic political era, Greeks generally use the name "boule".Therefore, the council here may refer to an institution like the Athenian War God Mountain Council in the aristocratic era, or it may be a newly established council under democratic politics.In the latter case, dealing with envoys is one of the basic powers of the council.In 479 BC, the Athenian Council rejected the messenger of Maldonius and executed the congressman who advocated alliance with Persia directly.Even in ArgosThucydidesIn the era when it was clearly declared that it belonged to democratic politics, there were also occasions when the council refused envoys to deliver speeches at the citizens' assembly.Secondly, Herodotus himself indicated that he was more inclined to believe that the so-called rejection of envoys by the council was a forgery made by Argos people to avoid their neutrality at the critical moment of the Greek Polish war, because he later recorded another saying spread among the Greeks: Argos had already colluded with Persia, even joined Persia.Therefore, the whole story of the debate between the Council and the Greek envoys may be a fiction of Argos people.In particular, he purposely stated here: "My duty is to record everything I hear, although I have no obligation to believe everything." If the whole story was forged by Argos people later, it would be a meaningless game to infer Argos' political system from the story itself.
In addition, does the expulsion of slaves mentioned by Herodotus mean that democracy was once overthrown?Waller's answer is yes.But in Forrester's view, there was no important political change in Argos from 494 BC to 470 BC, so Argos has been practicing democratic politics for more than 20 years.We think the latter opinion is more reasonable.There are three main reasons. First, from the middle of the 6th century BC to the end of the 6th century BC, Sparta gradually rose, not only bringing most of the Peloponnesian city states into its alliance, but also gaining an advantage in the war with Argos“ChampionshipsAfter the war of ", Sparta captured Kunulia, including Tireotis.In 494 BC, Argos suffered another disastrous defeat in the battle with Sparta, and the defeat was both stupid and thorough: first, he was captured by Spartans tactically, and was defeated without a decisive battle, then the survivors were slaughtered and burned in the Argus Holy Forest, and the number of dead was said to reach 6000. The main force of Argos's army was almost wiped out.In the history of Greek city-state, such a fiasco was almost unprecedented, and there were few newcomers.After such a disastrous defeat, Sparta established itself as the overlord of the Peloponnese and even Greece. Argos' oligarchy was discredited, and citizens had reason to demand a change of regime and turn to democracy.Second, in 458 BC, Argos joined the Athenian side to fight against Thebes and others. At that time, Argos practiced democratic politics.From 494 BC to 458 BC, there was no event in Argos that could overturn the balance of political system, as in the battle of Sepia.In fact, Argos was a democracy until about 420 BC.When the Mantineans decided to form an alliance with Argos, Thucydides clearly pointed out that Mantineans did so not only because "Argos is a great nation, but also the old enemy of the Lakedimons, and like them, it is democratic politics".Third, Herodotus said that the descendants of those killed in the war regained power and expelled slaves. It is likely that, as Forrester said, there has always been a struggle between democrats and oligarchs in Argos and its affiliated states.The democrats supported the unity movement of Argos and insisted on staying in Argos;The oligarchs preferred to remain independent and left Argos for Tirins, which triggered a conflict between Argos citizens and runaways.Argos' victory over the runaways consolidated democratic politics.Therefore, the conflict between the two sides does not involve regime change, but is a conflict between different factions within the city-state.From this time until the beginning of the Hellenistic era, Argos had been practicing democratic politics except for about half a year in 418/417 BC.
Argos
The System Design and Operation of Democratic Politics
The system of Argos under democratic politics is generally similar to that of other Greek city-state, including citizen assembly, council and several officials.The Citizen's Assembly is the highest authority. The Assembly is responsible for preparing and examining proposals for the Citizen's Assembly, and officials are specifically responsible for different areas of affairs.
