You're Dead to Me cover image

Ancient Athenian Democracy (Radio Edit)

You're Dead to Me

00:00

The Delphic Oracle Tells the Spartans to Free Athens

In 510, the Spartans show up on the Athenian doorstep to get rid of Hippious. It's because they have been told by the Delphic Oracle that they must free Athens. Then we have the son of Megakles, my favourite, the robot. Now he's called Kleisthenese, which is a much more adorable name. 508 BCE, he invents it, apparently. He's not really a great pin-up as the inventor of democracy. And his family's been part of all the political kind of infighting in Athens for the past century. So they've got rid of Hippias. He's been ousted by the Spartans. The same old game

Transcript
Play full episode

The AI-powered Podcast Player

Save insights by tapping your headphones, chat with episodes, discover the best highlights - and more!
App store bannerPlay store banner
Get the app