The words of empire: The Athenian archē of the Fifth Century B.C

Abstract

The Athenian Empire was not only an empire of triremes and owls. It was also an empire of words. Beyond material forms of domination, Athenians developed a discourse that made of their city the center of the world of their time. If we are to believe Thucydides, Athenian political leaders presented their city as a model of self-restraint and moderation, thus asserting its moral superiority over the rest of the Greek world. Besides, from Aeschylus to Euripides, a series of tragedies makes of Athens the solution to the legal, religious or political challenges faced by various heroes of the common Greek mythology. The universalizing ambition of this discourse has, in fact, a performative aspect. The ethical superiority of the Athenians justifes their political superiority. The success of this performative discourse can be traced in the speech of Antiphon On the murder of Herodes, where before the Athenian court the Mytilenian Euxitheos praises the laws of Athens with a tone that directly echoes the praise of the Areopagus in Aeschylus's Suppliants. The defendant had seemingly perfectly internalized the superiority of the Athenian courts — or rather he thought it was his best interest to proclaim he had.