Radical Antiquity: Free Love Zoroastrians, Farming Pirates, and Ancient Uprisings

When you think of Ancient Greece and Rome, what do you see? The Acropolis and the Colosseum? Perhaps the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and the rule of the Caesars? Or the birth of democracy and the vast reach of an empire? This well-trodden history of great thinkers, military leaders, and early state formation in the classical world still enthralls us, but it tells only half the story…

How democratic was Athenian democracy? How much power did states wield beyond their city walls? And who looked upon the systems of domination that prevailed and sought to create something different?

Radical Antiquity takes you on a unique journey in search of anarchy, statelessness, and social experimentation in the Graeco-Roman world. Sweeping across the Mediterranean from the time of the first Olympic Games in 776 BCE until the emergence of Islam in 610 CE, Christopher B. Zeichmann introduces the reader to communities of escaped enslaved people, pirates, and religious sects—all of whom sought a more egalitarian way of life that avoided the coercion, hierarchy, and exploitation of the state.

This history from below brings the experiences of ordinary and marginal people out of obscurity and radically expands our understanding of social and political life in the classical world.