‘Constitution of Athens’

One section of a lost work (Politieai) by Aristotle on the constitutional history of 158 states. It was known only by quoted fragments until 1890, when three rolls of papyruis (now in the British Museum) were found in Egypt, containing a manuscript copy of the ‘Constitution of Athens’ made about AD 100. Aristotle is thought to have written the history between 328 BC and 325 BC.

The work is divided into two sections. The first gives the history of the constitution up to the surrender of Athens 404 BC. The second describes the state officials, their appointment and functions in the writer's own day. The beginning of the manuscript is missing and the last section is mutilated, but can be reconstructed almost wholly from fragments.