How the Greek Invented the Modern World

hen we use the term Athenian democracy, we must be careful not to compare it to the modern-day liberal democracies we are accustomed to. For one, universal suffrage, where being of legal age is the only condition for exercising one’s right to vote, is a recent achievement. It would never have crossed the minds of Ancient Greece legislators to allow such a thing. By the way, I suspect that few people know that women weren’t allowed to vote in Switzerland, one of the world’s most civilized countries, until 1971. That’s when a referendum gave them that right at the federal level. Several cantons — the equivalent of US states — had “already” introduced that right starting in 1959. Others would follow as late as 1990. But, the process had to start somewhere. Most historians agree that it started in Athens — also the birthplace of Western philosophical thinking, of course — between the VI and the V century BCE. <a href="https://micheleramarini.medium.com/how-the-greek-invented-the-modern-world-5e64feac2f4d">Visit Now</a>