Pity and Power in Ancient Athens

Download or read book Pity and Power in Ancient Athens written by Rachel Hall Sternberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-07-25 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Athenians resemble modern Americans in their moral discomfort with empire. Athenians had power and used it ruthlessly, but the infliction of suffering did not mesh well with their civic-self-image. Embracing the concepts of democracy and freedom, they proudly pitted themselves against tyranny and oppression, but in practice they were capable of being tyrannical. Pity and Power in Ancient Athens argues that the exercise of power in democratic Athens, especially during its brief fifth-century empire, raised troubling questions about the alleviation and infliction of suffering, and pity emerged as a topic in Atheninan culture at this time.