Some aspects of public and private in fifth century B.C. Athens

Johnson, Susan J (1980) Some aspects of public and private in fifth century B.C. Athens. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of a central relationship in political philosophy, that between public and private, in fifth century Athens employ the terms 'public' and 'private' to refer respectively to that which applies to the polio as a whole and that which concerns or relates to the individual citizen alone.The thesis includes an examination of the role and function of the citizen in the legal structure of the state, in religious life, and in political and social life within the polio, as they particularly relate to the public and private realms. The thesis also considers Greek notions of deprivation in the polio and positive attempts made by the Greeks to avoid this explore the Greeks' use of language and attitudes to death and suicide, and consider the Greek love of competition and the Athenian 'honour system'. The status of women in fifth century Athens as beings with limited public rights is discussed together with male attitudes to women within the polio, and the meaning of this for the public/political realm. The thesis is extended to consider actual examples drawn from Greek authors of the use of public and private terms(Appendix I), and to examine briefly Plato's Republio and his attempts to reconcile potential tensions between public and private based on the rOle of the philosopher ruler. (Appendix II).

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