Lesson 26: The Rise of Democracy

The ancient Greeks had many things in common. For example, they spoke the same language. But the Greek people did not view Greece as one country. Rather, they identified with a hometown that they called their “city.” Each of these cities included both a settlement and its surrounding farmland.

Most Greeks were fiercely proud of their cities. Each city had its own laws, its own army, and its own form of money. For these reasons, ancient Greek cities are called city-states. The ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia were the first people to form city-states. Like the Sumerian city-states, individual Greek city-states had their own form of government.