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Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Thursday, 16 Oct 2025 - 18:00
From Tyranny to Athenian Democracy
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When – and how – did Athenian democracy begin? There is no unambiguous answer to this question. This lecture explores one plausible origin: the popular uprising in 508 BCE which overthrew a tyrant. In the aftermath of that revolution, the Athenians – led by Cleisthenes – reorganised their political system so as to foster new kinds of identities and interactions. As further political and social changes were made, Athenian democracy took shape in the imaginations of contemporaries and of later generations.
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