From the Greeks to democracy
How ideas born in Athens shaped the rights we have today.
6 lessons · about 63 min
The steps
- HistoryUp next
1. Ancient Greece
Hundreds of tiny, fiercely independent city-states that almost never united, yet shared one culture: discover how that culture outlived Greek independence and won over Rome.
- Philosophy & religion
2. Socrates
Socrates in a few minutes: the man who asked questions rather than teaching answers, his method, his ideas about the good, and the trial that cost him his life.
- Philosophy & religion
3. Philosophy
What philosophy is, in a few minutes: the questions it asks, how it answers them, its main fields and what it is for.
- History
4. Ancient Rome
Follow Rome from a small settlement on the Tiber to a Mediterranean superpower. See how its Republic was built to stop one-man rule, how conquest strained that system, and how an emperor eventually took over.
- Society & social sciences
5. Democracy
Why did the Athenians think drawing lots was more democratic than holding elections? From the assembly of Athens to modern constitutions: what really makes a government democratic.
- Society & social sciences
6. Human rights
What human rights are, where the idea came from, how the world tried to turn it into law after World War II, and why it is still argued over and hard to enforce.