Regime change in early Hellenistic Athens

Abstract

This thesis undertakes a causal analysis of the political instability that the Athenian democracy experienced during the four decades after the death of Alexander the Great. The frequency of changes in the city’s political regime in this period has not received systematic treatment by scholars. Drawing on literary, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence, this thesis argues that the instability, so unusual after nearly two centuries of almost uninterrupted stability, resulted from the interplay between internal and external dynamics, i.e. stasis (civil strife) and foreign intervention. Stasis in Athens was the result of a combination of causes, including foreign influence and political culture. A comparison with the relatively long-lasting political stability that came after forty years of turbulence demonstrates that a balanced foreign policy and reconciliatory memory politics contributed to the stability of democracy.