What Ancient Greek Democracy Can Teach Modern America

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The bequest of Greek democracy—reflected successful history, mythology, theater, and adjacent the Olympic Games—offers timeless lessons for America. These stories resonate profoundly due to the fact that Greek power is woven into the precise cloth of our culture.

By Evaggelos Vallianatos

After centuries of clerical and monarchical authoritarianism, Europeans turned to humble forms of indirect antiauthoritarian governance, giving rights to citizens to talk without fearfulness and, otherwise, allowing the regularisation of instrumentality (primarily for the payment of affluent people) to govern their states.

This was the harvest of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and governmental revolutions successful America, France and Greece. This play of renewal lasted for immoderate 400 years, during which scholars translated and studied Greek governmental works similar those of Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch. The effect inspired European movements towards the Greek virtues of state and democracy.

The Europeans who made the United States borrowed Greek-inspired governmental institutions from Europe and learned their Greek lessons from the precise texts that established Europe arsenic the halfway of Western civilization.

Both European and American governmental institutions – courts, parliaments, Congress, and the Presidency- supported escaped speech, but lone for citizens who owned property. Slavery lasted until the nineteenth century, and women successful America had nary close to ballot earlier 1920.

With the reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency successful the United States successful January 2025, galore fear, including myself, that ideology is nether menace and determination is simply a inclination towards authoritarianism.

Repairing ideology successful America volition instrumentality patience, study, and determination to larn from the innovations and mistakes of the Greeks. I highlighted the lessons of Greek past successful my 2025 book, Freedom: Clear Thinking and Inspiration from 5,000 Years of Greek History.

Public work is 1 of the virtues of democracy

The top leader of the Greeks, Herakles, was the shining illustration of serving the nationalist interest. Herakles was the lad of Zeus. He served the nationalist bully and state each his life. He founded the Olympics “for the greater glory of Zeus” and for the triumph of the champion athletes, winning by the velocity of their feet and the spot of their bodies. (Pausanias, Guide to Greece 5.8. 1-11; 5.21.2-14.)

Herakles besides freed the Titan Prometheus, who had fixed humanity the occurrence of cognition and each crafts and technologies (Aeschylos, Prometheus Bound 1-260).

Other governmental lessons from the Greeks see the invention of ideology and the antiauthoritarian governance of Athens. For example, the stories of tragic poets similar Aeschylus see clues and insights however past Greeks faced the analyzable situation of surviving unneurotic for protection, justness and eudaimonia/flourishing.

Aeschylus fought successful the Persian wars successful aboriginal 5th period BC. The Persians attacked Greece twice, 490 and 480 BC. The Greeks agreed and faced their force arsenic an existential threat, taking oaths to combat to the past man. Freedom of decease became their imaginativeness and policy. Aeschylus came retired of that heroic tradition. His trilogy, The Oresteia (Agamemnon, the Libation Bearers, and the Eumenides), is simply a bid of tragedies with a beauteous ending, the instauration of the archetypal ineligible and antiauthoritarian mode of judging conflicts/crimes.

Goddess Athena, with the enactment of Apollo and the Furies, “dread divinities among the deathless gods,” helps the Athenians to make a superior court, Areios Pagos, with a assemblage of citizens to justice Orestes, lad of Agamemnon, and slayer of his mother, Clytemnestra. Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae successful the Peloponnese and commander-in-chief of the Greek troops successful the Trojan War.

Athena’s large diplomatic skills changed the Furies from enemies of Orestes and Athens to friends. Orestes had killed his parent Clytemnestra due to the fact that she had murdered her husband, his father, Agamemnon. Thanks to Apollo and Athena, the precocious tribunal of Athens had recovered Orestes innocent.

Athena had convinced the Furies to enactment with her and go the protectors of Athens. So, Aeschylus shows however quality and patriotism and emotion overcame unsafe conditions and built a stronger future. He wrote the Oresteia trilogy successful the 5th period BC. But the events astir Orestes and his proceedings successful Athens mightiness person taken spot successful precocious thirteenth period BC. However, ideology was highly ancient. Even the gods, Homer and Aeschylus archer us, took decisions successful an assembly.

Solon establishes Greek ideology successful Athens

The adjacent important measurement successful establishing ideology successful Athens took spot successful the aboriginal sixth period BC. A fewer affluent farmers enslaved respective tiny farmers who could not repay their debt. To debar civilian war, Athenian politicians invited Solon, a erstwhile person and large legislator, to clasp powerfulness for a twelvemonth and resoluteness the indebtedness crisis. That way, helium started mounting the foundations for ideology successful Athens.

Solon did distant with slavery and serfdom, debts, and mortgages. He said helium removed each bound stones of bondage from the achromatic Earth. He brought backmost to Athens those farmers who had been sold to slavers extracurricular of Athens and helped those who had been victims of shameful servitude successful Athens.

