http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/government/athens.htm
Aristotle divided Greek governments into monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies and democracies, and most historians still use these same divisions. For the most part,
In the Late Bronze Age (the Mycenean period), between about 2000 and 1200 BC, all Greek city-states seem to have been monarchies, ruled by kings. Homer's Iliad, and Greek mythology in general, shows us a whole series of kings like Agamemnon and Theseus, and some of their palaces have survived for archaeologists to dig up.
After the Dark Age, though, only a few Greek city-states still had kings. Sparta is the most famous of these, though actually
Most city-states in the Archaic period were ruled by oligarchies, which is a group of aristocrats (rich men) who tell everyone else what to do. Then in the 600's and 500's BC a lot of city-states were taken over by tyrants. Tyrants were usually one of the aristocrats who got power over the others by getting the support of the poor people. They ruled kind of like kings, but without any legal right to rule.
In 510 BC, the city-state of Athens created the first democratic government, and soon other Greek city-states imitated them. Even city-states that weren't Greek, like Carthage and Rome, experimented with giving the poor people more power at this time. But Athenian democracy did not really give power to everyone. Most of the people in
During the Dark Ages,
In the early Archaic period, around 900 BC,
During the Archaic period, the system of government seems to have been pretty severe for ordinary people, and to have favored rich men and women. In 621 BC Draco was serving in the government of
But most people in
Solon changed the law so that poor people could not be sold into slavery just because they owed people money. He cancelled debts and redistributed land so people got a fresh start. He changed the law so that people couldn't be killed except for any crime except murder.
Under Solon's rules, the rich men in the oligarchy kept most of their land and most of their power. But he did start an Assembly, that any citizen could come to and vote on important questions. And he decided that judges would be chosen through a lottery, so that even poor men might be judges. He did not allow women to be in the Assembly or to be judges. He did make it illegal for parents to abuse their children. For a while, this worked. The ordinary people weren't so angry, and the rich men got to stay in power.