What Can Ancient History Tell Us About Revolutions?

About this episode

The episode explores the transformation of revolution from a civic nightmare to a promise of liberation, featuring discussions with prominent scholars.

Long before crowds stormed Bastille or Winter Palace, Greek thinkers treated revolution as the ultimate civic nightmare. So how did an existential danger morph into a promise of liberation—and what happens when that promise curdles into violence? In this dynamic online forum, Dan Edelstein, Professor of French at Stanford University, is joined by classical-political heavyweights Josiah Ober, Professor of Political Science and Classics at Stanford University, and Melissa Lane, Professors...

People in this episode

Host: Dan Edelstein

Guests: Josiah Ober, Melissa Lane

Topics covered

• ancient history
• revolutions
• civic duty
• political philosophy
• Greek thinkers

Keywords

• revolution
• ancient history
• Greek philosophy
• civic nightmare
• political science

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stanford University

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