DEMOCRACY

[Annoying Music] The ancient Athenians are famous for inventing Democracy but it didn't happen overnight; in fact, it took years of experimentation with other forms of government before they got it just right. 

When Athens was founded sometime around the 9th century bce, it was a monarchy ruled over by powerful kings; the rule of one, as it was known, had been in place for over 800 years when a power grabbed by wealthy nobles ushered in a new system of government: the rule of the few under this system known as an oligarchy . Laws were created by and for the elite; it meant that average Athenians had no say in how their city was run. 

This inevitably led to civil unrest and inspired this guy Draco the Lawgiver to create the city's first written law code designed to protect the interests of the people. Unfortunately, the penalty for breaking many of Draco's laws was death, which some deemed too harsh, so another legislator called Solon composed a fairer system which distributed political power based on property ownership

But then a Greek general, Peisistratus, seized power and declared himself the tyrant of Athens tyranny is a form of government in which one individual holds absolute power. It sounds cruel but Peisistratus was actually quite popular because he invested in public works that made people's lives better. Power struggles continued between tyrants for years until an uprising swept statesman Cleisthenes to power; his legal and political reforms weakened the traditional aristocracy and gave some powers back to the people heralding a new era of democratic government. Why do you think democracy survived and thrived in athens for hundreds of years [Annoying Music still continues...]