Political events over the last decade or more, including the rise of authoritarian states and leaders, have made one question appear very urgent, namely – how do democracies die? The history of Ancient Greece, however, suggests a different way of posing this question. In the Ancient Greek world an imperfect democratic political culture was established and persisted for more than five hundred years, even though it was overshadowed by the rise of powerful monarchs and even conquered by Rome. Why didn’t these democracies die? An ongoing research project funded by the British Academy into the history of Greek citizenship suggests some new answers to this question. Join Dr William Mack for this free public lecture at the Birmingham Midlands Institute, in which he unravels some of the strands of the history of citizenship and explores how they contributed to democratic resilience in Ancient Greece.

Dr William Mack, Associate Professor in Ancient Greek History and Culture at the University of Birmingham and British Academy Mid-Career Fellow (Project: Citizens ‘Equal and the Same’ – A New History of Ancient Greek Citizenship, c.650-27 BC)

This is a free event, For tickets please follow the Eventbrite link - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-dont-democracies-die-tickets-1243297017849?aff=oddtdtcreator

Manuscript illustration of Penelope weaving as fighting occurs, from a 1474 German translation of Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (New York Public Library)