About this book
Acknowledgements
PART 1: SETTING THE STAGE FOR CITIZENS
Introduction: Democratic Knowledge
Citizens Modern and Ancient
Democracies
Intellectual Attainment and Democratic Ideals
Myth and Mousikē
Heroic Politics
Hesiod’s Poetics of Struggle
Solon: Accommodating Athens to the Muse
PART 2: CITIZEN SPACES
Knowing Where It Happens
Democratic Citizenship: Staging and Rehearsal
What Did Citizens Learn?
Learning at Home
Places of Learning
The Agora
The View beyond the City
In and Out of the Barber’s Shop
PART 3: THE CITIZEN PERFORMER
Writing the City
Suspicion of Writing in Athens
On Writers (People Who Write Written Speeches, or Sophists)
The Argument of ‘On Writers’
A Misdirected Attack on Writing?
The Two Faces of the Writer
Stylish Spontaneity
Conclusion: the City as University
Bibliography
Biography
Niall Livingstone is a Senior Lecturer in Classics, Ancient History, and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham.
"This slim book takes on a big question: 'How did the citizens of ancient Athens learn to live in a democracy?' It’s an important question, both for our knowledge of the classical city and for our understanding of how citizenship works in democracies today ... Livingstone’s work is an important reminder that "culture" (political or otherwise) is grounded in face-to-face human interactions. His book is a powerful statement about how much ancient Athens still has to teach us ... it is a worthwhile and compelling read."
- Ryan R. Abrecht, University of San Diego (USA), the Bryn Mawr Classical Review