The citizens' assembly of Argos is called Aliaia.It first appeared in 475 BC.In the inscription designating Gnotas of Oeinus as proxenos, the words "Aliaiai edoxxe" appear.In the middle of the 5th century BC, in the agreement signed by Argos with Knossos and Tulysos, the citizen assembly reappeared.Lines 43-48 of the inscription specify that it was an aliaiai aron on religious affairs, which was held by LuciferonidPhratryArchistratos of the Republic of China served as the chairman of the council, which was approved in the year when Melantas served as the king and Lucotadas.This inscription is of great significance for understanding the status and procedure of the Argos Civic Assembly.First of all, the agenda of the Citizen's Assembly may need to be discussed by the Council, which will designate a chairman (Archistratos) to preside over the Citizen's Assembly.If the analogy in Athens can be believed, the issues discussed in Argos' civic assembly may also need to be pre examined by the council.In 481 BC, the council refused the Greek envoy's request for help;In 418 BC, the council rejected the request of the Athenian general Akbiadis to speak at the civic assembly.These facts may mean that without the consent of the Council, the Citizen's Assembly cannot at least discuss andforeign policy RelatedMajor issues。Secondly, like Athens, the citizens' assembly in Argos is also divided into different types.The civic assembly appearing in the inscription here nominally deals with religious affairs. In fact, Argos acted as a mediator in Crete, adjusting the relationship with the allies Knossos and Tulysos, and stipulating the relationship between the allies.It can be believed that when the citizen assembly discussesexternal relationsIn particular, when major issues such as declaration of war and peace are made, the citizen assembly has other names, such as the General Assembly (Aliaia teleia).Such a meeting might be held in AthensPottery piece banishment methodThere is a limit on the minimum number of people who can vote in a citizen assembly.Finally, the civic assembly may have a fixed date.After collecting relevant inscriptions, Waller found that the general meeting was generally held on the fourth day of the last ten days of a month, but also on the sixth or ninth day.If the general meeting has a relatively fixed date, other types of meetings may have the same provisions.If the situation requires, Argos people will also hold a temporary citizens' meeting.In 421 BC, when the Corinthian envoy returned home after the signing of the fifty year peace treaty between Athens and Sparta, he went to Argos to discuss privately with some officials of Argos to form an alliance against Sparta, and specifically instructed the officials not to report this matter to the citizens' assembly.But after the Corinthians returned home, "those Argos people heard these suggestions and submitted them to Argos officials and the citizens' assembly".The Argos decided to form a 12 member mission to the Greek states to discuss alliance matters.
Here are a few problems worth noting.First, although Ambassador Collins told officials to operate privately, so as not to make the action known before it started.However, officials did not dare to make decisions independently and submitted them to the Citizen Assembly.The final decision was indeed made by the citizens' assembly, which shows that the envoy of Corinth overestimated the authority of Argos officials. He did not know that in democratic politics, officials could not make major decisions without the consent of the citizens' assembly.Among the orders issued by Argos in the name of the state, almost all of them have the words "order of the citizen assembly". Although it is a platitude, it is not purely a form.In this sense, the citizens' assembly has formed an effective restriction on the actions of officials.
Second, it is likely that the civic assembly for the formation of the 12 member mission will be held temporarily.Although the peace agreement between Sparta and Argos was about to expire, and Argos people were considering the relationship with Sparta, the arrival of Corinthian envoys must be an accidental factor. The subsequent citizens' meeting should not be held on a fixed date, but be held temporarily.Thucydides' writing implied that after the Corinthians' emissary left, the Argos held a civic meeting immediately.Since then, Argos has held a number of citizen conferences focusing on the relationship with the states such as Mannia, Corinth, Thebes and Athens, among which there are regular meetings with fixed dates, but more of them should be held temporarily, which shows that Argos people are accustomed to holding such meetings, suggesting that citizen conferences may be held frequently.When the situation is urgent, the people's leaders may call a meeting without going through the meeting.In 370 BC, when the rich people in Argos attempted a coup, the people's leaders temporarily announced the convening of a meeting, without proposing any specific proposal, but required citizens to meet according to their tribes, successfully thwarting the rich people's conspiracy to overthrow democracy.
Third, Thucydides may have omitted some contents about the procedure of the meeting.Those who put forward suggestions should not only put forward their own suggestions to officials and the citizen assembly, but also be approved by the council, otherwise the citizen assembly has no right to make a decision on it.
Fourthly, we note that the decision made by the Citizen's Assembly is quite specific: 12 people are selected to form a mission, and the mission is authorized to ally with any Greek city-state.But if Athens and Sparta want to join the Alliance, they must obtain the consent of the citizens' assembly.Although Thucydides did not specifically record the process of the meeting, it can be believed that officials may only put forward the Corinthians' proposal to the Council, which probably had a preliminary motion to agree to form an alliance. However, the proposal to form a 12 member mission and treat Athens and Sparta as exceptions must have taken shape in the process of debate in the Citizen's Assembly.Therefore, it fully reflects the independence of Argos Civic Assembly relative to the council and officials.We don't know who spoke at the meeting and how the specific provisions of the resolution were formed.What we can say is that under the conditions at that time, this resolution was quite reasonable, reflecting the maturity of the deliberation mechanism and discussion of the citizen assembly.
The Argos Civic Assembly, which has such obvious power and the right to convene regularly, and enjoys considerable independence from the council and officials, hasAthens Civic AssemblyIt is quite different from the Spartan civic assembly, which some scholars claimed to have created Greece's first democracy.However, in Athens, all citizens are in principle eligible to attend the Citizens' Assembly and have the right to make recommendations.In Argos, who is qualified to attend the Civic Assembly?How many people were present?Who can speak?How can the suggestions made by the speaker be included in the final resolution?The answers to these questions are particularly important under the direct participatory Greek city-state democracy.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine who is qualified to attend the Citizenship Assembly.Herodotus said that after the battle of Sepeya, the slaves controlled the regime, suggesting that newly naturalized citizens could not only attend the civic assembly, but also hold official positions.The Syrnathia tribe, which emerged in the 5th century BC, remained in the democratic political period, indicating that even though some new citizens were expelled, some people continued to be recognized as citizens and could hold certain positions.Since Argos has never been a sailor, when he fought on the battlefield, he always used infantry, and it is basically heavy infantry that decides the outcome. The only trial we know is also conducted by the army on the way back, which may imply that those who are unable to serve in heavy infantry have no right to attend the civic assembly.
