This study re-examines the nature of Greek politics and democracy, and explores the ways in which they have been perceived since the Renaissance. It shows how the nature of political life in Ancient Greece has been interpreted and re-interpreted throughout the centuries.

Translator's Note. Acknowledgement. Introduction: Athenian Democracy in 1788. 1. Plato, History and the Historians. 2. Atlantis and the Nations. 3. The Enlightenment in the Greek City-state. 4. The Formation of Bourgeois Athens. 5. The Place of Greece in the Imaginary Representations of the Men of the Revolution. 6. From Paris to Athens and Back. 7. Renan and the Greek Miracle. Index.

Written by one of the leading ancient historians in the world today, this book re-examines the nature of Greek politics and democracy and explores the ways in which they have been perceived since the Renaissance. In a wide-ranging discussion, Vidal-Naquet shows how the nature of political life in Ancient Greece has been interpreted and re-interpreted throughout the centuries, from the first critics of Greek democracy, through the rediscovery of democratic values in the eighteenth century, to the writings of Marx and Renan. He analyzes the distance separating the moderns from the ancients, and argues that people in the eighteenth century were divided over whether to support Sparta or Athens, virtuous austerity or slightly degenerate luxury. He discusses how certain myths, originating in Ancient Greece, were transformed by succeeding generations. Focusing on the myth of Atlantis, he argues that, in the course of three centuries, it has been used to promote various forms of modern nationalism, despite the fact that Plato originally invented it for pedagogical and philosophical purposes. Politics Ancient and Modern will be welcomed by students and researchers in Ancient history, Classics, and the history of political thought.

"The clear product of vast learning and energy." Australian Journal of Politics and History "The sense of engagement is exhilarating." Common Knowledge "These innovative recent studies of a master ancient historian are now available in a lucid, perceptive translation. Vidal-Naquet, in the tradition of Arnaldo Mornigliano and Moses Finley and with their range and strategies, dissects the cult of antiquity in 18th- and 19th-century France, revealing how 'the Greek miracle' was created by modern intrustions into the essentially alien nature of Classical Greece and by 'mythologized' adaptations to contemporary purposes. In the expanding field of the classical tradition here is new enlightenment by a luminous historian." Meyer Reinhold, Institute for the Classical Tradition, Boston University "Vidal-Naquet is one of the foremost scholars of the ancient Greeks' realm of imaginary representations. His learning is stupendous, land in this book he combines a deeply personal political engagement with formidable scholarship. Politics Ancient and Modern is both a plea for, and a triumphant demonstration of, the comparative and interdisciplinary character of the best in ancient Greek historical studies." Paul Cartledge, Clare College, Cambridge