Polly Low
Biographic Data
| ID | 3643087 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Polly Low |
| GIVEN NAMES | Polly |
| FAMILY NAME | Low |
| SIGNATURE | LOW P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Manchester |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7731-4994 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Reassessing the Peloponnesian War
Modern accounts of the great war between the Athenians and the Spartans in the late fifth century BC have simply reanalysed the gripping analysis of military and political events given by Thucydides. But a great deal of other evidence survives from this best-known of all periods of Athenian history. This book exploits that evidence and our rich knowledge of ancient Greek society to reveal the Peloponnesian War as not just an event but an experien…
The Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian War
This chapter explores the ways in which the Athenian Empire influenced and was influenced by the Peloponnesian War. First, it investigates the ways in which the Athenians made use of allied military resources, arguing that there was no formal system which governed this practice. The Athenians drew on allied manpower when it was convenient to do so, perhaps for punitive reasons, and perhaps as a way of encouraging or allowing visible demonstration…
The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, the Origins of the Peloponnesian War, and Theories of International Relations
This article investigates the theoretical assumptions and implications of de Ste. Croix’s approach to interstate politics in The Origins of the Peloponnesian War. It suggests that two approaches can be identified in the work: one which sees a fundamental connection between political systems within a state and that state’s conduct of interstate politics, and another, closer to conventional ‘Realist’ theories, which sees a clear dividing line betwe…
The Cambridge Companion to Thucydides
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the earliest and most influential works in the western historiographical tradition. It provides an unfinished account of the war between Athens and her allies and Sparta and her allies which lasted from 431 to 404 BC, and is a masterpiece of narrative art and of political analysis. The twenty chapters in this Companion offer a wide range of perspectives on different aspects of the text, its i…
David C. Yates. States of Memory
A couple of years ago, a right-wing British politician could be found musing on Twitter that a sign that political correctness had finally gone mad would be when historians started to claim that the Greco-Persian Wars were not the straightforward triumph of the gloriously united Greeks over the terrifyingly alien Persians that all sensible people—he implied—know them to be. It is probably better for that politician’s blood pressure, though worse …
Ch. 6. Remembering, Forgetting, and Rewriting the Past
This chapter explores the ways in which the Athenians responded to inscriptions after their creation, and in particular their approaches to the emendation, destruction, and recreation of inscribed public texts. It argues that these approaches reveal an ongoing interaction between individual initiative and collective authority in the treatment of inscribed monuments; and it suggests that this interaction, in turn, offers an important insight into …
Four Unpublished Inscriptions (and One Neglected Collector) from the World Museum, Liverpool
In this paper, we present four Greek inscriptions which are in the possession of the World Museum, Liverpool (UK); they have been held in this collection since 1890, but have not yet been systematically studied or previously published
Panhellenism without Imperialism? Athens and the Greeks before and after Chaeronea
This article explores the shifting definition(s) of Panhellenism in fourth century Athenian political discourse, and argues that the flexibility of the concept can help to explain how the Athenians are able to continue to utilise this idea in their political arguments, even in the rapidly changing interstate environment of the late Classical and early Hellenistic period. Close analysis of the deployment of Panhellenic arguments before and after C…
Thucydides on the Athenian Empire and Interstate Relations (431–404)
This chapter explores the nature of the Athenian Empire (or Delian League) during the Peloponnesian War, discussing its administration, its finances (particularly the tribute and the tax on trade that replaced it), and the changes in its scale and ideology during this period. The final part of the chapter outlines other aspects of interstate conduct, especially attitudes to treaties and diplomacy. The non-Thucydidean evidence, both literary and (…
Lives from stone
Inscriptions of the classical and, especially, Hellenistic periods can be a rich source of information for those interested in reconstructing the details of the lives of statesmen, as well as the creative lives of poets and philosophers. This is not, of course, a novel observation: the potential utility of inscriptions as a source for biography and biographers has been recognised since antiquity. But this turn to epigraphic evidence seems often t…
