Athenian Democracy

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 concise analysis of the development and operation of Athenian democracy against this backdrop.

Taking into account both primary source material and the work of modern historians, Athenian Democracy examines:

the prelude to democracyhow the democractic system emergedhow this system worked in practicethe efficiency of this system of governmentthe success of Athenian democracy.Including a useful chronology and blibliography, this second edition has been updated to take into account recent research.