Introduction: The Importance of Athens

Abstract

The Introduction notes that Athens’ evident flaws are deemed fatally problematic by numerous observers, hence for them, Athens hardly qualifies as a “democracy.” Perhaps the major factor that leads numerous modern analysts to condemn the Greeks is the presence of slavery in their societies. Key to the argument of this book is opposition to the idea that slaves freed most citizens from the need to labor. It also argues against the notion that the democracy rested on a paradox, rooted in political equality and economic inequality, maintaining instead that Athenian democracy was the product of a historically unique combination of both political and economic equality.