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Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia

The ancient Greeks invented democracy – and warned us how it could go horribly wrong

Democracy Plato Socrates
Athenians voted for Socrates to be put to death. Jacques Louis David, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1931

The ancient Greek orator Dio Chrysostom (1st-2nd century CE) said in his speech To the People of Alexandria that there were two kinds of democracy: one good and one bad.

According to Dio, one form of democracy “is reasonable and gentle and truly mild”. It allows for free speech. It is fair, magnanimous and respectful of good people and good advice.

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