Kinship and Politics in Athens 600-400 B.C.

In ancient Athens kinship and politics were inseparable. This book studies that relationship through the methods of anthropology. The political, social and religious systems of sixth and fifth century B.C. Athens are shown as functions of a patrilineal kinship system. In the earlier period the patrilineal kinship descent groups were the political system. As the city developed, the descent groups no longer defined the state, but their vitality persisted as politicians recruited their party members and allies from their own and allied kinship groups.