Herodotus introduces the tribal divisions of the Greeks. Notice the ethnic and character difference between the major players:  Athenians (in Attica) and Spartans (in Lacedaemon)

(1.56) When he heard these verses, Croesus was pleased with them above all, for he thought that a mule would never be king of the Medes instead of a man, and therefore that he and his posterity would never lose his empire. Then he sought very carefully to discover who the mightiest of the Greeks were, whom he should make his friends.

[2] He found by inquiry that the chief peoples were the Lacedaemonians among those of Doric, and the Athenians among those of Ionic stock. These races, Ionian and Dorian, were the foremost in ancient time, the first a Pelasgian and the second a Hellenic people. The Pelasgian race has never yet left its home; the Hellenic has wandered often and far. [3] For in the days of king Deucalion it inhabited the land of Phthia [in north-central Greece] under [mount] Ossa and Olympus, in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this ... country by the Cadmeans, it settled [further north] in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated ... at last into the Peloponnese, where it took the name of 'Dorian'.

(57). What language the Pelasgians spoke I cannot say definitely. But if one may judge

(a) by those that still remain of the Pelasgians who live above the Tyrrheni [in Italy? or Asia?] in the city of Creston-- who were once neighbors of the people now called Dorians, and at that time inhabited the country which now is called Thessalian (in north-central Greece)-- [2] and (b) of the Pelasgians who used to live in Placia... on the Hellespont but came to live among the Athenians, and (c) by other towns too which were once Pelasgian and afterwards took a different name: if, as I said, one may judge by these, the Pelasgians spoke a language which was not Greek.

[3] If, then, all the Pelasgian stock spoke so, then the Attic nation, being of Pelasgian blood, must have changed its language too at the time when it became part of the Hellenes. For the people of Creston and Placia have a language of their own in common, which is not the language of their neighbors; and it is plain that they still preserve the speech which they brought with them in their migration into the places where they live.

(58). But the Hellenic stock, it seems clear to me, has always had the same language since its beginning; yet being, when separated from the Pelasgians, few in number, they have grown from a small beginning to comprise a multitude of nations, chiefly because the Pelasgians and many other foreign peoples united themselves with them. Before that, I think, the Pelasgic stock nowhere increased much in number while it was of non-Greek speech.

The rise of Pisistratus at Athens  (note: the word used for 'sovereign authority' or 'control'  is tyrannis--our word 'tyranny' but without the harsh connotation)

(59). Now of these two peoples, Croesus learned that the Attic was held in subjection and divided into factions by Pisistratus, son of Hippocrates, who at that time was sovereign over the Athenians. This Hippocrates was still a private man when a great marvel happened to him when he was at Olympia to see the games: when he had offered the sacrifice, the vessels, standing there full of meat and water, boiled without fire until they boiled over. [2] Chilon the Lacedaemonian [one of the famous 'Seven Sages'], who happened to be there and who saw this marvel, warned Hippocrates not to take a wife who could bear children, but if he had one already, then to send her away, and if he had a son, to disown him.

 [3] Hippocrates ignored the warning of Chilon; and afterward there was born to him this Pisistratus. [He rose to power] when there was a feud between the two main parties of  the Athenians: the men of the coast under Megacles son of Alcmeon and the Athenians of the plain under Lycurgus son of Aristolaides. [Against them Pisistratus] raised up a third faction, in his bid for sovereign power. He gathered supporters and pretended to champion the Highlanders (inland hill people). This was his scheme:

 [4] Wounding himself and his mules, he drove his wagon into the marketplace, with a story that he had escaped from his enemies, who would have killed him (so he said) as he was driving into the country. So he implored the people to give him a guard: and indeed he had won a reputation in his command of the army against the Megarians  (near neighbors to the southwest) when he [seized a town] and performed other great exploits.

[5] Taken in, the Athenian people gave him a guard of chosen citizens, whom Pisistratus made clubmen instead of spearmen: for the retinue that followed him carried wooden clubs. [6] Led by Pisistratus these henchmen staged an uprising and seized the Acropolis. So Pisistratus came to rule the Athenians. He made no change in government offices nor in the laws, but governed the city according to its established constitution and  administered all affairs fairly and well.

