Commentary
This is the third in a series of essays on the ideas behind the Constitution. You can find the first two essays here and here.
By the beginning of the fifth century before the Christian Era (500 B.C.E.), Greek civilization had spread far beyond mainland Greece. Hellenic colonies dominated the shores around the Black Sea; the northern Mediterranean as far as Spain; many of the Mediterranean islands, including much of Sicily; and western Asia Minor (today’s Turkey).
Hellenic civilization was highly decentralized. The basic unit of government was the city-state. Decentralization tends to promote creativity and progress, and this certainly was true of the Greeks: They became the parents of modern thought. Cities such as Athens, Miletus in Asia Minor, and Syracuse in Sicily were seemingly inexhaustible fountains of talent. Indeed, Athens, like Florence, Italy, in future centuries, was so laden with talent it could afford to waste it by killing or exiling some of its most brilliant citizens….