Le caractère politique des relations interpersonnelles à Athènes

Abstract. This article focuses on personal relationships as the basis of Athenian political groups. Any study of political life in antiquity indeed invites us to raise the question of the existence of political parties in the modern sense of the term. Were there structured organizations, similar to those known today, equipped with a renewable and permanent apparatus, guided by a coherent if not rigorous political program? In other words, were politically active citizens divided into political parties or not? Historiography has been skeptical about the possibility of identifying, in Greek political experience, structures comparable to today's political parties. The term group would better fit the major trends of Athenian political opinion, and only personal, family, and friendship relations remained paramount for most of the century for those who wished to play an important political role within the city. Keywords: Political groups, Political partis, Athens, Classical period.