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Elaborating on the title (a quote from a poem by Elytis), this constitutional jurist & former European Deputy first expresses his love for the archipelago that is contemporary Greece. Lang goes on to note what he sees as the most modern aspects of Athenian democracy, since Greece entered anew into contemporary political practices after decades of military dictatorship in the mid-20th century: the strict interdiction of the cumul des mandats (holding several political offices at different levels of government); & the annual control of judges retiring from charge & the collegiality of decisions. He then makes the point that participative democracy, which has recently become a theme of electoral campaigns, was already well established among the Athenians of Antiquity through the central role conferred on the Assembly of Citizens in the institutional system. Ancient Greeks would see our contemporary constitutions as veritable tyrannies. These thoughts represent Lang's reverence of the cultural & political legacy of Greece. Adapted from the source document.