Development of Democracy in Athens Development of Democracy in Athens Democracy comes from two Greek words: a noun demos which means, "people" and a verb, kratein, which means "to rule" (Ober 120). Democracy first appeared in Athens towards the beginning of the fifth century B.C. The biggest difference between Athenian democracy and almost all other democracies is that the Athenian version was a direct democracy rather than being representative. Democracy came about in Athens as …showed first 75 words of 2300 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2300 total…natives of Athens. The democracy in Athens gave a stepping stone to what is seen today as democracy. Bibliography Demand, Nancy. A History of Ancient Greece. McGraw Hill: New York. 1996. Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Aubrey De Selincourt revised. Penguin Books: New York. 1996. Kagan, Donald. Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy. The Free Press: New York. 1991. Ober, Josiah. The Athenian Revolution: Essays on Ancient Greek Democracy and Political Theory. Princeton University Press: New Jersey. 1996.