Unfonrtunately this event will no longer be running.
What can ancient democracy teach us about the challenges of democracy today? With democracy under pressure around the globe, this panel will explore lessons from classical Athens that may inspire or inform democratic practices in the 21st century.
Our panel brings together experts from academia and the judiciary to reflect on how ancient democratic models functioned, what they might contribute to modern civic life, and whether other cultural traditions of democracy offer perspectives that could enrich contemporary liberal democracies. We will reconsider the foundations of democratic governance and how history might help us imagine more resilient and inclusive political futures.
This panel discussion is supported by the Nicholas Aroney Greek Cultural Fund, the Australian Research Council (ARC), and the School of Humanities
Julia Kindt (FAHA) is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Sydney, a former Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council (2018-22), and a member of the Sydney Environment Institute. She has contributed to TLS, History Today, Meanjin, the Australian Book Review, The Conversation, and other magazines. The first woman appointed full professor in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney, she is a historian of ancient Greece with a broad interest in the social, cultural, and intellectual history of the ancient world and a particular expertise in the history of ideas (including religion, historiography, and classical reception studies). Her research has informed the Google research team in Mountain View, California, and she has been an agenda contributor to the 2019 World Economic Forum. Between 2019 and 2022 she was a member of the ARC College of Experts. She is currently serving on the editorial boards of the Journal of Ancient History and Antichthon and is an Associate Editor of Public Humanities – a new journal published by Cambridge University Press.
The Hon Anthe Philippides is a former judge of the Queensland Supreme Court. Her appointment as a trial judge in 2000 and a judge of appeal in 2014, marked the first appointments in Australia of a woman of Hellenic origin to a Supreme Court and Court of Appeal respectively. She is a graduate of the University of Queensland where she was awarded the University Medal in law and of Cambridge University where she read for the LLM.
She is Queensland Patron of the Hellenic Australian Lawyers Association, Adjunct Professor of the TC Beirne Law School and a member of the Australian Academy of Law.
She is a past President of the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand and has served on numerous boards and councils across a range of fields.
She has a strong interest in the arts and is chair of Flying Arts Alliance, a director of Musica Viva Australia, the Queensland Youth Orchestra and the University of Queensland Press. She is Patron of the Legal Forecast Creative and LawchestraQ and founded the Music and Arts Circle to promote greater access to the Arts for those of diverse backgrounds.
Header image: Glass negative, [Parthenon], circa 1900. Professor William Woodhouse. NM2007.57.5. Nicholson Collection.
