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Civil Society History I: Antiquity

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International Encyclopedia of Civil Society

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Main Characteristics of the Period

Although the term “civil society” is an ancient coinage, its meaning has since undergone such a great change that it is not self-evident to talk about civil society (in the modern sense of the word) concerning antiquity without reservation. However, as will be clear later, the old and the modern usages are not totally unrelated, and it may prove to be illuminative of the understanding of present-day civil societies to look for ancient counterparts.

General Economic and Political Conditions

Throughout this entry antiquity will be understood as classical antiquity, that is, the Greco-Roman world, covering the time span from ca. 600 BCE to 476 CE.

All ancient societies were more or less complex agrarian (or preindustrial) societies organized politically in states. Since the economic integration of larger areas was extremely difficult due to the underdeveloped technologies of agricultural production and transportation, they could only be integrated by...

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References

  • Aristotle. (1984). The complete works (Vol. 2) (ed: Barnes, J.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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  • Arnaoutoglou, I. N. (2002). Roman law and collegia in Asia minor. Revue Internationale des droits de l’Antiquité, XLIX, 27–44.

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Further Reading

  • Alföldy, G. (1988). The social history of Rome. London: Routledge.

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  • Crone, P. (1989). Pre-industrial societies. Oxford: Blackwell.

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  • Finley, M. I. (1983). Politics in the ancient world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Garnsey, P., & Saller, R. (1987). The Roman empire. Economy, society and culture. London: Duckworth.

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  • Kloppenborg, J. S., & Wilson, S. G. (Eds.). (1996). Voluntary associations in the Graeco-Roman world. New York: Routledge.

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  • Wallace-Hadrill, A. (Ed.). (1989). Patronage in ancient society. London/New York: Routledge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Theory, University of Kaposvár, Kaposvár, Hungary

    Gábor Molnár

Authors
  1. Gábor Molnár
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Correspondence to Gábor Molnár .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

  2. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. Schar school, George Mason University, ARLINGTON, VI, USA

    Stefan Toepler

Section Editor information

  1. Hamburg, Germany

    Regina A. List

  2. University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  3. Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany

    Helmut K. Anheier

  4. Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, Arlington, VA, USA

    Stefan Toepler

  5. Center for the Study of Civil Society and the Non-Profit Sector, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation

    Stefan Toepler

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Molnár, G. (2020). Civil Society History I: Antiquity. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_530-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_530-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99675-2

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