Greek democracy

The word ‘democracy’ derives from the ancient Greek dēmos, meaning ‘citizen body’, and kratos, ‘power’. The concept was invented in Athens in 508 BC by the nobleman Cleisthenes and lasted 180 years, changing format constantly but never straying from its central principle: that the Athenian dēmos (males over 18), meeting in the Assembly every eight days, made every decision that our politicians make for us today.

Randomly selected members of the dēmos also sat on the juries, making every legal decision – in both political and criminal trials – without control from any higher authority. In other words, there was no ‘separation of powers’, and the dēmos was sovereign.

Athenian democracy was a unique system of government that was to last until 323 BC, when Macedonian