did anyone watch Bettany Hughes two part documentry on the subject?
it got me thinking about this topic. i feel that the influnce of athens, and more generally of the classical world on modern politics is massively overstated, at least this is certainly the case for britian.
the british political system evolved organically from being a form of a council of nobles to the modern parliamentary system, i dont feel that the classical world had much real influence on this.
this followed from an established germanic tradition, not a copying a classical model.
the american system, again evolved from the british one, though gave their new system classical tags (republic, senate etc) to enhance the new systems legitiamcy.
any thoughts?
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