FILM SYNOPSIS:

To understand democracy, we have to look at its Athenian roots. American classical scholars, such as prof. Edward Cohen, have been trying to understand how the world’s first democracy worked, through textual and archaeological evidence.

In the presentation of his book “The Athenian Nation”, "...Cohen shows that the categories of "citizen" and "noncitizen" were much more fluid than is often assumed, and that some noncitizens exercised considerable power. He explores such subjects as economic importance of businesswomen and wealthy slaves; the authority exercised by enslaved public functionaries; […] and the wide involvement of all sectors of the population in significant religious and local activities. All this emerges from the use of fresh legal, economic, and archaeological evidence and analysis that reveal the social complexity of Athens.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:

Nikos Dayandas has directed some of Greece's most acclaimed international co-productions for prime-time slots in Europe & Canada (ARTE, ZDF, AVRO, DK, YLE, History TV et.al. ). Nikos' recent work includes the 13-part animated docu-series The Art Code (aka Decoding Art) for COSMOTE History TV, and the forthcoming docufiction film Keros: The Mystery of the Broken Idols for National Geographic TV, both of which he researched, wrote and directed.

Nikos is currently working with the American School of Classical Studies at Athens to develop cross-platform content, inspired by the School's cutting-edge output in archaeology, history & curation.