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Political Upheaval · 508 BCE · Turning point

Athenian Democracy Founded

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Works dated 608 BCE–408 BCE

Cleisthenes' reforms created a civic culture that demanded art be legible to a citizenry rather than a king's court. The polis became the patron (commissioning temples, festivals, and theater), establishing the connection between democratic politics and public art that still shapes how we fund and imagine culture.

Sources

Lead image of the Wikipedia article, via Wikimedia Commons
Athenian Democracy Founded (508 BCE) · Ellsworth