It’s out! The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens, which I edited with Jenifer Neils, has finally appeared in print! The volume aims to be a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the ancient city, its topography and monuments, inhabitants and cultural institutions, religious rituals and politics. Chapters in the volume link the religious, cultural, and political institutions of Athens to the physical locales in which they took place, so that readers gain a sense of the life and realia of the ancient city. Discussion of the urban plan with its streets, gates, walls and public and private buildings will give readers a thorough understanding of how the city operated, how various people flowed through it, what they saw, heard, smelled and perhaps tasted. Drawing from the newest scholarship on various aspects of the city as well as on-going excavations of its Agora, sanctuaries, and cemeteries, this volume examines how the city was planned, how it functioned, and how it was transformed from a democratic polis into a Roman urbs. There are 33 chapters–so there is much to explore!

Table of Contents:

Athens: An Introduction, Jenifer Neils

1. #Leagros: An Athenian Life, H. A. Shapiro

Part I. The Urban Fabric 

2. Asty & Chora: City and Countryside, Sylvian Fachard

3. The Emergence of the Polis, John K. Papadopoulos

4. City Streets, Walls, and Gates, Leda Costaki and Anna Maria Theocharaki

5. The Akropolis, Panos Valavanis

6. The Agora: Public Life and Administration, John McK. Camp II

7. Athenian Inscriptions, Elizabeth A. Meyer

8. Water and Water Management, Jutta Stroszeck

9. Housing and Domestic Architecture, Katherine B. Harrington

10. The Archaic and Classical Cemeteries, Tim Shea

Part II. Inhabitants

11. Population and Social Structure, Danielle L. Kellogg

12. The Athenian Family, Cynthia B. Patterson

13. Death and Disease, Maria A. Liston

14. Animals in Athenian Life, Tyler Jo Smith

Part III. Business/Commerce

15. Labor and Employment, David M. Lewis

16. Piraeus: Harbors, Navy, and Shipping, George Steinhauer

17. The Archaeology of Markets and Trade, Mark L. Lawall

18. Coinage and its Economic Implications, John H. Kroll

19. The Ceramic Industry, Susan I. Rotroff

20. Sculpture and its Role in the City, Olga Palagia

Part IV. Culture and Sport

21. The Philosophical Schools, Geoffrey Bakewell

22. Athletics, Democracy, and War, David M. Pritchard

23. Theatrical Spaces, Valentina Di Napoli

24. Athenian Festivals, Margaret M. Miles and Jenifer Neils

25. Eating and Drinking, Ann Steiner

26. Sex and the City, Kirk Ormand

Part V. Politics

27. Associations, James Kierstead

28. Rule of Law and Lawcourts, Edward M. Harris

29. Armed Forces, David M. Pritchard

Reception

30. Roman Athens, Dylan K. Rogers

31. Early Travelers and the Rediscovery of Athens, Robert K. Pitt

32. Modern Athens and its Relationship with the Past, Robert A. Bridges, Jr.

33. Urban Archaeology: Uncovering the Ancient City, Leda Costaki