A year after their defeat of Athens in 404 BC, the Spartans allowed the Athenians to replace the government of the Thirty Tyrants with a new democracy. The tyranny had been a terrible and bloody ...

What linked this complex tribal reform to Athenian democracy was the Council of Five Hundred, or Boule. Each tribe selected 50 council members for the 500-member Boule, usually chosen by lot.

Greece is now known as the “cradle of democracy” . Not only was the first democracy in the world in Athens, but the word itself comes from the Greek demos (people) and kratos (rule).