From Tyranny to Athenian Democracy - Melissa Lane

Nov 4, 2025

Melissa Lane, a prominent scholar of Greek and Roman political thought from Princeton, explores the intriguing origins of Athenian democracy. She delves into the 508 BCE uprising that dismantled tyranny, emphasizing Cleisthenes’ pivotal role in reshaping governance. The discussion highlights his innovative reforms like radical redistricting and popular agenda setting. Lane argues that democracy is an ongoing process that necessitates vigilance and adaptability, illustrating how Cleisthenes' strategies forged a participatory political identity for the Athenians.

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ANECDOTE

Founding Myths Can Be Misleading

Melissa Lane compares Cleisthenes to the misleading John Harvard statue to show how founding stories can be simplified.
She uses this anecdote to introduce three 'lies' about Cleisthenes' role in Athenian democracy.

INSIGHT

A Benevolent Despot Still Destroys Law

Melissa Lane argues Pesistratos ruled constitutionally yet hollowed out Solon's laws by disarming popular vigilance.
His 'moderate' rule kept people passive and undermined meaningful enforcement of law.

ANECDOTE

Oracle-Bribed Spartan Intervention

Lane recounts how exiles bribed the Delphic Oracle to persuade Sparta to remove the tyrant.
Spartan intervention besieged Athens and forced the tyrant's family into exile.

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When – and how – did Athenian democracy begin? There is no unambiguous answer to this question. This lecture explores one plausible origin: the popular uprising in 508 BCE overthrowing foreign invaders (who had previously expelled an Athenian-bred family of tyrants). In the aftermath of that revolution, the Athenians – led by Kleisthenes – reorganised their political system to foster new identities and interactions. As further political and social changes were made, Athenian democracy took shape in the imaginations of contemporaries and of later generations.

This lecture was recorded by Professor Melissa lane on the 16th of October 2025 at Barnards Inn Hall, London.

Melissa Lane is the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics, Princeton University and is also Associated Faculty in the Department of Classics and Department of Philosophy. Previously she was Senior University Lecturer at Cambridge University in the Faculty of History and Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.

She studied for her first degree in Social Studies (awarded summa cum laude) at Harvard University, and then took an MPhil and PhD in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, where she was a student at King’s College, supported by appointments as a Marshall Scholar, Truman Scholar, and Mary Isabel Sibley Fellow of Phi Beta Kappa.

Professor Lane is an author, lecturer and broadcaster who has received major awards including being named a Guggenheim Fellow, and the Lucy Shoe Meritt Resident in Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome. She has published widely in journals and authored or introduced nine major books including Greek and Roman Political Ideas; Eco-Republic; and most recently, Of Rule and Office: Plato’s Ideas of the Political, which was awarded the 2024 Book Prize of the Journal of the History of Philosophy.

Professor Lane is the only person ever to have delivered both the Carlyle Lectures and the Isaiah Berlin Lectures at the University of Oxford.

The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/tyranny-democracy

Gresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's m

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