Book contents
- Leadership in the Ancient World
- Antiquity in Global Context
- Leadership in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Leadership in Third-Millennium Mesopotamia
- Chapter 2 Leadership in Rural Pharaonic Egypt
- Chapter 3 The Importance of Religion in Achaemenid Leadership
- Chapter 4 Leadership in Ancient China
- Chapter 5 Public Generosity and Models of Leadership in Classical Athens
- Chapter 6 Divine Kingship as Reflected in Deuterocanonical Literature
- Chapter 7 Cicero, Octavian and the Failure of Republican Leadership
- Chapter 8 Ciceronian Aspects of Leadership in Livy’s Ab Vrbe Condita
- Chapter 9 Imperial and Episcopal Leadership Networks in the Later Roman Empire
- Chapter 10 Concluding Remarks
- General Index
- References
Chapter 5 - Public Generosity and Models of Leadership in Classical Athens
The Case of Demosthenes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 September 2025
Edited by
Book contents
- Leadership in the Ancient World
- Antiquity in Global Context
- Leadership in the Ancient World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Table
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Leadership in Third-Millennium Mesopotamia
- Chapter 2 Leadership in Rural Pharaonic Egypt
- Chapter 3 The Importance of Religion in Achaemenid Leadership
- Chapter 4 Leadership in Ancient China
- Chapter 5 Public Generosity and Models of Leadership in Classical Athens
- Chapter 6 Divine Kingship as Reflected in Deuterocanonical Literature
- Chapter 7 Cicero, Octavian and the Failure of Republican Leadership
- Chapter 8 Ciceronian Aspects of Leadership in Livy’s Ab Vrbe Condita
- Chapter 9 Imperial and Episcopal Leadership Networks in the Later Roman Empire
- Chapter 10 Concluding Remarks
- General Index
- References
Summary
A prevalent idea in scholarship on Athenian politics of the classical period is the assumption, based on figures like Pericles and Demosthenes, that political leadership depended on the ability to give good advice and communicate well with fellow citizens in the Council and Assembly. Without necessarily challenging this assumption, the present chapter focuses on a mechanism for attaining political leadership that has received less attention: gift-giving to both individual citizens and the entire community. Athenians with political ambitions built networks of followers (clients) through private gifts, but the phenomenon has not been fully appreciated because of the supposition that nothing comparable to the Roman patron/client relationship existed in the Greek polis. This chapter focuses on the case of Demosthenes.
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- Leadership in the Ancient WorldConcepts, Models, Theories, pp. 110 - 132Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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