Reforms introduced by Cleisthenes at Athens in ancient Greece reorganised citizens into territorial tribes and created institutions of direct participation. The changes weakened aristocratic factions and gave male citizens a formal role in government. Athenian democracy became the earliest extensively documented democratic system.

The democratic polis shaped Greek drama, rhetoric and poetry, providing the civic setting for Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. Their works repeatedly examine public duty, persuasion, justice and the dangers of collective power.