Craige B. Champion: How to Be Citizens of Empires, Gebunden

Klappentext

At a time when personal identity and private interests rule public life, a new political history of ancient Athens and Rome, where collective commitments of citizenship stood at the heart of self-government, is urgent.

In ancient Athens and republican Rome, citizenship was not a mere right of abode or grant of access to a minimal and often self-interested form of democracy, as in present-day America. Citizenship was, rather, a demanding public responsibility. The claim civis Romanus sum could secure the state's protection and command authority. In Athens, the citizenry exercised formidable powers, including even the ability to exile those deemed dangerous to the people's sovereignty.

A deep historical inquiry that confronts political dilemmas of the twenty-first century, How to Be Citizens of Empires invites serious consideration of cultures in which public obligation was the heart of political life. Craige B. Champion shows how Athens and Rome managed pressures of expansion and rule. Athens limited access to citizenship while channeling imperial revenues into civic participation. Rome steadily extended citizenship across Italy and beyond, cultivating loyalty while diluting the influence of individual citizens as the empire grew.

Without overlooking well-documented Athenian and Roman slavery, militarism, and exclusion of women, How to Be Citizens of Empires highlights institutional resilience, thoughtful policies of incorporation, and rigorous standards of public accountability. By recovering these dimensions of the ancient world, Champion illuminates present debates over immigration, civic education, and national purpose and reminds us that Athens and Rome can still serve as magistri vitae-teachers for life-to Americans.