The existence of Argos Civic Assembly has been confirmed by archaeology to some extent.In the theater area west of Argos Square,archaeologistWe have discovered a venue that may belong to the Citizen's Congress. The existing venue can accommodate 2500-3000 people. In 494 BC, Argos dispatched more than 6000 heavy infantry.According to the practice of Greek city-state, citizens over 50 years old and 18-20 years old will not participate in the battle, and generally city-state only sends out about two-thirds of the whole army.According to this estimate, the number of Argos citizens at that time was at least 10000 or even 20000.If the venue of the citizens' assembly is full, the number of attendees will only account for 10-20% of all citizens, not more than 30%.As the excavation of the site has not yet been completed, the actual scale of the venue needs to be further determined.However, the current scale makes its comparison with Athens quite enlightening: in the 5th century BC, the number of citizens in Athens increased from 30000 to 40000 to 50000, but now the excavated Pinix venue can only accommodate about 6000 people.In other words, in Argos and Athens, the proportion of the city-state expecting citizens to attend the civic assembly is between 10% and 20% of the total number of citizens.
As for who can speak at the meeting?How is the impact on the resolution reflected?We have very little information.Thucydides recorded only the final results of several citizen conferences, lacking the specific process.The only time that was relatively clear was the meeting to dispose of generals held outside the city in 418 BC.In that year, the Argos and their allies were at war with Spartans, and the armies of both sides had finished their formation.On the eve of the war, Tarasurus, the general of Argos, decided on his own, and together with the representative of Sparta in Argos, he worked with the king of SpartaArgisdiscuss.According to Thucydides, the situation of Argos was very critical at that time, and they had been surrounded by Spartans and their allies, but they did not know the situation, but thought that they were in a very favorable situation and would win a decisive victory over Sparta.For the general and the agent who "make their own decisions without the authorization of the people"armisticeThe soldiers were very angry.Nevertheless, they obeyed the decision and retreated.Only on the way home, the angry soldiers almost stoned Tarasurus to death.Although he escaped, his property was confiscated.Thucydides suggested that before entering the city, soldiers would generally try the general on the Kaladrus River.Does that mean that although the soldiers must obey the orders of the general on the battlefield, they will evaluate the actions of the general when they reach the Kaladrus River.If not, the general will be punished.The Spartan Charg é d'affaires who participated in the negotiations with Tarasurus did not receive any sanctions, indicating that this meeting was a trial meeting between soldiers and generals.The handling of Tarasurus shows that generals and officials can go against public opinion, but he should also be prepared to bear the corresponding consequences.It is also worth noting that even though the Argos were very angry, they still recognized the validity of the armistice agreement.In this way, although officials' tenure is short, their decisions still have somebinding force。
The Argos also have the right to sanction officials other than generals, or people's leaders who do not hold official positions but often appear in the civic assembly.Theodorus' records of the events in 370 BC show that if people's leaders cannot obey the will of the people, they are likely to be severely punished and even lose their lives.
Another way for the Citizen Assembly to sanction officials may be the pottery exile law.Aristotelian《political science》And ancient writersAristophaneAll the notes and commentaries in "Knight" mentioned that Argos had a system similar to that of Athens.In Athens, the system isPeople's sovereigntyIt is also an important symbol of the maturity of democratic politics and effectively guarantees the stability of democratic politics.Unfortunately, due to the lack of information, we do not know the voting procedures and requirements of Argos exile law, as well as the potential exile objects and actual exiles.
Although in the existing inscriptions, the Argos Council generally did not appear at the beginning of the order with the Civic Assembly, as in Athens, it undoubtedly played an important role in Argos.In 481/480 BC, when the Greeks sent Argos to ask for support, it was the council that came out to receive and respond.In the treaty between Argos and Knossos and Tulysos around 450 BC mentioned above, there also appeared the council, the chairman of the council and other institutions and officials.In 420 BC, when Argos signed the covenant with Athens and others, the council and the 80 member committee jointly swore the oath.If compared with Athens, the former is the council, it seems that the "eighty member committee" should be the presidium of the council, but this is not certain.Although it is the council that swears on behalf of Athens and the presidium that supervises the swearing, it does not mean that Argos is also swearing by similar institutions.In Mantinya, the oath takers are "Demurigos, the council and other officials, and the oath takers are Theori and Bolemarh（polemarch）”In Ellis, the oath takers are "Demiurigos and 600 people, and the oath takers are Demiurigos and the legal guardians".From the perspective of writing, the oath takers should all include the council, but the role of the oath supervisor, as far as Mantinya and Ellis are concerned, is certainly not the presidium of the council. Therefore, it is difficult to regard the 80 member committee of Argos as the presidium of the council from the perspective of analogy.
