Athens is often called the cradle of civilization and democracy, whose development is discussed in this paper. The word democracy comes from the Greek word demokratia, which comes from the demos (people), kratein (rule) and the suffix ia. So, literally, reign of the people. The term first appears in Herodotus' history and refers to the small community (polis, the city-community), which made decisions collectively by meeting as an assembly of all citizens (excluded were slaves, foreigners and women). Democracy experienced her flourish in the 5th century. BC. n. e. in Athens, during the lifetime of Pericles. The fundament of Athenian democracy was the idea of the active participation of citizens in politics, according to which citizens were participants of political action, not mere subordinates of the ruler. The events and concepts that preceded the creation of democracy or democratic republic, in particular, events refering to the development of Athenian democracy, as well as political and legal organizations, and social structures of democratic republic will be mentioned in this paper. From a wide range of literature that was used in this study, the most useful books turned out to be General History of State and Law by Konstantin Bastaić and Bogdan Krizman and General history of law and state by Šefko Kurtović.