"The birth of democracy: Values in war and politics in classical Greece"

Abstract

In this chapter, we analyze the relation of values that emerged due to the creation, sometime between the 8th and the 7th centuries B.C., of a new type of heavily armed infantryman, the hoplite, unknown before that time. We wish to argue that the emergence of democracy in classical Greece was precipitated by the appearance of this new type of warrior, the hoplite and the new tactics that were developed as the most suitable form to accommodate the hoplites. The new tactical battle formation, the phalanx, led to the development of new values and ideals in the field of battle, which, once established, became widely accepted, and thus were introduced also in the political field. These were the values on which direct democracy rested. We argue that no democracies developed without the existence of hoplites and phalanxes. Nevertheless, in some cases, like in the case of Sparta, the appearance of hoplites and phalanxes did not lead to democracy, while in others it did. Thus, the emergence of the hoplites and the phalanx seems to have been a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the emergence of democracy. A further analysis of the ancient Greek city-states shows that those city-states which transformed themselves into seapowers and maritime states, with no exception, were also democracies. Thus, seapower seems to have been a sufficient condition for the emergence and endurance of democracy in classical times, and we explain this as being due to the establishment of a community of mainly economic interests. The essay is organised as follows: In the first section, we trace the development of the hoplites, the introduction of the phalanx as a battle formation and its economic basis. In the second, we discuss the emergence of new values and how these values were transferred to the political field, and led to the introduction of democracy and to democratic values. In the third, we analyse the emergence of Athens as a maritime power, the link between seapower and democratic values and the community of interests on which the durability of democracy was based. This is followed by our conclusions. © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.