In the first weeks of 44 B.C., Caesar was proclaimed "dictator for life." His life, though, wouldn't last much longer. Fearful that the concentration of absolute power in a single man threatened the republic's democratic institutions,...

Instead of rule by a single person, Athens and Rome developed governments with widespread participation by male elites, which lasted about 170 years in Athens and about 480 years in Rome. This article discusses the rise of the Greek and...