Join Dr. Larry Patriquin for next history series seminar

Join Dr. Larry Patriquin on Friday, November 7, 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in room A252 for his discussion on Economic Equality and Direct Democracy in Ancient Athens.
Overview:

In this talk, based on Dr. Larry Patriquin’s forthcoming book, he will argue against mainstream views, which tend to find an inexplicable “paradox” between ancient Athens’ radical politics, on the one hand, and its apparent economic inequality, on the other hand. In contrast, he suggests that in the period c. 590-320 B.C., Athenian males controlled significant “means of production,” in particular land, which enabled these relatively independent men to successfully challenge their exclusion from politics. The key lesson we “moderns” can take from Athens is that some form of economic parity is a necessary condition for political democracy.