Athenian Democracy: An Experiment for the Ages

by Robert Garland

Roughly 2,500 years ago, the Athenian people established a radical democracy in which power derived from the votes of everyday citizens. At a time when local governments ranged from oligarchy to tyranny, the elite classes of Athens gradually ceded power to the inexperienced masses, whose votes served as referendums for everything from taxation to war to welfare. The sequence of events that led to this development is astonishing, and the society that flourished under Athenian democracy is one of the greatest - even if greatly flawed - achievements in world history.

Today, when the foundations of our own democracy are under greater and greater scrutiny, the Athenian experiment in citizen rule offers a powerful object lesson in national politics. How did the Athenian system of democracy work? What were its strengths and weaknesses? And how does it compare to democracy in our world today? Athenian Democracy: An Experiment for the Ages answers these questions and more with 24 captivating lectures. Professor Robert Garland of Colgate University takes us back to ancient Greece and unpacks the development and workings of Athenian democracy. You'll witness the story of history through the lens of Athenian government, going inside the assemblies and courts to find out how democracy worked - and where it came up short.

You may be familiar with the broad strokes of Athenian history, but Professor Garland's unique lens offers a wealth of insights into everything from taxation and welfare to military structure and strategy. Go beyond the traditional "kings and battles" history to gain a sense of what life was like for the people living in the democracy. The heart of Athenian democracy is the "demos", the body of citizens who participated in public assemblies, made speeches, and voted on matters of law. But because only citizens were allowed to vote, Professor Garland also explores Athens through the eyes of women, immigrants, and slaves who could not participate.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy, Audiobook, Ancient History, European History

360 pages, Audible Audio

Published May 25, 2018

About the author

Dr. Robert S.J. Garland is the Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the Classics at Colgate University. He earned his B.A. in Classics from Manchester University, his M.A. in Classics from McMaster University, and his Ph.D. in Ancient History from University College London.

A former Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the George Grote Ancient History Prize, Professor Garland has educated students and audiences at a variety of levels. In addition to teaching classics at Colgate University, he has taught English and Drama to secondary school students and lectured at universities throughout Britain as well as the British School of Archaeology in Athens.

Professor Garland is the author of numerous articles in both academic and popular journals and books capturing details of all aspects of ancient Greek and Roman life, including The Greek Way of Life: From Conception to Old Age; Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion; and Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. His expertise has been featured in The History Channel's "Last Stand of the 300," and he has repeatedly served as a consultant for educational film companies.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those considering these lectures, Professor Garland presents his highly organized material in a clear and pleasant manner (I listened to the audio version, following along in the very well done guidebook) . His lectures focus mostly on the origin history of democracy in the Greece of the 6th to 4th centuries BCE, dwelling mostly on Athenian history. The good professor stays mostly clear of the political comparative analyses, instead emphasizing individuals who brought this system into reality. Historic figures such as Solon, Dracon, Peisistratus, Themistocles and Cleisthenes who set the stage for later leaders such as Pericles, Socrates, Cimon, Cleon and even Alcibiades to (try to) control the Demos, or the voting public (sans women, slaves and non land-holders). Thucydides seems to be the go-to guy for the historical context.
With little exception the democracy of Athens was controlled by strong willed visionaries (?) who were able to persuade the people to support their agenda. This could be for good...or for bad. The point, in my opinion, is that the Demos began, in the early years, as a fairly well informed group, but later deteriorated into an easily manipulated mob that often decided issues based on emotion rather than rational thought. The Sicilian 'Adventure" serves as the best example.

Dr Garland tries to steer clear of comparing our modern (republican) democracies, but it's pretty clear that he sees some striking similarities. I think he's very careful in not mentioning the current political situation in the US.

Very much recommended, especially to those who enjoy an annotated history of a very interesting time in history. I urge you to vote during a sale and a coupon

[Adrian Crawley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a complete novice,

I have never thought of, nor heard of the term Athenian Democracy. I purchased this book on a whim and because it was on sale. I have also never heard of the Great Courses company or thought of listening to lectures through audible. Despite all of these personal flaws (haha) I throughly enjoyed this book, the teacher/orator is obviously quite passionate and knowledgable about the subject. I felt that I learnt quite a bit about a subject that I was completely ignorant of.

These lectures will definitely encourage you to do further research and read some of the referenced material.

There was also a surprising amount of current political analysis, discussion and comparison to Athenian Democracy. This technique of teaching by comparison was very helpful and also entertaining.

All in all, this was a very nice read/listen for a complete novice.

[Elwin Kline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Educators have the moral duty to be objective and professional and keep political bias out of the classroom. While this is a Great Course and absolutely self-inflicted, and I am in my mid 30's... teachers/professors are also in a position of trust and should not be puking their political (I would also enthusiastically say religious as well) view points in their lectures/classroom environments.

Being fair and impartial too, I would say the exact same thing if the content creator's not so hidden political agenda was aligned with mine. It goes both ways.

I love ancient Greece, Rome, Sparta... I was excited to go back to my comfort zone with my old friends Perikles, Alcibiades, and Sokrates... instead I was delivered a steaming pile of liberal leftist garbage.

- Immediately the author announces his position as anti-Donald Trump (DT).
- Throughout the entire course he takes jabs at DT's son, the 2016 election, and the Republican party.
- He praises Obama care and talks about how horrible DT was for dismantling it.
- Makes a very disrespectful comment about the United States (US) Military, and says with the highest level of disdain, "it takes a very special kind of person to enlist today and put his or herself in harms way."
- Makes even more attempted fear inspiring comments about how the President of the US can just launch nuclear missiles whenever he feels like it and look how outrageous and unpredictable DT is. "Heaven forbid he pushes the button at any moment." Unbelievable.
- He talks trash about the US Patriot Act.
- Hates on the IRS.
- Quotes:
-- "All men are created equal... expect this is not true in America."
-- "It's really hard to be naturalized in America. I am only an American citizen, because I was so lucky enough to get a job in American. It is really hard to be employed in the US."
-- "The only reason why my son is a US citizen is because he was born here. Otherwise, my poor son would probably never had a chance because the process is so hard and again it is so difficult to find a job in the US."
- He then proceeds to hate on the death penalty.
- Throws up the Hiroshima bombing of Japan.
- He even pokes blame and critical judgement on President Johnson for the Vietnam war
- Again, numerous times speaks negativity of DT, makes twitter jokes, 2016 election references in negative context, etc.

If all that wasn't enough... the cherry drops right on the top of whip cream pile right around the 9 hour and 50 minute mark, when he 100% publicly announces he is a liberal, a Democrat, and he assumes that his audience are Democrats as well.

I want to highlight the fact that Robert Garland has lived a life of comfort and has never suffered much of anything or even served in the military. He has spent his entire life reading, writing, going to school up to his PhD, wrote over 10 books, and again knows absolutely nothing of what it is like to struggle or wear the uniform. His negative comments against the US military would likely be highly offensive to anyone who ever served, wore the flag on their right shoulder, and actually understands what its like to be part of something bigger than just yourself... instead of him sitting on his arm chair quarterback tower surrounded by history books thinking he has everything all figured out.

Worst of all.... I gained absolutely nothing from this content about ancient Greece and all Garland did was use this as a platform to push his political agenda.

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT ANCIENT GREECE!

Absolutely worst in class for a Great Course.

This type of behavior should not be tolerated.

[Abdulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 24 lecture series on Athenian Democracy. It follows a largely chronological sequence, taking us first through the establishment of Athenian Democracy under Cleisthenes and then Solon , then its transition into a radical democracy under Pericles. From there, Professor Garland takes us through Athens in the Peloponnesian War, and very briefly touches on the 4th century BC.

I confess I was hoping for a more detailed course, which would describe in great detail the inner workings of the Athenian assembly, as well as the Athenian court system. System. However, unfortunately the depth of this course is limited by the written sources available. Professor Garland relies very heavily on the narratives found in Herodotus and Thucydides in this course. Since I'd already read both of these texts, a lot of this course was not new information.


However, I appreciated the context that Professor Garland provided. For example, I liked his discussion of how the opening scene of the Iliad, where the generals and the troops debate and discuss the war, is kind of a precursor to democracy. I also really liked his penultimate lecture, in which he summarizes and collects the various opinions on Athenian democracy that were floating around during its time.

Ultimately, this course isn't that deep, as it's limited by the available source material. If you're interested in Athenian democracy but also Athenian history more generally, I would instead recommend watching Professor Kenneth Harl's course on the Peloponnesian War while also reading Thucydides, which I think would be more deep examination of the most interesting concepts in this particular course.

However, if you're specifically just interested in Athenian democracy and a relative beginner to the subject, I would very much recommend this course.

Some of the other reviewers mention the professor's commentary on modern politics. To be honest, even though I share many of the professors overall sentiments, I didn't find his political opinions very interesting. I get that he was trying to make the course more relevant to the modern world, but as he's not really a professor of political science or political philosophy, these attempts aren't very deep. However these aren't very common, and for the most part the professor sticks to discussing history. So I wouldn't avoid the course just for that reason.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly Relevant to Our Times, When Democracy is Struggling
I really enjoyed Prof Garland's "Greece and Rome: An Integrated History of the Ancient Mediterranean", which was a really useful and innovative approach to understanding the two closely-linked cultures, something you don't usually see as most academics specialize in one or the other.

This course felt so relevant to our current global political woes as it made explicit reference and comparison to the rise of Trump in the US, and various struggles of democratic regimes around the world to handle the burden of governing in our increasingly complex and integrated global society. It's one thing for the Athenians with just 50,000 citizens and 200,000 slaves make decisions via direct democracy, but that model cannot work for 250 million Americans, and of course global geopolitical forces no longer respect borders, so the constant frustrations that citizens feel about their governments and feelings of apathy/disenfranchisement are understandable but perhaps inevitable.

