"Challenging the modern assumption that ancient Athens is best understood as a polis, Edward Cohen boldly recasts our understanding of Athenian political and social life.

Cohen demonstrates that ancient sources referred to Athens not only as a polis, but also as a "nation" (ethnos), and that Athens did encompass the characteristics now used to identify a "nation." He argues that in Athens, economic, religious, sexual, and social dimensions were no less significant than political and juridical considerations and accordingly rejects prevailing scholarship's equation of Athens with its male citizen body."--BOOK JACKET.