Following the fall of the Peisistratid tyranny in Athens, the Athenians instituted a revolutionary new form of government: democracy. In this lecture, Dr Gillian Shepherd looks at the nature of Athenian democracy and how we think it might have functioned in the 5th century BC, including some of the structures and objects found in the Athenian agora which provide evidence for democracy at work.

Copyright 2013 Gillian Shepherd / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Following the fall of the Peisistratid tyranny in Athens, the Athenians instituted a revolutionary new form of government: democracy. In this lecture, Dr Gillian Shepherd looks at the nature of Athenian democracy and how we think it might have functioned in the 5th century BC, including some of the structures and objects found in the Athenian agora which provide evidence for democracy at work. Copyright 2013 Gillian Shepherd / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Athens in the 5th Century BC

In this subject students are introduced to the diversity of the ancient Greek achievement, which has exercised a fundamental and continuing influence upon later European literature and culture. The subject commences with a detailed treatment of Homer's Iliad and the myth of the Trojan war. This is one of the dominant myths in the Greek tradition and is narrated in some detail in epic poetry, in drama, and in art and architecture. We explore how myths are 'read' in their historical context, especially in the contexts of the Persian and Peloponnesian wars of the 5th Century BC. A variety of sources are treated to enable students to build up a picture of Greek society as a whole.

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Athens in the 5th Century BC

Athens in the 5th Century BC

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