According to the practice of the Greek city-state, the Argos Council may also be formed by tribes, or there may be a presidium based on tribes.In the inscription of 450 BC, there did appear the statement that Lykotadas of the Syreis tribe held office, suggesting that he might be the chairman of the presidium or the chairman of the council at that time.Some scholars speculated that the 80 member committee appearing in the 420 BC treaty might be the presidium of the council, and further speculated that the number of members of each tribe was 80, with a total of 320 members of the council.Some scholars also speculate that 500 people who were slaughtered in the council hall in 315 BC are members of the council.However, these arguments lack evidence support.
The most important responsibility of the council may be to prepare for the civic assemblydraft resolutionThere may also be implementation afterwards, so when the treaty is sworn in, there are always representatives of the council.In 418 BC, the peace treaty signed between Argos and Sparta did not mention the oath, so there was no council or other institutions.However, after the Argos mission returned to China, it requested to amend the Covenant, which may be the result of instructions from relevant domestic institutions, including the Citizen's Assembly.The inscription shows that, like the officials of Argos, the council can make decisions independently, including whether to introduce foreign envoys to the citizens' assembly.
The 80 member committee may be another council, but their formation, term of office and functions are ambiguous.In Thucydides' records, the Committee of Eighty People not only swore the treaty with Altenaeus, but also was the chairperson of the oath.Since the presidium of the council presided over the oath in Athens, the latest Chinese translation directly translated it into the 80 member council.But Argos is not Athens after all. Moreover, the presiding officers of Ellis who swore the oath at the same time were Demius and the legal guardian. The presiding officers of Mantinya's oath were Theolori and Polemarch.The latter two countries also practiced democratic politics at that time, and were close neighbors of Argos. Therefore, if the analogy is made, it should also be made with the chairmen of the latter two city-state. It is more appropriate to regard them as officials or the second council.Piera believes that they are another council of Argos, 20 people from each tribe, which is not impossible. After all, as officials, they are too many.But it may also be like the Athenian War God Mountain Council, which is composed of retired officials and has some functions of deliberation.
The third important institution is various official positions.Except for a few official positions, our understanding of them is very insufficient.Among these officials, the more important ones appeared in the covenant signed by Athens and Argos in 420 BC, including the Eighty People Committee, Althinai, the king and the general.In the early history of Argos, there was a king who might have commanded the army and heldreligious ritesAnd other functions.At the beginning of the 6th century BC, the king seemed to have disappeared from Argos.The king did not appear in the Battle of the Championships around 550 BC.But by the 5th century BC, kings appeared again.Herodotus mentioned that there was a king in Argos during the Hippo War;In the covenant signed between Argos people, Knossos and Tulysos, it was mentioned that Meranthus was the king of Argos at that time.But at that time, the king should be an official for one year, perhaps elected to perform some religious functions originally performed by the king.Argos may also take his name as the year title, just like the consul of Athens.
Among the oath takers of Thucydides' treaties signed between Argos and Athens and other countries, there was an official named Altenaeus.Together with them, the council and the 80 member committee appeared, showing that Altinnai may be an administrator rather than a council, and his status is relatively important.Altineh's original intention was to be equivalent to governing, or similar to Kerrit's official position Cosmo, he had the power of administrative and judicial adjudication.Plutarch mentioned that Epidaurus, the neighbor of Argos, has an official post of the same name. They are a privileged group opposite to ordinary farmers, with a total of 180 people. They monopolize the management of the country, which probably means that they will serve for life.But it is uncertain whether Argos is like this under democratic politics.In Thucydides' narration, they only appeared once, and did not specifically mention their role in domestic politics.An inscription in the early 5th century BC suggests that they may represent only three Dorian tribes.Gome tends to think of them as officials, intended to replace the Damiurgos who disappeared in the classical era.The latter's absence from the treaty oath in 420 BC suggests that Gome's speculation is not unreasonable.If they are indeed officials, they may serve only half a year as most of Argos' officials.
We know a little more about generals.During the war between Greece and Poland, if the Argos were credible, the king still commanded the army.But that may be an excuse invented by Spartans for not handing over the command, because as early as 494 BC, it was not the king who commanded the army, but an unknown official.During the Peloponnesian War, Argos' army was commanded by the general, with a total of five men, commanding five detachments respectively.On the battlefield, five generals command collectively.The example of Talasurus shows that a single general has certain freedom on the battlefieldDisposal powerAnd will be obeyed by the soldiers, even if it is an agreement he signed without consulting with his colleagues.But he is also ready to take responsibility for his unpopular decision, because Argos has a special place to judge generals: before the army enters the city, the general can be judged in the Caladrus River.Those convicted generals could be ArgosStone to death, the property is confiscated.However, like other Argos officials, we know nothing about the generation, qualifications and tenure of generals.If the failure of Argos to fight Sparta in 418 BC was due to the conscious betrayal of the general and elite soldiers, the general should at least be a member of the elite class.Their attitude towards democracy may not be so friendly at times.In fact, the oligarch coup in 417 BC was launched by the elite in the army.Although the ancient writers did not mention the role of any generals, it can be believed that the generals at least took a tacitly consensual attitude towards the coup.
