Looks at a conversation among practitioners of two very different fields: ancient history and political theory. The topic of the conversation is classical Greek democracy and its contemporary relevance.

AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsContributorsIntroduction: Democracies Ancient and Modern3The Strong Principle of Equality and the Archaic Origins of Greek Democracy19Shares and Rights: "Citizenship" Greek Style and American Style49Transgression, Equality, and Voice63The Ancient Athenian and the Modern Liberal View of Liberty as a Democratic Ideal91Law, Freedom, and the Concept of Citizens' Rights in Democratic Athens105Demos versus "We, the People": Freedom and Democracy Ancient and Modern121Equalities and Inequalities in Athenian Democracy139Comparatively Equal175Athenian Equality: A Constant Surrounded by Flux187Resistance to Change in the Law at Athens203Civil Society, Dionysiac Festival, and the Athenian Democracy217Oath Ritual and the Male Community at Athens227Democratic Contradictions and the Synoptic Illusion of Euripides' Ion249Aristotle and the Idea of Liberal Education271Hoplites into Democrats: The Changing Ideology of Athenian Infantry289The Athenian Trireme, School of Democracy313Reading Democracy: "Socratic" Dialogues and the Political Education of Democratic Citizens327Misreading Democracy: Peter Euben and the Gorgias361Ancient Greek Democracy and the Modern Knowledge-Based Organization: Reflections on the Ideology of Two Revolutions377Bibliography401Index449

"The excellent collection of essays edited by Ober and Hedrick rewards the reader with a state-of-the-art survey from different perspectives on the topic of ancient democracy: what characterizes all the essays is the constant attention to the lesson that modern democracy can learn from looking back to its ancestral model."--Political Studies