Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece Kurt A. Raaflaub, Josiah Ober, Robert W. Wallace This book presents a state-of-the-art debate by five eminent scholars about the origins of Athenian democracy. The result is a stimulating, critical exploration and interpretation of the extant evidence on this intriguing and important topic. The authors address such questions as: Why was democracy first realized in ancient Greece? Was democracy "invented" or did it evolve over a long period of time? What were the conditions for democracy and the social and political foundations that made this development possible? And what factors turned the possibility of democracy into necessity and reality? The authors first examine the conditions in early Greek society that encouraged equality and "people's power". They then scrutinize, in both social and political contexts, three crucial points in the evolution of democracy: the reforms connected with the names of Solon, Cleisthenes, and Ephialtes in the early and late sixth and mid-fifth centuries. Finally. A historian of ancient history and a political scientist review their arguments presented in the previous chapters and add their own perspectives, asking what lessons we can draw today from the ancient democratic experience. Designed for a general readership as well as students and scholars, the book provokes discussion by presenting side by side the evidence and arguments that support various explanations of the origins of democracy, thus enabling readers to join un the debate and draw their own conclusions. br> Kurt A. Raaflaub is David Herlihy University Professor and Professor of Classics and History at Brown University. His most recent book is The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece. Josiah Ober is Constantine Mitsotakis Professor of Political Science and Classics at Stanford University. His books include Athenian Legacies: Essays on the Politics of Going on Together. Robert W. Wallace is Professor of Ancient History at Northwestern University and author of The Areopagus Council to 307 B.C. among other books.