The genealogy of diplomacy in classical Greece

In contrast to modern states, diplomacy remained rudimentary in language, personnel and method for the polis of classical Greece. Antiquity alone cannot explain this. Instead we must consider how both external and internal considerations shaped the dynamics of extra‐political relations. On the one hand, Greek cities fought wars and formed leagues and alliances to pursue strategic interests. On the other hand, internal constraints ‐ such as values and beliefs about participation and autonomy ‐ determined how the citizens collectively defined and pursued foreign policy. Sometimes internal concerns outweighed external concerns and even prevented cities from protecting themselves sufficiently from foreign threats. Any stability or instability which we attribute to classical Greece depended not so much on power politics of interstate relations as on the narrow interests of the various poleis which kept them fragmented and territorially compact.