Ancient Greece’s Legacy for Liberty: Public Services in Athens

Ancient Athens, like most political communities then and now, funded its public services largely through a combination of taxation and forced labor (the latter ranging from military conscription for the “free” to full-fledged chattel slavery for the unfree).  Such services included public funding for the arts; for example, wealthy citizens each year would be selected by the state for the “honor” of funding comic or tragic dramas at the periodic public festivals.  Read more