The Athenian Aristocracy, 399 to 31 B.C. (Martin Classical Lectures, Volume XXIII)

ix, 111 pp. "It has been a common assumption among historians that the reforms of Kleisthenes (508 B.C.) changed Athens irrevocably from an aristocratic to a democratic state. A further assumption has been that the aristocratic clans were reduced to a religious role. Mr. MacKendrick contends that, in the fourth century B.C. and after, Athenian aristocratic clansmen were able to transform their religious prominence into political influence. He shows that chiefs of state, generals, mint-magistrates, and other officials were drawn from the aristocracy generations after Kleisthenes was believed to have broken its power forever."