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Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Thursday, 22 Jan 2026 - 18:00
Oligarchs and Their Discontents
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Oligarchical factions in Athens twice succeeded in taking power within and against the democracy: in 411 and 404 BCE. Before those events, an anonymous ‘Old Oligarch’ offered his perspective on the workings of democratic politics. In Rome, the ancient ‘secession of the plebs’ was later followed by the Gracchi brothers’ iconic efforts to curb patrician powers. This lecture looks at the dynamics of oligarchic power within ancient popular regimes and to what extent it was successfully resisted.
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