PUBLICATIONS
1. Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History. Princeton University Press, 2017.
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Co-winner of the 2018 Runciman Award, given by the Anglo-Hellenic
League (details)
My first book examines the phenomenon of oligarchia,
or the rule of the few, in Classical Greece. Drawing on
contemporary political science research on authoritarianism,
I show how minority-run regimes of the wealthy maintained
themselves in power through the use of specialized social
and political institutions.
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Click HERE to download Chapter 1 for free.
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Praise for Classical Greek Oligarchy:
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"In contrast to the huge amount of work done on ancient and modern democracy and democrats, there is a yawning absence of work on ancient—or modern—oligarchs and oligarchy. That gap is now triumphantly filled by Matthew Simonton’s brilliant book on oligarchy in the ancient Greek world."
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– Paul Cartledge, A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture Emeritus, Cambridge
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"This is the first full-length study of Greek oligarchy as a regime type in more than a century. Well-crafted and multilayered, this important book does much more than situate oligarchy within the spectrum of Greek and Aristotelian regimes; it argues the provocative new thesis that oligarchy came into existence in the early fifth century BCE as a reaction to democracy, and it seeks to understand how, despite being unpopular and authoritarian, oligarchies thrived throughout the fifth and fourth centuries."
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– Peter van Alfen, Margaret Thompson Curator of Ancient Greek Coins, American Numismatic Society
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"[T]his is a valuable exploration of the means by which Greek oligarchic régimes sought to maintain themselves in power."
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– P. J. Rhodes, Emeritus Professor of Classics, Durham University, Sehepunkte (review)
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"Stimulating and thought-provoking. . . . I would happily recommend this book to scholars of Classical history and politics." – Daniel B. Unruh, University of Cambridge , Classical Review (review)
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"Remarkable and innovative. . . . This book is a major contribution to the political history of classical antiquity and to classical scholarship at large." – Marek Wecowski, University of Warsaw, Ancient History Bulletin (review)
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"This is a densely argued and challenging book...all serious students of ancient political history will need to engage with it." – Phillip Harding, University of British Columbia, Phoenix (review)
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"An important and pioneering book." – Alex Gottesman, Temple University, Classical World (review)
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"Well researched, clearly written, and vigorously argued." – Greg Anderson, The Ohio State University, American Historical Review (review)
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2. "The Local History of Hippias of Erythrai: Politics, Place, Memory, and Monumentality." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 87 (2018): 497-543. (link)
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Recent studies of local historiography in ancient Greece have overlooked the importance of Hippias of Erythrai, whose lone surviving fragment reveals complex processes of memory making and the politics of place. This article argues that Hippias should be understood as a participant in early Hellenistic struggles between democracy and oligarchy, concluding with an exploration of how the historian's language interacts with the text and iconography of a late Classical Athenian monument.
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3. "The Burial of Brasidas and the Politics of Commemoration in the Classical Period." American Journal of Philology 139 (2018): 1-30. (link)
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A reexamination of the burial and heroization of the Spartan general
Brasidas at Amphipolis in 422 in terms of political contestation between democrats
and oligarchs invites broader theorizing about the political role of public
commemoration in the Classical period. Forms of commemoration, including
hero-cult, statues, and public burials, were often closely associated with political
regimes, which might hope to promote their legitimacy and stability through the
regular gathering of massed groups of citizens around commemorative monuments.
Tyrannicide- and founder-cults, as well as honorary statues, also often
instructed citizens of democracies in how to resist takeover by anti-democratic
factions. Memorials thus had a dynamic and practical function in addition to an
ideological one. Oligarchies by contrast might manipulate existing forms of commemoration
to deliver a political threat and strengthen their rule.
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4. "Stability and Violence in Classical Greek Democracies and Oligarchies." Classical Antiquity 36.1 (2017): 52-103. (link)
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Existing attempts to understand the relationship between violence and stability within Classical Athens are undermined by their failure to compare democracies with oligarchies. The exclusionary policies of oligarchies created a fragile political equilibrium that required considerable regulation if oligarchic regimes were to survive. By contrast, the inclusiveness of democracies largely defused the danger that disputes would lead to regime collapse.
5. "The Cry from the Herald's Stone: The Revolutionary Logic behind the Rhodian Democratic Uprising of 395 BCE." TAPA 145.2 (2015): 281-324. (link)
In this article I use both textual parallels from Greek literature and social science theories of collective action to explain the revolutionary logic behind a democratic revolution at Rhodes in the early fourth century. Public space, poetry, and performance combine to catalyze an uprising against an oligarchic regime.
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6. Review of L. Cecchet, Poverty in Athenian Public Discourse: From the Eve of the Peloponnesian War to the Rise of Macedonia (Stuttgart 2015). (link)
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6. "Who Made Athens Great? Three Recent Books on Pericles and Athenian Politics." Polis 35 (2018): 220-35. (link)
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Reviewing V. Azoulay, Pericles of Athens (Princeton 2014); T. R. Martin, Pericles: A Biography in Context (Cambridge 2016); L. J. Samons, II, Pericles and the Conquest of History: A Political Biography (Cambridge 2016).
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7. Review of Brill Jacoby Online website for the Society for Classical Studies (link)
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8. Review of E. Caire, Penser l'oligarchie à Athènes aux Ve et IVe siècles: aspects d'une idéologie (Paris 2016). Journal of Hellenic Studies 137 (2017). (link)
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9. Review of Julia L. Shear, Polis and Revolution: Responding to Oligarchy in Classical Athens (Cambridge 2011). Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2012.02.12. (link)
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10. Review of Eric W. Robinson, Democracy Beyond Athens: Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age (Cambridge 2011). Polis 29.2 (2012). (link)
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11. Review of D. Tabachnick and T. Koivukoski, eds., On Oligarchy: Ancient Lessons for Global Politics (Toronto 2011). Notre Dama Philosophical Review. (link)
