During the heady, democratic days of the fifth and fourth centuries, the poorer members of Athenian society enjoyed an unprecedented dominance in both domestic and foreign politics. In this book, author Phillip Harding traces the major changes that occurred in the administration of the state that eventually deprived the lower classes of their supremacy and transferred power into the hands of the wealthy land-owners.

Phillip E. Harding is Professor Emeritus to the Department of Classical, Near Eastern & Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia. He is author or editor of several books, including From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsos (1985), and Androtion and the Atthis (1994).

Introduction Part 1: Historical Review 1. Soveriegnty Regained 2. Sovereignty Lost Part 2: Thematic Essays 3. From Sea to Land 4. From Taxation to Benefaction 5. The Loss of Popular Control of the Judicial System 6. The Transformation of Social Structure Conclusion