The Birth of Athenian Democracy, a Visual Representation

Event Details

The contribution of the ancient Greeks to modernity is inestimable. At the end of the 5th century in Athens we saw the culmination of events that had started a century earlier with the reforms of Solon, leading to the birth of democracy. Understanding how democracy developed in Athens is important not only to political scientists and historians but to all of us as it is a central tenet of our modern Western societies. Nearly every day we hear on the news or read in the newspapers or journals how it is important that all societies should have a government based on democratic principles. To understand why democracy is the preferred form of governing, we need to know how and why it arose. In this talk I will give an overview on the birth of Athenian democracy from the earlier forms of government including oligarchies, tyrannies and Kingdoms. By using ancient Greek pottery, and artefacts to illustrate the birth of democracy we will be introduced to the concepts of personification in Greek Art and learn how to interpret Attic vase painting. We will see how the icons of democracy, the Tyrannicides, were used by the Athenian artists in a more general sense to distinguish the civilized Athenian from the uncivilized barbarian.

About Dr John Voukelatos

Dr Voukelatos is a cardiologist who earned his medical degree from the University of Melbourne in 1985 and continues to work in the private and public hospital sectors. He has an interest in ancient Greek pottery and numismatics, in particular, the history of Greek Vase and Numismatic collections and their collectors. He written papers have appeared in Koinon: The International Journal of Numismatics, Nomismatika Chronika: The Greek Numismatic Society Journal, and Revue Numismatique: French Numismatic Society Journal. He assists the Zurich based Numismatic firm Nomos Ag in researching early 20th and late 19th century pedigrees for ancient coins in the market place. He has also collaborated with the curators of the numismatic departments at Harvard University and Boston Museum of Fine Arts in numismatic pedigree research. He has provided long term loans to the National Gallery of Victoria, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the Hellenic Museum Melbourne, Latrobe University, and the James Logie Museum of Art in Christchurch New Zealand. He has lectured at a number of schools and the Hellenic Museum on a variety of topics including Greek mythology as depicted on Ancient Greek pottery, the Birth of Democracy, and Greek cults and religion.

How to Participate

This event is free and in-person only.