the old testament dates back to 1280 bc and takes the form of moral imperatives as recommendations for a good society. the small greek city-state, ancient athens, from about the 8th century bc was the first society to be based on broad inclusion of its citizenry, excluding women and the slave class. however, athens had no legal science or single word for "law", relying instead on the three-way distinction between divine law ("thémis"), human decree ("nomos") and custom ("díkē"). yet ancient greek law contained major constitutional innovations in the development of democracy.