ΠΝΥΞ - PNYX
Angela Melitopoulos / Kerstin Schrödinger
ΠΝΥΞ - PNYX - Listening to minor voices
The Pnyx is a rocky hill in the heart of Athens, surrounded by parkland. On its slope lies a vast platform of eroded rock, as well as the orator's stone.
From 507 BC onwards, the Athenians gathered on the Pnyx to hold their political assemblies. In order to reduce the influence of oligarchic aristocracy on the politics of the polis, they established an assembly for a direct democracy that granted equal rights to ‘free citizens’ –
but excluding women, slaves and foreigners.
This ‘parliament of the world’ ensured the equal application of the laws, whilst at the same time it was a popular assembly capable of neutralising citizens if they posed a threat to the state or were potential tyrants.
The video file will be released on 7 Oct. 2026.