Two thousand five hundred years ago, in 507–506 B.C.E., the institutions of Athen were rocked by the reforms of Cleisthenes. Although the word did not yet exist, here was the foundation of democracy. First published in French in 1964, Cleisthenes the Athenian has become the classic study of the philosophical, political, and aesthetic background and significance of these reforms.
The book has influenced a generation of scholars in anthropology, sociology, urban planning, political science, philosophy, and classical studies. This English translation contains the complete text of the original essay and is supplemented by a discussion among Vidal-Naquet, Leveque, and the philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis on the invention of democracy, as well as a new authors' introduction.
"[A] Classic study of the great Athenian democratic reformer Cleisthenes. . . . Most striking is [the authors'] 'geometrical vision of Cleisthenes' reform,' the relationship they explore between the 'geometric vision of the world such as it was being formulated by Anaximander, and the political vision of a rational and homogeneous city, such as was achieved by Cleisthenes.'"
—Choice
