While the rest of the world has been wondering what the outcome of the American elections will be, A-level Classical Civilisation students have been thinking about the similarities and differences between modern and ancient democracies.
Dr Sarah Bremner who studied Athenian democracy at Birmingham University spoke to our students about her specialist topic, the power of words in a democracy. Students at SCG study a module for A level called “Democracy and the Athenians”.
Dr Bremner started the talk on what the word “democracy” meant, it comes from two Greek words, Demos and Kratia, meaning “People Power”, but there has always been a debate about which people have power – the Athenians did not allow women to vote, for instance. Athenian democracy was direct, and every citizen would have a vote on matters that directly affect the citizen body (or “polis” – this gives us our word “politics”). In Athens, the number of citizens able to vote was limited, today we have a representative democracy where we have a larger number of voters and send individuals to represent our views to parliament. Just like our own democracy, the Athenians prized isonomia – equality before the law and isogoria, free speech. Given that all Athenian citizens met together four times a month to discuss issues affecting the state, it was important that all citizens were able to articulate their views before the Assembly in the form of speeches. Rhetoric was prized, this is the art of persuasion through effective communication in front of the Athenian assembly. Classicists think that oratory or speech-making is the medium through which a democracy functions and according to Prof Alan Finnlayson of the University of East Anglia “You only get a crisis of rhetoric in a democracy” as this form of government relies on the art of persuasive speech.
SCG students were able to make some very interesting points, arguing that although rhetorical address still exists in our democracy, different points of view are often reduced to sound bites on social media and few people listen to a complete speech or argument, which often results in misunderstandings and polarised opinions. However, democracy functions best when there are carefully argued differences of opinion and a consensus is reached by citizens. Dr Bremner also spoke about the ways that Athenian democracy didn’t just produce articulate oratory, but demagogues, who rely on charisma, appeal to emotions, fear, and prejudice and don’t always rely on carefully crafted argument. Dr Bremner declared that she had a “Great day” and particularly enjoyed student reflections on their experiences of modern oratory, the importance of fact checking both sides of an argument and the importance of expressing their own opinion through the ballot box and participation in their own community.
Dr Bremner is a member of the Centre for Oratory and Rhetoric which operates from Royal Holloway University, London where she encouraged Dr Will Coles, an ex-student of SCG Classical Civilisation who gained his own doctorate in Classics focusing on Diplomatic Oratory in Athenian inter-state relations.
Dr Bremner also took part in an interview with some current students for the Classical Civilisation departments own podcast “Titan Talks” which can be found on Spotify here:
https://bit.ly/SCGAtheniandemocracy
A link to her paper about the Athenian orator Demosthenes can be found here: