Phocion: Good Citizen in a Divided Democracy (Ancient Lives)
Description
Thomas R. Martin recounts the unmatched political and military career of Phocion of Athens, and his tragic downfall
Phocion (402–318 BCE) won Athens’s highest public office by direct democratic election an unmatched forty-five times and was officially honored as a “Useful Citizen.” A student at Plato's Academy, Phocion gained influence and power during a time when Athens faced multiple crises stemming from Macedonia’s emergence as an international power under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great.
Following Athens’s defeat by Macedonia, Phocion unsuccessfully sought mild terms of surrender. Oligarchy was imposed on democratic Athens, and more than twelve thousand “undesirable” Athenians were exiled. When the oligarchic regime was overthrown and the exiles returned, dispossessed Athenians took out their volcanic anger on Phocion, who had been a harsh and relentless critic of his countrymen. His inflammatory rhetoric contributed to the popular conclusion that he lacked a genuine sense of belonging to the community he wished so desperately to preserve. The Athenians convicted him of treason at age eighty-four and condemned him to die by hemlock.
In this fresh biography, Thomas R. Martin explores how and why Phocion ultimately failed as a citizen and as a leader. His story offers unsetting lessons for citizens in democracies today.
Praise for Phocion: Good Citizen in a Divided Democracy (Ancient Lives)
“Set in the twilight of ancient Greece’s greatest democracy, this is a thought-provoking and highly readable account of an Athenian leader of high principle whose political style—and failings—still offer lessons today.”—Tony Spawforth, author of What the Greeks Did for Us
“At a time when democracy is under attack both in the United States and abroad, Martin’s lively and penetrating account of the politician Phocion’s conflicts with the democracy of his native Athens makes timely reading indeed.”—Jennifer T. Roberts, author of Out of One, Many: Ancient Greek Ways of Thought and Culture
