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30 Jun 2026

There’s also Hagia Sophia, so the people gather in the church, or they gather in public spaces like the Forum of Constantine. So this can happen anywhere where a large number of people can gather, and it’s, I don’t know if you wanna call it a democracy as such, but it is definitely a form of popular, let’s say, consultation and a testing of consensus.

“There’s also Hagia Sophia, so the people gather in the church, or they gather in public spaces like the Forum of Constantine. So this can happen anywhere where a large number of people can gather, and it’s, I don’t know if you wanna call it a democracy as such, but it is definitely a form of popular, let’s say, consultation and a testing of consensus.”

Speaker: Anthony Kaldellis
Episode: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires
Publisher: Lex Fridman Podcast

Anthony Kaldellis

What Anthony said.

Some people at the time called it the Divine Decree, which basically extended citizenship to everybody. Now, we don’t know exactly why he did so.