In the democratic politics of ancient Greece, although Athens was not Greece, it was the most perfect in ancient timesdemocratic systemTherefore, it is of typical significance to compare Argos with Athenian democracy.From the perspective of basic system design, Argos' democracy is not very different from that of Athens.The citizen assembly holds the highest power and passes resolutions on major national affairs;The council is responsible for preparing resolutions for the citizens' assembly and supervising the implementation of resolutions;Officials are responsible for handling the daily affairs of the country and need to be accountable to the people, and may encounter opposition and sanctions.People's leaders havesignificant impact Even a system similar to the pottery deportation method was used in Argos.Some information recently found confirms that the term of office of Argos officials is only half a year, suggesting that Argos is more radical when implementing the principle of democratic politics.
However, Argos' democratic politics is closer to the moderate type defined by Aristotle.Due to the lack of data, it is mainly because of the historical background andeconomic baseSome systems of great significance to Athenian democracy were never implemented in Argos.FirstJury court。The court is one of the most important symbols of Athenian democracy.In Aristophane's comedy Cloud, whenSocratesHis disciplesWorld mapWhen he gave it to the old farmer Strepsiades and pointed it out to the latter's location in Athens, the old farmer expressed disbelief, "because I didn't see itjurorSit there ".By the 4th century BC, the status of the court was even more important. In addition to the trial of cases, those who questioned the legality of the decree of the citizen assembly also needed to sue the court.The audit of officials, including generals, and disputes arising from the registration of citizens in Demo have also been resolved in the courts.However, in Argos, such a court seems never to exist. It relies more on the citizen assembly attended by soldiers, as it did against the general Talasirus in 418 BC.Due to the limited number of citizen meetings, daily judicial cases must be tried by other officials.It is also unclear whether officials' decisions can be appealed to the citizens' assembly. There is no similar case in the current evidence.In terms of justice, Argos' democratic level is closer to that of the classical Roman Republic or Athens before the middle of the 5th century BC.
SecondlyAllowance system。Since the middle of the 5th century BCSystem improvementAt the same time, Athens introduced the system of granting allowances to officials.The first to receive allowances were court jurors, and later members of the council and other officials.reachPericlean age In the later period, except for generals and treasury custodians, other official positions were basically subsidized.In 399 BC, attending the citizens' assembly also received subsidies.By the late 4th century BC, the maximum allowance for attending the citizen assembly was 1.5drachma。Although it is certainly not true to claim that Athenian citizens depend on the state to support themselvesAllowance systemThe introduction of, no doubt, has reduced the space for wealth and rich people's asylum system to exercise influence, and helped the lower class to realize its management power over the country.At the same time, the subsidy system also enables those who have political enthusiasm but are not allowed by economic conditions to put aside their work temporarily and actually participate in the political process by serving as officials, jurors and attending the civic assembly.However, in Argos, at least from the historical data we have at present, there is no system of subsidies for citizens to hold official positions or attend citizen conferences.In this way, those who can hold official positions and even attend the citizens' assembly are always people above the middle class, specifically, people above the heavy infantry level.Since most citizens of Argos can only rely on themselves to support themselves, they have no time or ability to serve regularly, attend citizen conferences or take office.Judging from the situation of the general Greek city states, those who can serve as heavy infantry account for about one third of the entire citizen population.When Argos sent out the whole army several times, for example, in the battles of Sepeya and Mantinya, the main force of the army was generally 5000 to 6000.They are not only the protagonists of the soldiers' congress held on the bank of the Caladrus River, but also the main participants of the citizens' congress.In other words, two thirds of the relatively poor citizens are basically excluded from the political life of the Argos city-state.Tomlinson correctly pointed out that Argos clearly distinguishes between the rich and the poor. It is always those who have enough wealth to prepare heavy infantry equipment that can vote in the citizens' assembly, and they are the minority of citizens.Therefore, "Argos' political system belongs to the type of moderate rather than radical democracy, which existed in Athens before the reform in 462 BC."
Finally, as has been pointed out, the nature of Argos' army restricts the development of democratic politics.Although the Athenian democracy and the development of the Athenian navy and its empire in the 5th century BCDirect contactIt may be excessive, but the development of the navy directly affected some characteristics of Athenian democracy, including the implementation of the subsidy system and the lower classpolitical statusThe rise ofLevel 3There is no doubt that citizens below and below will be open to wider participation.staySyracuse Because the navy played an important role in defeating the Athenian invasion army, Syracuse politics was further democratized at the end of the 5th century BC.In the Greek city-state, soldiers andCitizenshipIn the context of the integration of the two, it is a self-evident fact that those who can fight to defend the country enjoy corresponding political rights, which Aristotle has already stated in political science.He noted that the city-state regime has a direct relationship with how many citizens can serve as soldiers. When many infantrymen can join civic groups, the so-called politeia appears.Tomlinson also believed that in the Greek city-state“Military organizationIndividually intertwined with the political system, one can explain the other.When we have enoughFactual materialThis is indeed the case.
