The Ancient State and the Myth of Marathon

Abstract

Jason Kuznicki reviews the role of the state or polity in ancient historiography and philosophy. He reviews authors including Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle and Tacitus and argues that ancient Greek and Roman cultures tended to place the state rhetorically at the center of society, and to make of it a theater of virtue, in which individual character was tested. Self-sacrifice for the benefit of the state was commonly considered the highest virtue. Idealized states, such as those found in the Republic and the Laws, commonly relied on imaginary technologies, saving them from empirical testing while propagating the ideal of an all-powerful state.