quote · Legacy record
We are usually told that democracy originated in ancient Athens—like science, or philosophy, it was a Greek invention. It’s never entirely clear what this is supposed to mean. Are we supposed to believe that before the Athenians, it never really occurred to anyone, anywhere, to gather all the members of their community in order to make joint decisions in a way that gave everyone equal say?
We are usually told that democracy originated in ancient Athens—like science, or philosophy, it was a Greek invention. It’s never entirely clear what this is supposed to mean. Are we supposed to believe that before the Athenians, it never really occurred to anyone, anywhere, to gather all the members of their community in order to make joint decisions in a way that gave everyone equal say?
Approximate author period: c. 1990 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- David Graeber
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1990 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for David Graeber: life dates 1961 to 2020. Wikidata Q1174579, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1174579 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 302947; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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