Why did the Athenians Fail so Miserably where the Romans Succeeded so Brilliantly?

Adam Pałuchowski

Abstract


The study is comparative and focuses, essentially, on classical antiquity, it means both its major centers that are, on the one hand, Athens, the city-reason of chaotic imperialism, and, on the other hand, Rome, the city-world of pragmatic and fully assumed imperialism. First of all, but still, from a comparative perspective, it begins with Near Eastern much older imperialist background, such as the micro-empire set up by Sargon of Akkad or the Assyrian empire during the reign of Shalmaneser III. However, the main aim is to answer the question about why Athenian imperialism fell, despite the obviousness of the lost Peloponnesian War and in contrast to the dazzling success of Roman imperialism. Narrative as well as epigraphic sources are comparatively analysed and one takes advantage of the network theory.


Keywords


imperialism; Near East; Sargon of Akkad; Assyrian Empire; Shalmaneser III; classical antiquity; Athenian Empire; Roman Empire; network theory; state formation

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/rh.2023.56.23-44
Date of publication: 2023-12-21 13:03:49
Date of submission: 2021-12-10 19:39:31


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