Ancient Greek politics operated primarily through friendship and enmity

Evidence

Although the conceptualization of the following fact has only recently come under scrutiny toward an interrogation of the political, it is well known that, in ancient Greece, “public space was taken up by friendships and enmities,” and “political life was conceived primarily in terms of friendship and enmity.” Aristotle suggests that faction is enmity, that is to say, it is what lawgivers “are most anxious to banish.” On the other hand, Aristotle writes, “friendship,” philia, “appears to be the bond of the state; and lawgivers seem to set more store by it than they do by justice, for to promote concord,” homonoia, “which seems akin to friendship, is their chief aim, while faction,” stasis, “which is enmity,” echthra, “is what they are most anxious to banish. And if men are friends, there is no need of justice between them.” — Gil Anidjar, The Jew, the Arab, 384

Categorization

• XREF: The friend/enemy as fundamental political categories echoes Carl Schmitt’s The Concept of the Political directly; also connects to theories of patronage and faction in Greek democracy.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that lawgivers valued friendship over justice — ‘if men are friends, there is no need of justice between them’ — reframes the entire basis of political order as affective rather than juridical, worth sitting with.