Authority 5

We live under a form of government which does not emulate the institutions of our neighbours; on the contrary we ourselves are the model, which some follow, rather than the imitators of other peoples. Our government is called a democracy because its administration is in the hands not of the few but of the majority.

Dr. Fani Mallouchou-Tufano (2006): “The Restoration of the Athenian Acropolis.” Lecture at LSA.

Pericles (ca. 495 – 429 BC) was an Athenian general and politician.

Athenian democracy is often seen as the basis of contemporary Western democracy. Within it, a significant part of the population took part in certain types of voting. However, women and enslaved people were excluded from voting, and Pericles is also credited with saying ‘The best woman is the one who speaks the least.’ The city-state of Athens had numerous colonies in the Mediterranean and along the Black Sea’s coasts. The so-called Great Colonisation took place mainly from the mid 8th to the mid 6th centuries B.C.E. Initially Greek traders settled, and they were then followed by others, while existing populations were expelled. During the debt crisis of 2009, the situation in Greece was described as post-colonial, because Greek domestic policy was externally determined (by the troika of the IMF, European Commission and Central Bank, Samaddar 2015).

*Ranabir Samaddar (2015): “The Postcolonial Bind of Greece.” Viewpointmag.

-429