General Resources
Textual Sources and Notes
Note that these links do not include the prescribed translations for this component, but other respected translations of the relevant texts.
A superb resource on all aspects of Athenian democracy, with clickable links to sources.
These notes date to a previous (legacy) qualification, but are still extremely well written and helpful for this component.
The Perseus website has texts, translations and notes on many ancient texts. The notes are particularly helpful for Aristophanes, as they explain many of the jokes and references to contemporary events. The opening lines of Acharnians offers a good example - click here to read.
Omnibus is a magazine written for students of Classics. Since 1980, a number of useful articles on democracy have been written, in issues 14, 15, 17, 19, 23, 26, 28, 33, 35, 49, 51, 53, and 55.
Podcasts
In Our Time
A BBC Radio 4 discussion programme which focuses on one topic of academic interest each week. The following programmes are of interest for the democracy component:
Plato’s Republic
Socrates
Thucydides
Democracy
Tragedy
The Oresteia
Comedy in Ancient Greek theatre
Other BBC Radio broadcasts
Plato’s Cave (BBC Radio 4)
Democracy on Trial (BBC Radio 4)
What is democracy? (BBC World Service)
Videos
Athens: the Truth about Democracy (The Ancient World with Bettany Hughes)
Living Democracy with Paul Cartledge
Cambridge Greek Plays: Frogs
A modern performance of the play in Greek, but with subtitles available.
A BBC 4 documentary episode exploring the relationship between Athenian democracy and drama.
Articles
Sinking Giggling into the Sea, by Jonathan Coe, LRB
This is a very good article on the constant mocking of politicians in modern comedy and how it affects society. The argument is broadly that satire is 'anything but a force for change'. While reading it, you may wish to consider whether satire has been a force for good in modern and ancient democracies.