An Honorific Gnome of the Koinon of the Phrikyladai. A New Inscription From Liverpool
This article publishes a new decree from the storerooms of Liverpool's World Museum. We provide a text and translation of the document, and discuss difficulties in reading the text as well as restorations where the stone is illegible. We offer an approximate dating of the document to the mid-third century, and suggest, on prosopographical and formulaic grounds, that it derives from Erythrae. We offer an interpretation of the status of the transac…
Introduction
This introductory chapter opens with an exploration of the modern organisation of epigraphical knowledge, considering its relationship to both antiquarianism and scholarship and its relationship to the subject of this book — epigraphical references in ancient literary texts. It offers the rationale for the organisation of this book. The chapters in Part I take broadly historical approaches, looking at the ways in which ancient literary authors de…
Law, Authority and Legitimacy in the Athenian Empire
Inscriptions and their Uses in Greek and Latin Literature
The practice of reading, recording, and thinking about inscriptions is common to both the modern and ancient worlds. From the archaic period onwards, ancient literary authors working within a range of genres discussed and quoted a range of inscriptions (dedications, archives, legislation, funerary inscriptions) as ornamental devices, as alternative voices to that of the narrator, to display scholarship, to make points about history, politics, ind…
The Athenian Empire
This article argues that problems of terminology also plague the study of the Athenian Empire, drawing attention to the many ancient Greek words that have been translated as ‘empire’. Arriving at the right terms to describe Athenian ‘imperialism’ would go hand in hand with the larger process of understanding other features of Athens' hegemony. For example, while the financial aspects of the Athenian Empire are heavily discussed, the cultural impe…
The Athenian Empire
GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748625857); In the fifth century BC, the Athenian Empire dominated the politics and culture of the Mediterranean world. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the history and significance of the Athenian Empire. It starts by exploring possible answers to the crucial questions of the origins and growth of the empire. Subsequent sections deal with the institutions and regulations of empire, and the mecha…
Trophies and tombstones
This paper explores the commemoration of the Roman soldier both in peacetime and in war. Hundreds of tombstones and funerary monuments record the life and death of Roman military personnel, but the vast majority of these monuments appear to commemorate soldiers who died in camp rather than on the battlefield. How were the victims of warfare disposed of and in what ways were the graves marked and the loss of life recorded? In comparison with the G…
Cavalry identity and democratic ideology in early fourth-century Athens
In 395 BC, after just under a decade of (nominal) peace between Athens and Sparta, the Corinthian War broke out, and, for the first time since the end of the Peloponnesian War, forces of Athenian cavalry were despatched to fight on behalf of their own city. The surviving historical narratives of the events at Haliartus in that year, and at Corinth and Coronea the next, are often incomplete, inconsistent, or both; the detail of what contribution –…
Trophies and tombstones
This paper explores the commemoration of the Roman soldier both in peacetime and in war. Hundreds of tombstones and funerary monuments record the life and death of Roman military personnel, but the vast majority of these monuments appear to commemorate soldiers who died in camp rather than on the battlefield. How were the victims of warfare disposed of and in what ways were the graves marked and the loss of life recorded? In comparison with the G…
Inscriptions and their Uses in Greek and Latin Literature
The practice of reading, recording, and thinking about inscriptions is common to both the modern and ancient worlds. From the archaic period onwards, ancient literary authors working within a range of genres discussed and quoted a range of inscriptions (dedications, archives, legislation, funerary inscriptions) as ornamental devices, as alternative voices to that of the narrator, to display scholarship, to make points about history, politics, ind…
Cavalry identity and democratic ideology in early fourth-century Athens
In 395 BC, after just under a decade of (nominal) peace between Athens and Sparta, the Corinthian War broke out, and, for the first time since the end of the Peloponnesian War, forces of Athenian cavalry were despatched to fight on behalf of their own city. The surviving historical narratives of the events at Haliartus in that year, and at Corinth and Coronea the next, are often incomplete, inconsistent, or both; the detail of what contribution –…
Panhellenism without Imperialism? Athens and the Greeks before and after Chaeronea
