Originally published in 1953. The return to the "ancestral constitution" was a major issue in Athenian politics in the period of the revolution of 411 and 404 B.C. This book examines the scope and import of the question of the "ancestral constitution". Chapter 1 is a study of Kleitophon’s Rider nd the tradition of Solon and Kleisthenes. Chapter 2 is a discussion of the concept of patrios politeia as employed by the Democrats. The use made of the "ancestral constitution" in 404-3 B.C is discussed in Chapter 3. The last chapter is a study of the mysterious "Constitution of Drakon".