Limited Democracy. Athens is considered to be the first democracy in the world. Nevertheless, full participation in it was limited to approximately thirty thousand male citizens over the age of eighteen. Women, slaves, metics (resident aliens), and children had only limited roles to play.

Voting. Every male citizen over age twenty, after two years of military service, could speak and vote in the Ekklesia (Assembly), which met forty times a year on the Pnyx, a hill overlooking the Athenian marketplace. At least six thousand citizens attended the meetings, which generally lasted only a couple of hours. After debating motions, the Assembly members voted by a show of hands. Its psephismata (votes) dictated foreign policy and major issues concerning the administration of the polis. The Assembly did not by itself institute nomoi (laws), but appointed panels to create legislation. It...