Editing Classical republicanism (section)

====Ancient Greece====
[[File:Aristotle Altemps Inv8575.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of [[Aristotle]]]]

In [[Ancient Greece]], several philosophers and historians analysed and described elements we now recognize as classical republicanism. Traditionally, the Greek concept of "[[politeia]]" was rendered into Latin as res publica. Consequently, political theory until relatively recently often used republic in the general sense of "regime". There is no single written expression or definition from this era that exactly corresponds with a modern understanding of the term "republic" but most of the essential features of the modern definition are present in the works of [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], and [[Polybius]]. These include theories of [[mixed government]] and of [[civic virtue]]. For example, in ''[[Republic (Plato)|The Republic]]'', Plato places great emphasis on the importance of civic virtue (aiming for the good) together with personal virtue ('just man') on the part of the ideal rulers. Indeed, in Book V, Plato asserts that until rulers have the nature of philosophers (Socrates) or philosophers become the rulers, there can be no civic peace or happiness.<ref>Paul A. Rahe, ''Republics ancient and modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution'' (1992).</ref>

A number of Ancient Greek [[city-states]] such as [[Athens]] and [[Sparta]] have been classified as "[[classical republic]]s", because they featured extensive participation by the citizens in legislation and political decision-making. Aristotle considered [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]] to have been a republic as it had a political system similar to that of some of the Greek cities, notably Sparta, but avoided some of the defects that affected them.