The discourse of kingship in classical Athenian thought

Abstract

Athenian foundation myth includes stories of kings, retold in different genres to pursue distinct political agendas and to reshape the Athenian political imaginary. This article explores the transition from drama to history as a vehicle for these stories, and the exploitation of this transition in Isocrates' political rhetoric, conflating myth and history. While Euripides' democratic king Theseus represented an idealised active citizen, Isocrates retold Athenian myth to show that the good qualities of Athenian democracy depend on their origins in the city's political foundation by Theseus, and that citizens should achieve the good life through imitating virtuous monarchs.

The household in Isocrates’ political thought

“…For if a good reputation stems from treating the city like his household, the reverse also holds: to gain a good reputation Nicocles must treat his household like his city. He tells his subjects that, ‘those who rule correctly should try to govern in harmony not only the cities ( poleis ) which they rule but also their own homes ( oikous ) and the places in which they dwell’ (Isocrates, 2000: 3.41; also observed by Atack, 2020, 126 citing Nicocles , 3.21). Although reputation could be distinguished from the private pleasures the monarch pursues, as the career of Alcibiades suggests, Nicocles refuses to do so.…”