Description

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1848-1931) was one of the most prominent German philologists of his time and his work is still well regarded. This book, originally published in 1893, is a detailed analysis of the The Constitution of the Athenians, then usually (though not universally) regarded as a work of Aristotle. Wilamowitz accepts Aristotle's authorship of the famous treatise on the history of the constitution that restored democracy after the oligarchy of the Thirty (403 BCE). Volume 1 investigates the historical sources employed by Aristotle, hypothesising that he was using two now lost works in addition to Herodotus and Thucydides, and that these were likely to be chronicles of events in the city. Volume 2 reconstructs Athenian constitutional history on the basis of the work. A number of essays addressing topics on Athenian constitutional history and drawing on such figures as Solon, Peisistratus, Lysias and Isocrates are also included.