Argos has always been a land power.Like Thebes in the 4th century BC, the victorious force on the battlefield is always infantry.Whether it was the battle of Sepia in 494 BC or the battle of Mantinya in 418 BC, the main force of victory on the battlefield was infantry, and they were heavy infantry. Light infantry seldom got the chance to play.The difference is that Argos has specially set up an elite force of about 1000 people, which is paid by the state to train and fight.This army did play a role, but because they came from the richest family in Argos, they were later used as a force to overthrow democracy.As for Argos' navy, it has never appeared in the literature.Although Sparta, Argos' main opponent, is good at army, and mainly relies on army forces when competing with Spartans for Kunulia and other areas, because these areas are coastal, if Argos forms a navy, they can adopt a more flexible strategy.At the same time, Argos is not completely short of ports.However, the Argos never formed a navy.Scholars rightly believe that it is doubtful whether those who cannot fight for the country on the battlefield have the right to attend the civic assembly, let alone play a political role.Therefore, Argos' democracy is the democracy of Argos' middle and upper class citizens, which has always stayed in the so-called moderate democratic stage and has never encountered serious challenges from the lower class.
Unlike Athens, Argos' achievements in democratic politics are not dazzling.In the war between Greece and Poland, it maintained an ignominious neutrality on the pretext of its heavy losses in the battle of Sepia.In the 5th century BCSparta and AthensIn the situation where the two major powers dominate the Greek world, Argos can occasionally play the role of spoiler, but never become the decisive force.At the same time, we must note that in the era of democratic politics, Argos has been able to tenaciously maintain his independent status among many forces, which is a great success.First, it faced Sparta, the number one hegemon in the Greek world. By absorbing border people to join the ranks of citizens and adjusting the system, it quickly revived from the disastrous defeat of the battle of Sepia, reunited the Argos Plain, and became Sparta's strong enemy.In the Archidamas War, Argos remained neutral. When the Athenian comedian Aristophane complained about various disasters and inconveniences caused by the war, and when the Spartans suffered from the contempt of the allies due to their failure in Pairos, "Argos people did well. They did not participate in the Attica war, but had alliances with both sides and benefited greatly."And became the target of many city states such as Corinth, Thebes, Athens and Sparta.After losing the battle for Kunulia with Sparta again, Argos stopped in time and signed a peace treaty with Sparta.stayCorinth Warfare In China, Argos has become a strong opponent of Sparta because it has maintained political stability and recuperated for a long time.Indeed, Argos' challenge to Sparta, as in the past, ended in failure again, but that was largely due to the joint pressure of Sparta and Persia.Faced with such pressure, all Greek city states, including Athens and Thebes, had to give in temporarily.The decline of Argos was more directly related to the brutal "revolution" in 370 BC.In that case, the rich people wanted to uniteMercenaryTo overthrow democracy, about 1200 rich people were killed and some people's leaders were executed in the massacre caused by the plot leakage.Since then, "Argos is still activeHistory of GreeceOn the stage, but really not eye-catching ".Nevertheless, it is still a factor that must be considered by the warring parties.337 BCCorinth ConferenceLater, with the help of Philip of Macedonia, Argos finally recovered Kunulia and other regions, realizing his long cherished wish for many years.
Equally striking is Argos' ability to maintain internal stability.Due to the relatively extensive participation of the public in national management and politics under democratic politics, it is difficult for a large number of Greek city-state to maintain political stability for a long time.On《political science》In a total of 8 volumes, Aristotle used Volume 5 and Volume 6 to discuss the reasons for the revolution of various regimes and the means to maintain them.In Aristotle's view, the city-state may break out internal conflicts and political changes at any time.For this reason, Aristotle gave corresponding prescriptions on how to maintain various regimes.However, even if his prescription was useful, it was a little too late.After entering the Hellenistic era, the conflicts within the Greek city-state showed no signs of easing.Finley summed up the city-state politics outside Athens and Sparta in this way:
In a country with backward technology, mainly small landownerComposition and strict stratificationsocial structureAnd in a world where local wars are waged tirelessly, independent city-state with a population of less than 10000 people are often in an unstable state, lacking resources and manpower to protect themselves fromNatural disasterThe political and social consequences of (e.g., years of famine)military conflictSocial and political consequences.Therefore, its politics often collapsed in open civil war, and often accompanied by selling the city-state to this or that power.Admittedly, due to the lack of historical data, this is just an impression, but it is the inclusion of the lower classpolitical community A price to pay.
