Having never taken or truly been interested in history of western civilization, I found the origins of democracy to be quite interesting.

In Sparta men were not considered citizens of the town that they fought to defend until they were 30. Boys left home at young ages to become educated and trained for military. There was state supported schooling for the girls as well. The "Assembly" made the laws laws as the king or elders had already decided it to be so. In Sparta a conquered people became slaves of the citizens.

In Athens, Solon, cancelled debt of the farmers and classified the people by the amount of agriculture they produced rather than by family name. Under Solon's rule only men who owned land were considered citizens. This left out many other people including women, merchants, and slaves. After Solon was Pisistratus who began trade and encourage more temples to be built to worship the Gods. The city of Athens strived under the rule of Pisistratus. When Spartra attacked, after his son became ruler, Cleisthenes tried to change Athens back to the ways of Solon's.

It's fasicinating how many different government's were in Athens's and yet it survived.