Classicist-in-residence talks to pupils about the Invention of Democracy in Ancient Athens

On Thursday 5th March our Classicist-in-Residence, Peter Jones, gave a fascinating talk about Athenian democracy as the roots for our western political systems. Throughout the lecture we found out about the political system in Athens which truly gave all power to its people, randomly electing any free man for various posts within government and giving everyone an opportunity to govern.

Furthermore, we came to realise that our country does not have the true democracy that the ancient Athenians had; the only country today that is the closest to a true democracy is Switzerland, where every change must be voted upon by the people no matter how small. It was very enjoyable and gave pupils looking to study Classics at university a real insight into the degree course.