Although Finley's judgment points to relatively small city-state, sometimes big states are not immune.Even in the case of Athens, Aristotle listed 11 political changes that took place until the end of the fifth century B.C., including more than one case of falling into or on the verge of civil war.Sparta, another big state, has been oppressed by border people andHelots Citizens were forced to live in military camps.But even among citizens, since the middle of the 6th century BC, there have been many conflicts in Sparta.In Katledge's view,
Ancient Greek democracy is a majority decision-making system based on conflict rather than consensus.Democratic politics, in our words, is a kind ofzero-sum gameIn the words they really use, it is competition.In their transparent, face-to-face system, it is important every timePolicy issuesThere is a danger of conflict breaking out in the voting, or in a sense, it is a controlled expression of conflict.
As a city-state, Argos has about 10000 to 20000 citizens, and more than 6000 plenipotentiary citizens as heavy infantry.As far as the external environment is concerned, it is often threatened by Sparta, and it is also the object that Athens strives for.Since the birth of democracy at the beginning of the 5th century BC, there must also be contradictions between the poor and the rich, between democrats and oligarchs in Argos.The probability of conflict in Argos should also be far higher than that in the smaller city-state.However, in Greek historical documents, Argos' internal conflicts are surprisingly rare.From the emergence of Argos' democracy at the beginning of the 5th century BC to the end of the 4th century BC, Argos had three major conflicts: the first was to expel the so-called descendants of slaves; the second was the overthrow of democracy by oligarchs in 418 BC and the restoration of democracy six months later; the third was the revolution in 370 BC.The three conflicts occurred among citizens, but the last two were clearly the first provocations of oligarchs, and the democrats then launched counterattacks.In comparison with Athens, the number of conflicts that broke out openly in Argos was much smaller in roughly the same time.Of course, there is a lack of historical documents, because for most Greek city states, if they occasionally appear in historical documents, it is mostly because they have links with Athens or Sparta and other states.At other times, the historical records of their status were basically blank, and there were fewer records of changes within the city-state."We have almost zero independent knowledge about the history of Egina (except for archaeological data). In the historical literature, the island appears mainly because of its connection with Athens." Amit's argument about Egina, with a little modification, can be applied to Argos: the state appears in the historical literature mainly because of its relationship with Sparta and Athens.But the Greeks are rightPolitical conflictIn terms of interest, such silence is unusual after all.In fact, once conflicts occurred, the Greeks were interested in recording them.Aristotle quoted a large number of examples of internal conflicts and political changes in his Political Science, but for Argos, except for the absorption of border people and the two conflicts in 418 BC, there are few other examples of conflicts.However, countries whose scale is roughly similar to Argos, such as Thebes, at least from the 5th to the 4th century BC, have more internal conflicts than Argos.
Finley believed that the stability of Athens, Sparta, Rome and other big countries was largely due to the fact that these big countries or conquered a large area of surrounding land, sent their own citizens to establish colonies, or citizens took advantage of their own hegemonic status to occupy land directly in the allies.But Argos is neither a conquering country nor has it established overseas colonies on a large scale. In the fight with Sparta, Argos is almost always at a disadvantage.Although Argos has fertile land,groundwater resources Rich, agriculturalProduction conditionsMore favorable, but in Greece,Thessaly , Crete and other regionsnatural conditionMore superior.Aristotle clearly pointed out that the politics of those two regions were not stable, and serfs often launched riots.Therefore, the stability of Argos needs to be explained from other aspects.
Argos' democratic politics is indeed not as perfect as that of Athens in some aspects, and the channels for people to participate in politics are not as wide as that of Athens. However, as mentioned above, Argos officials need to be responsible for their decisions.Soldiers can try generals, and accordingly, citizens should have the power to try other officials.Robinson proved that the Argos Citizen's Congress was quite strict in supervising officials.The shorter term of office of officials than their counterparts in Athens also allows citizens to quickly replace unqualified or disliked officials.Therefore, the long-term stability of Argos is partly due to the institutional design of democratic politics, the reasonable actions of officials and the loyalty of citizens to democratic politics.Thucydides' record of events from 418 BC to 417 BC gives us a rare record of the internal political situation of Argos.At that time, Sparta and some oligarchs in Argos conspired to persuade Argos to ally with Sparta, sent troops to Xikuown to establish a narrow oligarchy, and then returned to Argos to conspire to overthrow democracy.At first, the Argos' democrats tolerated. When all Argos felt intolerable due to the brutal oligarchy, they took the opportunity of Spartans' holiday to launch an uprising, successfully overthrew the oligarchs and reestablished democracy.The oligarchs went to Sparta for help, but Spartans were unwilling to act immediately.When Sparta finally launched the expedition, democracy had been established in Argos.The Spartans felt that they could not succeed by themselves, and they went home despite the request of Argos oligarchs.After that, Argos formed an alliance with Athens and, with the help of Athens, began to build a long wall leading to the sea.The purpose is "once the land route is cut off, with the help of the Athenians, we can import from the sea what we need... The Argos people will go out and men, women and slaves will build the wall".Although the project was destroyed by Spartans, the democratic politics of Argos was not overthrown.The last sentence of Thucydides quoted above is worth noting. It is precisely "the whole people go out", which shows that democratic politics is supported by the majority of Argos.However, the democrats do not want to liquidate them completely.For those oligarchs, they only chose 300 people and gave them to the Athenians as hostages.For others, the Argos chose tolerance.If we compare the actions of Argos people with those of both sides in the Corsilane War, the moderate action of Argos democrats may be no less than the defeat of the Athenian democrats in 403 BCThirty Tyrants Reconciliation and amnesty later.The amnesty made the Athenian democrats win the praise of all ancient writers.Just as the Athenian democracy was almost never challenged internally after that, after that, until the beginning of the Hellenistic era, the democratic politics of Argos had never been successfully subverted internally.
