How Ancient Societies Reveal Alternatives to Capitalism

Our guest on Downstream this week is Josephine Quinn, Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge University, the first woman to hold the position. In front of a live audience at EartH Hackney earlier this year, Professor Quinn and Aaron Bastani examined some of the lesser-known aspects of the ancient world, as explored in her book How The World Made the West.

What were the ancient alternatives to democracy? Why should students today study ancient languages, instead of English or mathematics? And did people in the Bronze Age really forget how to write, or deliberately decide to stop?