Sponsored by: AIA-Rome (Italy) Society, John Cabot University
Democracy most often ends not with a violent spasm, but with a vote.
Oligarchic challengers leverage their small numbers to coordinate dis-informing campaigns, hoping that enough citizens will withhold their support for democratic rule. Already in the fifth- and fourth-centuries BCE, Greek democracies experimented with strategies to overcome these problems, such as the Solonian law against political neutrality and tyrant-killing legislation.
This talk will demonstrate the continuing relevance of ancient political theory and practice to contemporary democratic politics.
About the speaker:
Prof. Robert Sobak (Bowdoin College, USA) is a Greek historian researching the emergence of collective intelligence among laborers in Democratic Athens.
The AIA has selected this talk as one of the “Alan Boegehold Lectures in Athenian Archaeology and Letters” for the academic year 2024/2025.
The AIA is North America's largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to archaeology. The Institute advances awareness, education, fieldwork, preservation, publication, and research of archaeological sites and cultural heritage throughout the world. Your contribution makes a difference.
