Two thousand five hundred years ago, in 507-506 B.C.E., the institutions of Athens were rocked by the reforms of Cleisthenes. With the regrouping of the Athenians into ten tribes, equitably distributed into the space of the city, and the separation of city time from the religious calendar was created the idea of secular civic space and time and the practice of popular government. Although the word did not yet exist, here was the foundation of democracy. First published In French in 1964, Cleistenes the Athenian has become the classic study of the philosophical, political, and aesthetic background and significance of these reforms. The book has influenced a generation of scholars in anthropology, sociology, urban planning, political science, philosophy and classical studies. This English translation contains the complete text of the original essay and is supplemented by a discussion among Vidal-Naquet, Leveque, and the philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis on the invention of democracy, as well as a new authors' introduction.