OK here goes: First of all - forget the concept that Greek Democracy allowed every Greek to be a citizen and to participate in the ruling of the city-state. That is patently false.
The Greek Term for citizenship is POLITEIA. it means that one possesses the right to be a POLITE (citizen).
These two terms lead to the concept of the state - the term for the state is POLIS and the etymological link to POLITEIA is not just semantics it is foundational - the state is the citizens, the POLITES are the POLIS. The term for constitution is also POLITEIA - and now the basic picture is complete - the POLITEIA (constitution) defined what the POLITEIA (citizenship) consisted of and identified who the POLIS(state) was by defining who could be a POLITE(citizen).
There were three types of government within the Greek experience and the terms are important here as well:
There were several types of constitution leading to different types of states - monarchy (rule by one), rule by oligarchy (rule by few) or democracy (rule by many) - it is important to note that it is not the term omni-archy (rule by all), in fact there is no such term within the Greek language. The corresponding term in Greek would be anarchy (no rule) since they considered mob rule and chaos to be the same thing.
Aristotle took pains to explain that monarchy leads to tyranny, oligarchy leads to aristocracy and democracy leads to anarchy if the POLITEIA (constitution) governing that form of the state was not honored - this should start some interesting comments from our resident anarchists . . .
Now the divisions of Greek society get very interesting because the were some differences between the various city states, but these were the basic groups throughout:
The Aristocracy were Greeks who considered themselves the AUTOCHTHONOUS or the indigenous sons of Attica, These formed GENOS (families) and the GENOS formed PHRATRIA (brotherhoods) and the Phratria formed the tribes. This is important to remember, because these were the foundational groups of the city/states. Belonging to a phratria was vital for your survival, because only members of a phratria could bring charges and seek justice - the Phratria held all judicial control. Greek literature is replete with examples of this kinsmen bond and of the requirements of freemen to each other.
this next section is based on Athens
the rest of the Greeks males who did not belong to a phratria were the demos. The demos gained a wonderful victory from the phratria in the 7th century BC (after the land reforms of Solon) when they persuaded the aristocrats to actually write down the terms of the common law (Dracon’s law - another fascinating word study here) and now justice was met out according to the terms of the law and the judges were honorable members of society.
The demos had no political rights for much of early Greek history - the aristocracy held most of the fertile land, controlled all political power (executive, legislative and judicial in our terms). the various classes of demos (including diakrioi (poor landowners) and paraloi (those who lived by the sea), fishermen, skilled craftsmen, ship and caravan owners, traders and artists) finally banded together and demanded political rights from the aristocracy (the true demo-cratic revolution). The new constitution written by Solon granted the right to vote to those demos now classified as POLITAI (citizens) but this was not democracy. Only the Aristocracy could elect and be elected - but now the lower political classes could vote for those nomonated by the aristocracy- they could participate in, but rule or lead the state.
The 6th and 5th centuries were marked by much turmoil in Athens - the demos voted a tyrant into power (Peisistrates) and then the aristocrats returned the favor by seizing power and demanding an accounting of who was actually a citizen (voter fraud sound familiar?) - this in turn lead the demos to fear a return to aristocratic rule and the loss of the reforms that had been implemented - then a character named Kleisthenes came along and instituted (with the support of the demos) a new consistent definition of who was a POLITE - sneakily he included a lot of the poor, slaves and even foreigners. This new classification also destroyed any mention of the genos, phratria or phyle. Instead the demoi were identified by their geographical region.
Now for the first time a demos of Athens had all the same rights as every other demos - he could elect, be elected, vote, sue, be defended in court, propose laws, and could speak freely in the ECCLESIA (assembly of the demoi - this right to speak was called ISEGORIA). This equality between the elected officials and those who elected them was called ISONOMIA.
Now it is important to remember that not everyone who lived in Athens was a member of the demoi - there were foreigners (metics), freedmen (apeleutheoi) and slaves, women and children, as well demoi who had suffered loss of citizenship (atimia) for various infractions of the law. These non-citizens numbered well over 250,000 out of a population of 300,00. The average number of the demoi was estimated at 30,000
Ok- well those are the broad strokes with specific details about Athens. Sparta had a different structure as well as the oldest constitution (if my memory serves me right). I can go into that if you like as well.
Now, the applications of these distinctions of democracy are vital to your understanding that democracy is not truly a rule by all. Even after the reforms and voter fraud, the demoi were still just a fraction of the whole Athenian population. Democracy exists as a constitution that identifies it citizens and their rights to rule the state and the state then rules the territory of the state including the lives of all of the non-citizens - the majority of the state’s population.
Demo-cracy is NOT rule by all - it is still rule by the select.
A republic on the other hand . . .is another post - my fingers are tired. Hope you guys appreciate this 