Drift, conversion and informal rules: the Athenian office of strategos from a New Institutionalist perspective

This chapter explores some key aspects in the institutional developments and interactions of high-ranking military officers (strategoi) in Athens, by interpreting ancient evidence through models borrowed from the New Institutionalism. The study considers the role of the strategos as a magistrate interacting with the soldiers, the polis and his own peers: the models employed help us explain defining features of the institutional history of the office as well as the mechanisms through which strategoi collectively reached decisions on the field.