The hallmark of Athenian democracy was equality. From at least
the beginning of the 5th century, Athens was a place where there
was equality in political rights. By the mid-5th century, the
Athenian assembly had sovereignty in matters of decision making.
The practical politics of Athens, however, required political
leaders: able, often wealthy men, well-practised in rhetoric, who
arose out of the elite political think tanks and who guided the
decision making in the assembly. At an ideological level, democracy
found this tension difficult to resolve. In tracing the early
development of Athenian democratic thinking in this paper, Lynette
Mitchell argues that there also emerged a way of projecting good
and ideal kings onto the ancient history of democratic Athens, and
that this positive theorisation of kingship was important to
several thinkers for the space it gave to political
leadership.
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Recordings from the popular public lecture series featuring new work on all aspects of intellectual history. Hosted by the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St Andrews.