Collective Activities and the Political in the Greek City

Abstract

Abstract The importance of patterns of behaviour, actions, and collective activities peculiar to social groups is widely recognized among modern historians and in contemporary studies. It is also becoming a preoccupation of research in ancient history.1 Such studies are not simply a question of rewriting the history of ‘everyday life’ under another name, that is, discussing collective practices such as hunting, athletic training, and banquets while separating them from their historical context. On the contrary, it is necessary to emphasize the close dependence that exists between such varied observances and the groups that practise them, as well as the particular political system (in this case the polis) that created and developed them. In order to avoid the trap of ‘static history’, we must provide a foundation in the history of the cities for practices that have had no place in the historiography of our discipline until now.

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