Athens: Birthplace of Democracy?
The Ancients
00:00
The Origins and Emergency of Democracy in the Ancient Greek World
The Athenians chose their representatives, their executives, in two different ways. One by election, well, we're familiar enough with that, but interestingly not secret ballot. And then secondly, by the lottery, now, the right democratic way to choose an official is the lottery - which is random and anonymous. It gives the maximum chance to,. as it were, Joe Athenian citizen, the ordinary guy. The word noble comes from Latin and comes originally from a word meaning well known.
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