Empire, Autonomy and the Polis
Abstract
This article is a contribution to the debate on the significance of autonomy for the ancient Greek city-state. It argues that one of the most important implications of Hansen’s work on the polis, and his downplaying of autonomy as a constitutive feature, was finally to lay to rest any doubts about the continued vitality of the polis under Roman rule. Ma’s new grand synthesis of the polis seems fully to have taken the consequence of this and expanded its chronological span to include the Roman Empire down to late antiquity. However, there is a paradox in need of resolution here. For at the same time, Ma has decided to re-instate autonomy as a pivotal feature of the polis. How can this be resolved?
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
