Ritual, Finance, Politics : Athenian Democratic Accounts Presented to David Lewis

Contains a collection of essays by twenty-two leading scholars from the UK, Europe, and America celebrating - the birth of democracy and the 65th birthday of internationally renowned Professor of Ancient History at Oxford, David Lewis. The essays discuss the religious, financial, and political aspects of Athenian democracy.

This book is a celebration of two thousand five hundred years of democracy. At the same time it is a collection of essays to honour the sixty-fifth birthday of David Lewis, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford. The book brings together contributions from twenty two leading scholars from Britain, Continental Europe, Israel, and America; its central themes are ritual (both in the religious and extended anthropological sense); finance, including the accountability principle which was basic to Athenian democracy; and politics. All represent significant new contributions in the field. The contributors pay especial attention to epigraphy (the editing and interpretation of inscriptions on stone), which is David Lewis'' speciality. They have made full use of the newest epigraphic evidence, and discuss topics such as the purposes (including symbolic and monumental motives) for which democratic inscriptions were set up. The introduction locates individual contributions within the overall study of classical Athens and relates them to Lewis'' own published work.