History has always wanted to see in ancient Greece the germ of democracy. It always been said that in the Greek city-states hundreds of people came to the forum to listen to the wise man on duty to know his political ideas and create his own opinion. However, the practice is far from what actually happened.
Plato himself, in order to defend his idea of a government of sages, rejects democracy because it asserts that it ends up becoming "tyranny". Not to mention that he proposed to expel the playwrights of Athens for giving an image too sentimentalist, in addition to despising Homer for his works.
Although there was a wide amalgam of philosophers who dealt with the form of Politics in which all participated, when making decisions and weren´t heard. Neither women, nor slaves, nor strangers had any civic rights and were always subject to those untouchable characters of the oligarchy who ruled the Greek cities.
Freedom of expression
Freedom of expression was also lacking in Ancient Greece. Protagoras was also banished to Sicily (where he died drowned in his ostracism) for questioning the existence of the gods in his treatise entitled On the Gods, although it agglutinated a large number of followers who shared his philosophical thought. The untouchable people who marked the course of the Greek polis also persecuted other thinkers like Anaxagoras for spreading their ideas when they were rejected.
In Sparta, the poet Archilochus saw his works censored for not sharing the warlike Spartan ideals. This disagreement caused him to win many enmities and ended his days in absolute poverty. In this Greek city, the oligarchy prevailed, and the censorship and lack of freedoms were much accentuated.
Could it be that in ancient Greek times the meaning of the word "democracy" had a conception different from that of our day?
It is possible, but then it would be clear that the antecedent of this political system was not practiced practically among the people to whom its creation has been granted.
Other news you may be interested in:
