Why did the idea of freedom and the rule of law figure prominently first in ancient Greece?

Question

Why did the idea of freedom and the rule of law figure prominently first in ancient Greece and ancient Rome and later across Europe and North America? Why has freedom been able to not only survive but also thrive in the West whereas it was stillborn elsewhere in the world?

Answer 1

It was just that an idea. Though we are taught in school that freedom and democracy were founded in Greece, in truth the freedom and democracy was only for the Athens upper class. The true birth of true democracy and freedom started to sputter when the Magna Carta was signed by King John and then later from the works of pre-American euro writers like John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, ect.