| abstract | Volume seven of the fi rst Cambridge ancient history, dedicated to the
centuries aft er Alexander (1928), has on its cover an image of the Roman
she-wolf. Th us there can be no doubt that this was the period of the rise
of Rome and the decline of Greek civilisation. Th e predominant view of
the age by historians of the early twentieth century is outlined in an introductory
essay by W.S. Ferguson.1 Section IV on “Th e large state and the
polis” is a lengthy complaint about the demise of “the polis ideal,” which
was seemingly on the wane even before Chaironeia due to the rise of
political and economical elites and royalist oligarchies. Th e single most
important cause of decline, however, was the loss of political autonomy
aft er Chaironeia: “Th e fatal weakness of the Greek city-states as the
custodians of civilisation was their incapacity to form an all-embracing
coalition” (p. 22); as a result, they were “completely shorn of their statehood,
[lacking] municipal rights and a voice in the aff airs of the realm of
which they formed part” (24-25). |
