Representation in Ancient Greek Democracy

Abstract

Although modern ‘representative’ democracy is conventionally distinguished from its ‘direct’ ancient Greek counterpart, the language of representation appears in many scholarly accounts of ancient Greek democratic institutions. This article explains why that language is apt. Ancient authors portrayed nearly all ancient Greek political actors as acting on behalf of and in the interests of others. The difference between ancient and modern democracy is not the use of political representation but ancient democrats’ preference for synecdochical representation over the metaphorical forms that predominate today, as well as the accountability measures that they applied to all (and only) metaphorical representatives.

Keywords: representation, ancient Greek democracy, Pitkin, Ankersmit