Athenian civic identity in Plutarch s portrayals of Phocion and Demetrius of Phalerum

Abstract

Despite the fact that the fourth century  was a period of great literary vitality for Athens, the city no longer exercised the political and military hegemony it had throughout much of the fifth century. Moreover, neither Sparta nor any of the other Greek poleis were able to occupy such a dominant position for an extended period of time, thus leaving space for the rise of Macedonia. This is the historical context behind figures such as Phocion and Demetrius of Phalerum, who tried their best to find a balance between Athens and Macedonia at that turning point, at least in the way Plutarch portrays them. Like the case of Phocion (albeit in a more drastic manner and with a more violent ending), the activity of Demetrius of Phalerum, probably the last great Athenian nomothetes, illustrates the limitations and contradictions of a polis as great as Athens, which had to learn how to reinvent itself within the framework of effective Macedonian rule, despite alleged attempts to ‘restore’ democracy and the true ‘ancestral constitution’. Both men are therefore good examples of the way in which various ‘identities’ could be negotiated and reshaped, paving the way for a broader identity constructed from a synthesis of encounters with ‘otherness’ in a wider kosmopolis that would be progressively integrated into the Roman domain.