The seminar deals with the question of individual “rights” and personal freedom (civil liberties) in democratic Athens during the 5th Century BCE as documented in relevant textual sources. Political freedom was propagated as the most important character of Athens while individual freedom rights and the decriminalization of private conduct were deduced from the political implementation of collective freedom. The seminar will locate different concepts of individual freedom in this context. Attention will be drawn to the interconnection between political system and individual rights in the self-understanding of the Athenian citizens, where collectivism in political freedom was seen as the best guarantee for individual freedom and the protection of individual “rights”.