223. 508 BC The Boule – 500 Random Guys and the Birth of Bureaucracy (500s BCs part 6)

This is a podcast by Dan Hörning and Bernie Maopolski.

Democracy wasn’t just showing up and voting in Athens—it needed infrastructure, and that’s where the Boule came in. This episode explores how 500 citizens, chosen at random, met daily to steer the Athenian state, draft proposals, and make democracy happen in real time. Sound impossible? It wasn’t. And it’s probably more sophisticated than you think.

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