Athenian Oath at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Foyer

This engraving at the The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs School of Syracuse University, reminds us that the world of ancient Athens has figured prominently in the construction of a popular American political and civic identity. This 4th or 5th century B.C. Athenian oath, taken in a public ritual by ephobos (or young men of eighteen or nineteen), marked their simultaneous entry into adulthood and the realm of public service. It was upon uttering this oath that young Athenian men entered into a two-year period of civic and military service - what we today might refer to as a period of national service. This tradition has been called an early historical example of public administration, and it sheds light on Athenian’s broader conceptions of public service, citizenship, and democracy. Democracy in Athenian society went far beyond the modern emphasis on securing voting rights; democracy was an active, daily practice, the effectiveness of which was intimately tied up with the health of the city-state. Ancient Athenians rigorously theorized the ways in which public participation and selfless service could thwart the onset of tyranny or the blockading of citizen’s freedoms. 

As the first Public Affairs school in the United States, the infrastructure at the Maxwell School has aptly called attention to these ancient themes and prescriptions. By displaying George Washington in front of this oath, the school’s founder, George Holmes Maxwell, was attempting to display America’s founding fathers as the inheritors of Athenian political theory and practice. While appreciating this ancient societies’ calls to progress the common good however, scholars of the Classical world remind us that it is crucial to abstain from overly romanticizing any one place, society or system. There are an abundant number of ways in which Athenian society contradicted the values espoused in this oath; the confinement of women to the private sphere, the practice of slavery, and the cultural emphasis on revenge are some often cited by these scholars. 

The Athenian Oath then challenges us, as members of society, to contemplate what we would like to borrow from our historical predecessors, and with what we would instead like to part. Universities like Syracuse are devoted to doing just that, as they contemplate what citizenship and democracy should look like in the 21st century. By designing courses and programs that uphold interdisciplinarity, the Maxwell School is devoted to understanding the complex and multidimensional impacts of social service on both the national and global scale. By filling out students’ understanding of public affairs with the disciplines of history, sociology, and anthropology, graduates are better equipped to consider questions of equity and diversity that had not yet been addressed by the authors of this ancient oath.

Sources:

Wilkinson, Freddie. “Greek Influence on U.S. Democracy,” The National Geographic, March 15th, 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/greek-influence-us-democracy/. 

Kellogg, Danielle. "The Place of Publication of the Ephebic Oath and the “Oath of Plataia”." Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82, no. 2 (2013): 263-76. Accessed February 9, 2021. doi:10.2972/hesperia.82.2.0263.

Brag, Melvyn. “The Oath,” B.B.C. In Our Time History Podcast, January 5th, 2006, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p003wtk7.

Low, Polly. " Law, Authority and Legitimacy in the Athenian Empire". In Law and Empire, (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2013) doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004249516_003