aristotle the politics and the constitution of athens

Imported papyrus once commonplace in Ancient Greece have since deteriorated beyond repair, but papyri are still being found in Egypt. In European conditions, papyrus only lasted a few decades, and a 200-year-old papyrus was considered extraordinary. However, storage in humid conditions can result in molds attacking and destroying the material. In a dry climate, like that of Egypt, papyrus is stable, formed as it is of highly rot-resistant cellulose. The Areopagite constitution is the common name for a period in ancient Athens described by Aristotle in his Constitution of the Athenians.Īccording to that work, the Athenian political scene was dominated, between the late 470s BC and 462 BC, by the Areopagus, a traditional court composed of former magistrates. Modern historians claimed that the discovery of this treatise contains factual information not found in any other surviving ancient text. If it is a genuine writing of Aristotle, then it is of particular significance because it is the only one of his surviving papers that were intended for publication. On the other hand, several prominent scholars doubt that Aristotle wrote it, and the controversy over the authorship of the work continues today. It is assumed that this project was part of his research into his study of Politics and that Aristotle composed the Athenian text himself as a model for his students, due to the importance of Athens. In other ancient documents, several ancient authors state that Aristotle assigned his pupils to prepare a monograph of 158 constitutions of Greek cities, including a constitution of Athens. The work deals with the different forms of the constitution and the city’s institutions, including the terms of access to citizenship, magistrates, and the courts. The codex describes the political system of Classical Athens, commonly called the Areopagite Constitution, written between 328 BC and 322 BC.

It was preserved on two leaves of a papyrus codex discovered at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, in 1879. This “Constitution of the Athenians” is a copy of the original writings of Aristotle or one of his students. Constitution of the Athenians by Aristotle

Aristotle the politics and the constitution of athens