Editing Politics (section)

==== Ancient history ====
The first states of sorts were those of [[Sumer#Early Dynastic Period|early dynastic Sumer]] and [[Ancient Egypt#Early Dynastic Period|early dynastic Egypt]], which arose from the [[Uruk period]] and [[Predynastic Egypt]] respectively around approximately 3000 BC.<ref name="ancientlocations">{{harvnb|Daniel|2003|p=xiii}}.</ref> Early dynastic Egypt was based around the [[Nile River]] in the north-east of [[Africa]], the kingdom's boundaries being based around the Nile and stretching to areas where [[Oasis|oases]] existed.<ref>{{harvnb|Daniel|2003|pp=9–11}}.</ref> Early dynastic [[Sumer]] was located in southern [[Mesopotamia]], with its borders extending from the [[Persian Gulf]] to parts of the [[Euphrates River|Euphrates]] and [[Tigris River|Tigris]] rivers.<ref name="ancientlocations" />

Egyptians, Romans, and the Greeks were the first people known to have explicitly formulated a political philosophy of the state, and to have rationally analyzed political institutions. Prior to this, states were described and justified in terms of religious myths.<ref>{{harvnb|Nelson|Nelson|2006|p=17}}.</ref>

Several important political innovations of [[classical antiquity]] came from the [[Greek city states|Greek city-states]] (''[[polis]]'') and the [[Ancient Rome|Roman Republic]]. The Greek city-states before the 4th century granted [[Athenian democracy#Citizenship in Athens|citizenship]] rights to their free population; in [[Athens]] these rights [[Athenian democracy|were combined]] with a [[Direct democracy|directly democratic]] form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kumar |first=Sanjay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGc9EAAAQBAJ&dq=The+Greek+city-states+before+the+4th+century+granted+citizenship+rights+to+their+free+population%3B+in+Athens+these+rights+were+combined+with+a+directly+democratic+form+of+government+that+was+to+have+a+long+afterlife+in+political+thought+and+history.&pg=PA53 |title=A Handbook of Political Geography |date=2021 |publisher=K.K. Publications |language=en |access-date=22 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324145301/https://books.google.com/books?id=iGc9EAAAQBAJ&dq=The+Greek+city-states+before+the+4th+century+granted+citizenship+rights+to+their+free+population%3B+in+Athens+these+rights+were+combined+with+a+directly+democratic+form+of+government+that+was+to+have+a+long+afterlife+in+political+thought+and+history.&pg=PA53 |archive-date=24 March 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>