The stories they told about democracy

 The note about Menestheus, the first demagogue (July 11, 2022), had some background about Theseus and the origins of Athenian democracy.

Theseus was a legend, rather than a historical character. Some of the things Theseus did — free the doomed Athenian youths and maidens from the minotaur in Crete, for example — referred to events when Athens was breaking free of the Minoan rulers in Knossos. That would have been before 1370 BCE.

The tales about how Theseus set up the democracy were much later. They were told by 5^th century democrats to justify the democracy against its enemies. Sadly, there are always enemies of democracy. These mythmakers told stories of the “founding father” of the democracy to persuade doubters that democracy was an ancient and honorable idea.

The stories were about how Theseus had set up a kind of federal system in Attica, the region that included the city of Athens, by breaking down the petty, warring tribes. Tribal interests were at odds with those of the democracy, and some people wanted to Make Athens Great Again by going back to the old tribal ways.

One of the points of contention was immigration: the democrats claimed that Theseus opened the doors to immigrants. A rough translation of Theseus’s slogan would be “Ya'll come.” Athens became a power when it welcomed immigrants — craftsman, traders, artisans and even philosophers — attracted by the climate of freedom. Athens’s population exploded. So did its economic production and naval power.

Lovers of democracy thought this was evidence that democracy was the way to go. But all this social change rubbed against the old tribal interests, the old tribal ways. Hence the legendary story about first demagogue.