The fifth century BC witnessed not only the emergence of one of the first democracies, but also the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars. John Thorley provides a

Studies all four branches of the Athenian armed forces to show how they helped make democratic Athens a superpower.

Biography of the Athenian politician whose reforms provided ordinary citizens with more equal say in the state formerly run only by the upper class.

Athens' democracy developed during the sixth and fifth centuries and continued into the fourth; Athens' defeat by Macedon in 322 began a series of alternations

Where did "democracy" come from, and what was its original form and meaning? Here Josiah Ober shows that this "power of the people" crystallized in a revolution