Ancient Greece is known as the birthplace of democracy. Their
ideas and practice does not correspond exactly to the various
different forms of democracies that we are familiar with in the
contemporary moment. Their political and intellectual
achievements, however, were clearly instrumental in shaping the
foundations. What did democracy mean to the ancient Greeks, and
how did it get started in that part of the world, and not any
other? The Egyptians and the Persians were ruling far more
civilized and wealthier civilizations, but their empires did not
give birth to ideals of democracy. Even in the Greek isles,
mountainous areas and areas lacking communications did not
develop democracy, an interesting historical fact that might
shed some light on the turmoil of our own nation. The Greeks
distinguished themselves from the “barbarous”, or people who
said “bar-bar” when they talked. According to classic scholar
H.D.F Kitto, the barbarians were not denigrated, and the word
did not have the contemptuous connotations