This article explores the shifting definition(s) of Panhellenism in fourth century Athenian political discourse, and argues that the flexibility of the concept can help to explain how the Athenians are able to continue to utilise this idea in their political arguments, even in the rapidly changing interstate environment of the late Classical and early Hellenistic period. Close analysis of the deployment of Panhellenic arguments before and after C…
Ch. 6. Remembering, Forgetting, and Rewriting the Past
This chapter explores the ways in which the Athenians responded to inscriptions after their creation, and in particular their approaches to the emendation, destruction, and recreation of inscribed public texts. It argues that these approaches reveal an ongoing interaction between individual initiative and collective authority in the treatment of inscribed monuments; and it suggests that this interaction, in turn, offers an important insight into …
Thucydides on the Athenian Empire and Interstate Relations (431–404)
This chapter explores the nature of the Athenian Empire (or Delian League) during the Peloponnesian War, discussing its administration, its finances (particularly the tribute and the tax on trade that replaced it), and the changes in its scale and ideology during this period. The final part of the chapter outlines other aspects of interstate conduct, especially attitudes to treaties and diplomacy. The non-Thucydidean evidence, both literary and (…
The Athenian Empire
GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748625857); In the fifth century BC, the Athenian Empire dominated the politics and culture of the Mediterranean world. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the history and significance of the Athenian Empire. It starts by exploring possible answers to the crucial questions of the origins and growth of the empire. Subsequent sections deal with the institutions and regulations of empire, and the mecha…
Cavalry identity and democratic ideology in early fourth-century Athens
In 395 BC, after just under a decade of (nominal) peace between Athens and Sparta, the Corinthian War broke out, and, for the first time since the end of the Peloponnesian War, forces of Athenian cavalry were despatched to fight on behalf of their own city. The surviving historical narratives of the events at Haliartus in that year, and at Corinth and Coronea the next, are often incomplete, inconsistent, or both; the detail of what contribution –…
Trophies and tombstones
This paper explores the commemoration of the Roman soldier both in peacetime and in war. Hundreds of tombstones and funerary monuments record the life and death of Roman military personnel, but the vast majority of these monuments appear to commemorate soldiers who died in camp rather than on the battlefield. How were the victims of warfare disposed of and in what ways were the graves marked and the loss of life recorded? In comparison with the G…
The Athenian Empire
GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748625857); In the fifth century BC, the Athenian Empire dominated the politics and culture of the Mediterranean world. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the history and significance of the Athenian Empire. It starts by exploring possible answers to the crucial questions of the origins and growth of the empire. Subsequent sections deal with the institutions and regulations of empire, and the mecha…
The Athenian Empire
This article argues that problems of terminology also plague the study of the Athenian Empire, drawing attention to the many ancient Greek words that have been translated as ‘empire’. Arriving at the right terms to describe Athenian ‘imperialism’ would go hand in hand with the larger process of understanding other features of Athens' hegemony. For example, while the financial aspects of the Athenian Empire are heavily discussed, the cultural impe…
Introduction
This introductory chapter opens with an exploration of the modern organisation of epigraphical knowledge, considering its relationship to both antiquarianism and scholarship and its relationship to the subject of this book — epigraphical references in ancient literary texts. It offers the rationale for the organisation of this book. The chapters in Part I take broadly historical approaches, looking at the ways in which ancient literary authors de…
Law, Authority and Legitimacy in the Athenian Empire
Inscriptions and their Uses in Greek and Latin Literature
The practice of reading, recording, and thinking about inscriptions is common to both the modern and ancient worlds. From the archaic period onwards, ancient literary authors working within a range of genres discussed and quoted a range of inscriptions (dedications, archives, legislation, funerary inscriptions) as ornamental devices, as alternative voices to that of the narrator, to display scholarship, to make points about history, politics, ind…
An Honorific Gnome of the Koinon of the Phrikyladai. A New Inscription From Liverpool
This article publishes a new decree from the storerooms of Liverpool's World Museum. We provide a text and translation of the document, and discuss difficulties in reading the text as well as restorations where the stone is illegible. We offer an approximate dating of the document to the mid-third century, and suggest, on prosopographical and formulaic grounds, that it derives from Erythrae. We offer an interpretation of the status of the transac…
