The book tells how the first democracy in world history arose, developed, experienced its rise and decline, which became a model for all subsequent democratic states. This democracy existed on the land of Ancient Greece, in Athens - a city that, under a democratic system, became the largest political, economic, cultural center of the ancient world. Ancient democracy is fraught with many mysteries and paradoxes. It is both similar and different from modern democracies. On the one hand, it was probably the most real democracy in world history. Citizens governed the state not through their elected representatives, as in our days, but directly, regularly gathering in public assemblies and solving all the most important political issues at them. life. There was absolutely no such layer as bureaucracy. On the other hand, any ancient democracy was a “democracy for the minority.” Not only slaves, but also women did not have civil and political rights. The history of Athenian democracy contains many instructive things. It allows us to draw parallels with the ups and downs of the development of the modern world and makes us think about their origins. Contents: From the author.........5 Prologue. Predawn twilight ....7•Bird's eye view........7•Attica and its inhabitants.........12•From the “palace kingdom” to the polis..... .18•There is no good in multi-power? .27•Aristocracy and demos.........31•Athens on the threshold of change ..35Chapter I. The first rays...40•Testaments of the sage 40•And again - the struggle......49•Law-abiding tyrant.....55•The fiasco of the heirs..60•Excursion 1. Aristocratic democracy.....66Chapter II. The sun rises.....74•The choice of Cleisthenes........74•The birth of democracy..79•Darkness from the East .86•“Upstart from Frearr”........93•Ephialtes vs. Areopagus.102•Forward and forward along the path of democracy.......111•Excursion 2. Conservative democracy.........119Chapter III. Shining Noon ........128•“The Athenian Olympian”......128•Democracy in the “Periclean Age”....137•A Day on the Pnyx........145•Day on the Agora.150•A day in Helium .157•A day at the theater..165•A day in Piraeus ..171•Tyrant city...177•Excursion 3. Aggressive democracy...184Chapter IV. A sudden thunderstorm...189•The face of the enemy...... 189•The Great War...197•Captured by demagogues...204•Ferment of minds......214•The oligarchs begin and. .. lose... 221•Thirty Tyrants.....227•Excursus 4. Democracy and Law...233Chapter V. Warm evening......239•After the heyday comes a crisis.....239•Time to collect stones......245•“Working on mistakes”...251•Democracy judges the thinker— democracy is judged by thinkers......262•Excursus 5. Democracy and women......273Chapter VI. Night falls on Athens...279•Unification or freedom? .........279•The end of Demosthenes, the end of democracy..288•Coups, coups..297•An empty shell.....304•Excursus 6. Democracy and the gods....313Epilogue. Results of a long day..322•The light and shadows of democracy.........322•Totalitarian democracy?...329•The Great Experiment........336Appendix. State of knowledge of the topic.342•Main dates and events mentioned in the book (chronological table)...348•Bibliography on the history of Athenian democracy....354