The democratic regimes of the ancient Greek cities are considered the precursors of today's urban democracies. As is often the case with such ideological ancestries, the successors construct the image of their ancestors by emphasizing the elements that are more understandable or acceptable to them.

On the contrary, the social dimension and the particular logic of politics in the ancient world are lost. Moses Finley's book offers significant aspects of political rivalries in the ancient world, placing them within their own social and ideological context.

The entry of the free from the lower classes into politics, the effects of war and conquest, as well as the ideological factors that influenced internal disputes, are some of the central themes of this foundational study for understanding the nature of governance in Ancient Greece and Rome.