The Politics of Recognition: Charismatic Authority in Ancient Greek Thought

Abstract

This thesis examines political authority in ancient Greek thought through a comparative analysis of Homer’s Iliad, Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, and the traditions surrounding Peisistratus. It challenges the view that authority is secured primarily through institutional position, law, or coercion, arguing instead that authority depends upon recognition: it must be perceived, affirmed, and continually reproduced to become effective. Drawing on the framework of charismatic authority developed by Max Weber, the thesis reconceptualizes charisma not as a distinct type of rule, but as the mechanism through which recognition is generated and sustained. Each case study reveals a different configuration of this process. Cyrus demonstrates the potential for recognition to be stabilized through cultivated attachment; the Iliad exposes the fragility of authority when recognition breaks down; and Peisistratus illustrates how authority can be constructed through repeated, publicly legible acts within the institutional framework of the polis. Together, these cases show that political power is not simply possessed, but continuously produced through recognition. Authority, in this account, emerges as a dynamic and relational process, capable of generating stability yet always vulnerable to breakdown.