Lives from stone
Inscriptions of the classical and, especially, Hellenistic periods can be a rich source of information for those interested in reconstructing the details of the lives of statesmen, as well as the creative lives of poets and philosophers. This is not, of course, a novel observation: the potential utility of inscriptions as a source for biography and biographers has been recognised since antiquity. But this turn to epigraphic evidence seems often t…
Thucydides on the Athenian Empire and Interstate Relations (431–404)
This chapter explores the nature of the Athenian Empire (or Delian League) during the Peloponnesian War, discussing its administration, its finances (particularly the tribute and the tax on trade that replaced it), and the changes in its scale and ideology during this period. The final part of the chapter outlines other aspects of interstate conduct, especially attitudes to treaties and diplomacy. The non-Thucydidean evidence, both literary and (…
Panhellenism without Imperialism? Athens and the Greeks before and after Chaeronea
This article explores the shifting definition(s) of Panhellenism in fourth century Athenian political discourse, and argues that the flexibility of the concept can help to explain how the Athenians are able to continue to utilise this idea in their political arguments, even in the rapidly changing interstate environment of the late Classical and early Hellenistic period. Close analysis of the deployment of Panhellenic arguments before and after C…
Four Unpublished Inscriptions (and One Neglected Collector) from the World Museum, Liverpool
In this paper, we present four Greek inscriptions which are in the possession of the World Museum, Liverpool (UK); they have been held in this collection since 1890, but have not yet been systematically studied or previously published
Ch. 6. Remembering, Forgetting, and Rewriting the Past
This chapter explores the ways in which the Athenians responded to inscriptions after their creation, and in particular their approaches to the emendation, destruction, and recreation of inscribed public texts. It argues that these approaches reveal an ongoing interaction between individual initiative and collective authority in the treatment of inscribed monuments; and it suggests that this interaction, in turn, offers an important insight into …
David C. Yates. States of Memory
A couple of years ago, a right-wing British politician could be found musing on Twitter that a sign that political correctness had finally gone mad would be when historians started to claim that the Greco-Persian Wars were not the straightforward triumph of the gloriously united Greeks over the terrifyingly alien Persians that all sensible people—he implied—know them to be. It is probably better for that politician’s blood pressure, though worse …
The Cambridge Companion to Thucydides
Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the earliest and most influential works in the western historiographical tradition. It provides an unfinished account of the war between Athens and her allies and Sparta and her allies which lasted from 431 to 404 BC, and is a masterpiece of narrative art and of political analysis. The twenty chapters in this Companion offer a wide range of perspectives on different aspects of the text, its i…
The Origins of the Peloponnesian War, the Origins of the Peloponnesian War, and Theories of International Relations
This article investigates the theoretical assumptions and implications of de Ste. Croix’s approach to interstate politics in The Origins of the Peloponnesian War. It suggests that two approaches can be identified in the work: one which sees a fundamental connection between political systems within a state and that state’s conduct of interstate politics, and another, closer to conventional ‘Realist’ theories, which sees a clear dividing line betwe…
Reassessing the Peloponnesian War
Modern accounts of the great war between the Athenians and the Spartans in the late fifth century BC have simply reanalysed the gripping analysis of military and political events given by Thucydides. But a great deal of other evidence survives from this best-known of all periods of Athenian history. This book exploits that evidence and our rich knowledge of ancient Greek society to reveal the Peloponnesian War as not just an event but an experien…
The Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian War
This chapter explores the ways in which the Athenian Empire influenced and was influenced by the Peloponnesian War. First, it investigates the ways in which the Athenians made use of allied military resources, arguing that there was no formal system which governed this practice. The Athenians drew on allied manpower when it was convenient to do so, perhaps for punitive reasons, and perhaps as a way of encouraging or allowing visible demonstration…
Classical Antiquity Studies (17 works) · History (17 works) · Political science (12 works) · Classics (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Art (10 works) · Politics (10 works) · Ancient history (9 works) · History (9 works)