Don't mind me.  Just a lurker who wish he could participate but doesn't have the time.

I am kind of surprised that no one has taken up Thebes.  They are still a relatively big player.  After the Peloponnese War, the Thebans eventually grew in power to such a degree that they eventually held hegemony in Greece for a short time (they even kicked the Spartans out of Messenia).  They definitely have potential.

And for that article, there are some issues that I have with it.  First, the argument that "if we don't have any evidence, it didn't exist" is kind of a weak.  Second, I don't see how the merchant booths that would sell the pottery shards for ostracization votes would be evidence against political parties.  Doesn't this just show the low literacy in the ancient world and a prudent practice because of that lack of literacy?  Finally, the important thing to take away from this article is that the author is arguing against a status quo that upholds that there [b]were[/b] political parties.  Obviously they were probably not like ours, but they were there in some fashion.  Even the author admits that there is a possibility that there are some smaller-scale parties, mattering how far you want to take Demosthenes' comparison between political parties and symmories.

You all have my best wishes for this roleplay.  I like the era (I prefer the archaic era a little more), but I don't have the time to devote to it.

Aegina strong (too bad they will probably get wrecked by Athenians in the first year, just as they did in real life)!