Books by Robin (University of Cambridge) Osborne

Exposes the distortions systematically introduced by historians through relying on texts without looking at what was and was not written on the body. It shows that in classical Athens, on the basis of visual evidence, the categories advertised in texts do not match those which could be operated in life.

Existing studies of Athenian democracy focus on political institutions; this collection of papers uses the evidence of settlement archaeology and art to forge an understanding of how the conditions of Athenian life impacted on the working of the democracy, and how the democracy impinged upon how Athenians lived their lives.