As I was listening to this audiobook, living in the UK, Boris Johnson resigned over a series of scandals that eroded his support within the Tory party. He was succeeded by Liz Truss, who lasted a mere 45 days in office before being ousted due to an ill-conceived set of unfunded tax cuts. As of yesterday Rishi Sunak is the new PM, and while his wealth and privilege (partly due to his wife) may make it hard for him to credibly understand the plight of the have-nots, at least his background at Goldman Sachs and hedge funds and schooling at Stanford will perhaps translate to some basic financial knowledge. The Athenians would have felt no qualms about having someone with such an elite and wealthy pedigree, though in our modern age we do question such a background.

[Dkettmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great modern look at the Athenians who started this all. Loved that the lecturer made reference to modern political climate in relation to how it began.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to admit it but I was a bit underwhelmed by this course. It's hard to put my finger on why. I certainly learned some things, but it wasn't the course I was expecting. I would have liked more in depth focus on the historical development and operations of the democracy. Garland obviously covers that, but I still walked away feeling like it wasn't enough of the focus. Though I appreciate the attempt to connect this to contemporary times, the manner that Garland did this sometimes was off-putting and distracting. As a philosopher, I was hoping for much more on the philosophical foundations of the democracy. Again, Garland covers that but not sufficiently.

[Alberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been better organized. There’s a fair amount of unnecessary repetition, reducing the content of the course. And his political bias becomes quite boring after the first dozen irrelevant asides.

[Chao · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a topic that I knew a tiny bit but did not know much else. I enjoyed this course a lot, and Professor Garland gave a lively and well thought out series of lectures. However, on the tiny bit that I actually read the primary material myself and heard lectures in class, I might have to raise disagreement with Professor Garland's interpretation. Specifically, on Pericles and the events before and after his time, as told by Thucydides. Example, 1) On the plague of Athens, Prof. Garland placed the emphasis on possibilities of Spartans polluting the water sources (definitely what the Athenians suspected then), but he did not mention the many reasons -mentioned in Thucydides no less -that reasonably cast doubt on this theory, that according to Thucydides, the disease came from Ethiopia and went through Persia before arriving in Athens, the sicks threw themselves into the water tanks, those who visited the sick got sick themselves and died, and (not mentioned by Thucydides) the wells in Piraeus and Athens were not connected. And the Spartan armies didn't get close to the city of Athens and didn't get sick; in fact they retreated after 40+ days because they were afraid of catching the plague. It really didn't sound like the Spartans were good candidates for spreading disease. While Athenians both in the city and those were dispatched with the armies all got sick. 2) The overcrowding in Piraeus and within the walls was definitely a very bad thing to have during an epidemic, but I felt it was unreasonable to put the onus on Pericles for the plague that came soon after the start of the Peloponnesian War. (As part of the strategy against the Spartans' land superiority, Pericles urged the Athenians to abandon the countryside and retreat to within the walls fo Piraeus.) An infectious disease is more complicated than the simple question of over-crowding or not, and given the medical conditions of Athens in the 5th century BCE, the plague would have killed a lot of people regardless. Perhaps less than the 25% dead estimated, but we don't know enough to speculate. Anyway, these were two examples of issues that I could say I knew a bit about, and I didn't agree with Prof. Gardland's lecture on these. It did make me question if I should question some other things that I didn't know about.

I'll keep the rating at 4-star, although I was briefly tempted to lower it to 3-star, because overall it was great fun. I don't want to be an armchair historian; I know there is a lot that I don't know. So what I'd need to do is go back to the source and perhaps do a bit more readings myself. Cheers!

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Athenian Democracy: An Experiment for the Ages by Professor Robert Garland is a course that tries, more than any other book, to make a deliberate, unsubtle case for the study of Athenian Democracy as a way to make it a reference, if not a mirror, for our own age. Garland believes that the radical Athenian democracy is an experiment that has implications for our age, and in that I believe he is quite right. Garland mentions that he desires for his course to be non-partisan, though that is not exactly so. Those who read it will hear a moderate democrat trying to be understanding, which has turned off some of these reviewers. I think he does a good job, but if you're a Trump supporter, you will likely shrink from several of his comments and be tempted to give a bad review. The asides are brief, however, and rather infrequent. This course is at its heart still a history course, and maybe no more than 30 seconds of most lectures will reference anything resembling modern. The exception to this is the very beginning and the last two lectures, with most of the political extrapolation offloaded onto the last 30 minutes. This is, in his own judgment, a humanist enterprise. That's definitely true, and in that regard, Garland's a success.

85/100

[Knut Sigurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

ganske bra altså.

[Christopher Hellstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

These lectures were really entertaining. I like how Garland brings to life Athenian democracy by comparing antiquarian history to today's politics.

[Enrico · Rating 4 out of 5]

A critical look at the Athenian Democracy and some of its most important politicians.

[Tom Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done lecture series on the history of Athenian democracy.

[Roberta Westwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

Filled in more of the gaps in my understanding of Ancient Greece, including how it happened that Socrates was executed.
Balanced perspective on Athenian democracy. A good listen.

[Bill Dauster · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a history of democratic Athens with special attention to democracy, a vitally important subject

[James Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5