He utilized unit and justness to reverse and extremity serfdom successful Athens. Aristotle assures america that Solon established even-handed justness for each Athenians. Solon admitted it was not easy. He said helium felt similar a wolf pursued by dogs (Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 12.4).

Aristotle and democracy

Aristotle, the large philosopher and inventor of science, had large insights into authorities arsenic well. Aristotle said ideology relied connected the thought and signifier for the national to “rule and beryllium ruled.” He reached this decision aft studying the constitutions of dozens of poleis (city-states).

He said each forms of authorities could beryllium palmy if the rulers, one, fewer oregon many, promoted the interests of the radical alternatively than their own. He said rulers should beryllium chosen by each citizens from each citizens. Each national should beryllium ruled by each citizens and each citizens beryllium ruled by each 1 of them. Citizens should beryllium chosen by batch to service arsenic jurors astatine the instrumentality courts and different offices of the state. No authoritative should beryllium offered a life-long tenure oregon beryllium ultimate successful immoderate office. Equality of each citizens earlier the law, a virtuousness of democracy, Aristotle said, was the purest signifier of ideology and demos (people).

“Equality,” Aristotle said, “does not mean that the mediocre regularisation oregon that they clasp power. On the contrary, and according to their numerical strength, each radical should stock powerfulness equally. This process convinces radical that they volition unafraid equality and state successful their government”( Politics 1317b18-1318a 10).

Other institutions of the Greeks similar the Olympics and theater, were pillars of democracy. The Olympics and different Pan-Hellenic games were expressions of anti-war sentiments, portion honoring the gods and promoting nationalist consciousness. Athletic competitions were contests among bare men oregon bare women. Nakedness meant cleanable equality. The games besides gave a accidental to the Greeks from each implicit the Mediterranean to get to cognize each other.

The theatre of Dionysus was different almighty antiauthoritarian tradition, particularly successful Athens which invented it. The antiauthoritarian contented that the theatre strengthened was that of uninhibited governmental speech.

During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian tragic poets (Sophocles and Euripides) and the drama writer Aristophanes) wrote and performed retired successful the open, successful the airy of the day, large plays shedding airy connected the destructive effects of authoritarianism and civilian war. Politicians / elected generals directing the warfare watched the dramas, which often criticized them. Athens paid mediocre radical to be the theater, a schoolhouse of democracy.

Safeguarding ideology successful America

The workout of escaped code and the governmental quality of the theatre connection models for reviving ideology successful America. Imagine authentic productions of the Greek tragic plays of Aeschylos, Sophocles, and Euripides, including the hilarious comedies of Aristophanes. Seeing these highly blase governmental plays would animate wide reasoning astir democracy. The praise of ideology and critique of warfare and the biting satire of powerfulness would beryllium decisive.

Billionaires would beryllium defrocked of the concealed menace they airs to American ideology and to the earthy satellite that gives america life. If besides tv and media zeroed successful connected the plutocratic preferences of the Trump administration, Americans would gain a amended knowing of ideology portion exposing the hazardous quality of making highly affluent radical adjacent much affluent and powerful.

We request to bash the aforesaid thing. Moreover, we tin complement the ineligible experts with the Greek examples of antiauthoritarian inspiration from history, mythology, theatre plays, and the Olympics. The Greek lessons are much due for America. They are appealing due to the fact that the Greek fingerprints connected our civilization are everywhere.

The beauteous architecture of the Supreme Court building, the White House, and Congress is Greek. The founders of the American Republic similar Thomas Jefferson work Homer, Aristotle and Plutarch. The connection and precise thought of ideology are Greek. Americans question to Greece and spot the Parthenon and the treasures of Greek civilization successful the Greek museums and archaeological places, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the Boston Museum of Art, the National Gallery, and, successful California, successful the fabulous Getty Villa.

In addition, The foundations of subject are Greek. In fact, modern subject is Aristotelean logic and Archimedean. The mathematical physics and superb engineering of Archimedes built our science. Archimedes was a genius of the 3rd period BCE.

One crushed I wrote the 2025 publication connected Freedom, had thing to bash with my emotion for Greece and America, my 2nd Greece. America educated maine and helped maine go American and Greek. The melodramatic diminution of ideology successful America and the clime exigency convinced maine Americans request to beryllium reminded of their Greek antiauthoritarian traditions and civilization.

Evaggelos Vallianatos is simply a historiographer and biology theorist. He earned his Ph.D. successful past astatine the University of Wisconsin and did his postdoctoral studies successful the past of subject astatine Harvard. He worked connected Capitol Hill, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and taught astatine respective universities. He authored hundreds of articles and 7 books, including The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story Behind the Genius of the Greek Computer and its Demise.

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