assembly

1. The Age of Pericles, after the painting by Philipp von Foltz, 1853. Pericles is shown addressing the Assembly from the bema, or speaker’s rostrum on the Pnyx. © akg images. 2. The ancient bema (speaker’s rostrum) as it is today, on Pnyx hill in Athens.

The Past

Democracy in Athens: power to the people?

Paul Cartledge, who has written the biography of the revolutionary idea of democracy, explains how it was practised in ancient Athens where it originated.