David, Sylvie <br/><br/>
Decision Making in Theseus Synoecism According to Isocrates’s Encomium of Helen (3237) 

 -  2009.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> This article studies the various stages that lead Theseus to take the decision to perform the synœcism and to endow the newly formed city with a specific political system. Observing the misdeeds of tyranny, he founds a democracy of merit by which the people deliver its power in the hands of the man considered most capable of governing, in the case Theseus himself. In these circumstances, monarchy – government of one – and democracy – people power – are not mutually exclusive. The reflection of Isocrates aims however less to advocate a type of system than to stimulate civic virtues of his fellow citizens, by recalling the exemplary dedication of Theseus to the city in mythical times.