Was Athenian Democracy Dependent on Slavery?

Back in November 2021 I published a piece in <a href="https://areomagazine.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Areo magazine</a> called ‘<a href="https://areomagazine.com/2021/11/26/was-athenian-democracy-dependent-on-imperialism/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Was Athenian Democracy Dependent on Imperialism?</a>’ When I sent the editor this second installment on slavery, she asked me to re-work the piece to incorporate some introductory material on Athenian democracy for the sake of the general reader. That wasn’t a bad suggestion at all (and people who do want a very, very short introduction to Athenian democratic institutions can start with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwdvtMr88Ho&t=50s" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">this video</a>), but in view of the time that has now passed since the first piece, I’ve decided simply to post the second installment here more or less unchanged. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*kUyRXkkoY8pyydAZPvqNzA.jpeg" style="height:700px; width:700px" /> In <a href="https://areomagazine.com/2021/11/26/was-athenian-democracy-dependent-on-imperialism/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">a previous piece</a>, I challenged University of Brunswick classicist <a href="https://theconversation.com/democracy-freedom-and-cheap-stuff-can-we-pay-more-for-our-coffee-90621" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Matthew Sears’ assertion</a> that there was a “nearly perfect” correlation “between the degree of political freedom and equality” for citizens of ancient Athens “and the rise of chattel slavery and imperial depredation.” As sharp-eyed readers may have noticed, though I was able to counter Sears’ claim that Athenian democracy was dependent on imperialism, I didn’t really deal with the issue of slavery. <a href="https://jamesk508.medium.com/was-athenian-democracy-dependent-on-slavery-82c762fb89a2">Learn More</a>