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The word "democracy," as well as the concept it represents, can be traced back to the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The beginnings of democracy can be credited to the Greeks of the sixth century BC. The word comes from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratein, meaning "to rule." These two words are joined together to form democracy, literally meaning, "rule by the people" (Pious). The Greek system of government was perhaps closer to a true democracy or rule by the people than any other in history. Democracy nowadays is a word much used and even more misused. It has many meanings and has turned up in surprising places--the Spain of General Franco, the Greece of the colonels, the Pakistan of the generals, the Eastern Europe of the commissars--usually prefaced by some qualifying adjective such as "guided," "basic," "organic," "popular," or the like, which serves to dilute, deflect, or even to reverse the meaning of the word. Chapter 2 Origins of Democracy The Greeks viewed dictatorship as the worst possible form of government, so their government evolved as the exact opposite. Their civilization was broken down into small city-states (never more than 10,000 citizens), and all the men voted on all