The Birth of politics : eight greek and roman political ideas and why they matter / Melissa Lane

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Possibilities of power and purpose -- Justice -- Constitution -- Democracy -- Virtue -- Citizenship -- Cosmopolitanism -- Republic -- Sovereignty -- Conclusion: Futures of Greek and Roman pasts -- Acknowledgements -- Glossary -- Athens map key -- Brief biographies of key persons, events and places -- Reference lists and abbreviations.

"[An introduction] to the foundations of Western political thought, from the Greeks, who invented democracy, to the Romans, who created a republic and then transformed it into an empire...[Lane] focuses on eight political ideas from the Greco-Roman world that are especially influential today...and describes how the ancient formulations of these ideas often challenge widely held modern assumptions"