The purpose of this study is to investigate how the "historical argument", namely references to the educational policies and practices of other historical periods, was used by Greek politicians in the framework of the 1985 and 1997-1998 educational reforms. Employing the method of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, the authors attempt, on the basis of original sources (parliamentary debates/minutes) both to count and interpret the historical references. (Contains 2 tables and 40 footnotes.)