Argos
conclusion
The Greek history in the classical era was polycentric. Athens and Sparta were justBalkan PeninsulaThe two most influential city-state, due to the relatively rich literature, have attracted scholars' attention.Most of the treatises on ancient democracy focused on Athens.In terms of academic development, this situation has its ownrationality。However, from a comprehensive understanding of the history of ancient Greece, it is not objective: it seriously ignores the diversity of Greek history, and also demeans the creativity of Greeks in many aspects.In terms of political experiment, Sparta is the earliest heavy infantry country in Greece and the first country to grant political rights to all Spartan citizens;The first inscription on political system found today was from Dreus, a small town in Crete in the 7th century BC. It was the first attempt to regulate the tenure and responsibilities of officials in written form;Caius may be the first city-state to set up a people's council;If Herodotus' record is credible, the slogan of equality comes from SamosMaianMouth of Delius;It was the Greek colony of Kulainai in North Africa that broke up citizens and rebuilt the basic political framework;Among the Ionians, the possibility of combining many city states into a great power was discussed for the first time.Aristotle's Politics, when discussing the types and characteristics of democratic politics in ancient Greece, obviously integrates a lot of data on the democratic politics of city states.Robinson combed 18 cases of early democratic politics in ancient Greece and found that "by the middle of the 6th century BC, democracy had been formed in different countries, even earlier in other regions. By the beginning of the 5th century BC, this kind of government had become a definite phenomenon in the Greek world".Since there was no absolute hegemon in ancient Greece, most of these democratic politics took place independently, and none of them was imposed on a city state by other city states or imported from another city state.The fundamental reason for the rise of Greek democracy originates from the popularEgalitarianism。On this basis, the democracy in Athens is neither the first nor the typical."The Athens centered view of ancient democracy is naturally due to the extremely rich depth of information provided by the history of classical Athens, but it should not obscure the basic fact that the real origin of democracy is in other parts of Greece".
The social basis of Argos' democratic politics is independent small land owners, who constitute the main body of Argos citizens and the core of the army.As a city-state, its basic system reflects the commonness: farmers are the main participants in the civic assembly, and there is a tradition of regular meetings to discuss city-state events, but the frequency is not as intensive as that in Athens, which reflects Aristotle's theory that farmers are the best citizens, because "such people have little property and are busy working all the year round, so they have no leisure to attend the civic assembly.The family has not enough food and clothing, and will not give up sooner or laterLeisi... In a word, they are happy to work and rest, participate in politics and serve each otherpublic affairsThey don't want to get involved because there is no actual gain. "However, this does not mean that farmers do not care about state affairs. After all, they are the first to go to the battlefield once the war begins.Argos' civic assembly's supervision of officials is not as strict as Athens', but it is not optional.Officials are elected by the people in accordance with the convention and are willing to abide by their short tenureConventionalAs a result, there was little political change in the history of Argos.From governanceEffect theoryArgos did not become a super power in the Greek world, but it was also less involved in the war in the Greek world,small-scale peasant economyLess impact.Therefore, after the Peloponnesian War, Argos still had enough strength to challenge Sparta with Thebes and Corinth, and maintained the stability of the city-state for a long time.In the conflict prone Greek city-state world, Argos neither relied on conquest nor colonization, but was able to maintain the political stability of the city-state, indicating the ability of the democratic city-state to respond to the situation.In fact, in the Greek world, the democratic politics of Thebes, Syracuse, Ellis, Akeya, and Metapen were all born on the basis of the peasant community, and their systems and operations were similar to those of Argos.At the same time, democracy also appeared in the city states with relatively developed industry and commerce, such as Caius.These cases show that the democratic politics of ancient Greece are not only diverse, even though their system is not as democratic as that of Athens on the whole, it may be radical in some aspects, such as the half year tenure of ArgosTenure system, also achieved the stability of the city-state.Argos and other cases show that we need to pay more attention to areas outside Athens based on the latest information, reveal the richness and changes of ancient Greek democracy from many specific cases, and further explore the diversified types of Greek countries.In fact, it is generally accepted that not only democracy is not a type of Athens, but also city-state is not the only form of Greece.The polycentric Greek world is the testing ground for diversified politics and political systems.The case of Argos shows not only the commonness of city-state, but also the diversity of city-state democracy, which needs more in-depth research.