(60). But after a short time the partisans of Megacles and of Lycurgus made common cause and drove him out. In this way Pisistratus first got Athens and then lost it, before he has securely established control. Presently his enemies who together had driven him out began to feud once more. [2] Then Megacles, harassed by factional strife, sent a message to Pisistratus offering him his daughter to marry and the sovereign power besides. [3] When this offer was accepted by Pisistratus, who agreed on these terms with Megacles, they devised a plan to bring Pisistratus back which, to my mind, was so exceptionally foolish that it is strange (since from ancient times the Hellenic folk has always been distinguished from non-Greek by its astuteness and freedom from  foolishness); yet  these men devised such a plan to deceive Athenians, said to be the subtlest of the Greeks. [4] There was in the Paeanian deme (precinct of Attica) a woman called Phya, over six feet in height, and otherwise, too, well-developed. This woman they equipped in full armor and put in a chariot, giving her all the paraphernalia to make the most impressive spectacle, and so drove into the city; heralds ran before them, and when they came into town proclaimed as they were instructed: [5] “Athenians, give a hearty welcome to Pisistratus, whom Athena herself honors above all men and is bringing back to her own acropolis.” So the heralds went about proclaiming this; and immediately the report spread in the demes that Athena was bringing Pisistratus back, and the townsfolk, believing that the woman was the goddess herself, worshipped this human creature and welcomed Pisistratus.

(61). Having regained control (tyrannis) in the manner which I have described, Pisistratus

married Megacles' daughter according to his agreement with Megacles. But as he already had young sons, and as the Alcmeonid family were said to be under a curse, he had no wish that his newly-wedded wife bear him children, and therefore his intercourse with her was 'not according to custom' (ou kata nomon). [2] At first the woman hid the fact: presently she told her mother ...and the mother told her husband. Megacles was very angry to be dishonored by Pisistratus; and in his anger he patched up his quarrel with the other faction. Pisistratus, learning what was going on, went alone away from the country altogether, and came to Eretria (on the nearby island of Euboea) where he deliberated with his sons. [3] The opinion of his son Hippias prevailed, that they should recover the sovereignty; and so they set out collecting contributions from all the cities that owed them anything. Many of these gave great amounts, the Thebans more than any;  [4] and in time, to make a long story short, everything was ready for their return. They brought Argive mercenaries from the Peloponnese, and there joined them on his own initiative a man of Naxos called Lygdamis, who was most keen in their cause and brought them money and men.

(62). So after ten years they set out from Eretria and returned home. The first place in Attica which they took and held was Marathon: and while encamped there they were joined by their partisans from the city, and by others who flocked to them from the country--demesmen who loved the rule of one more than freedom. This force, then, was gathering; [2] but the Athenians in the city took no notice, while Pisistratus was collecting money and even afterwards when he had taken Marathon. Only when they learned that he was marching from Marathon against Athens, did they set out to attack him. [3] They came out with all their force to meet the returning exiles. Pisistratus' men encountered the enemy when they had reached the temple of Pallenian Athena in their march from Marathon towards the city, and encamped face to face with them. [4] There (by the providence of heaven) Pisistratus met ... a diviner, who came to him and prophesied as follows in hexameter verses:

“The cast is made, the net spread,

The tunny-fish shall flash in the moonlit night.”

(63). So [the prophet] spoke; Pisistratus understood him and, saying that he accepted the prophecy, led his army against the enemy. The Athenians of the city had by this time had breakfast, and after breakfast some were dicing and some were sleeping: they were attacked by Pisistratus' men and routed. [2] So they fled, and Pisistratus devised a very subtle plan to keep them scattered and prevent them assembling again: he had his sons mount and ride forward: they overtook the fugitives and spoke to them as they were instructed by Pisistratus, telling them to go home and have no fear.

(64). The Athenians did, and by this means Pisistratus gained Athens for the third time, rooting his sovereignty in a strong guard and revenue collected both from Athens and from the district of the river Strymon (near Thrace), and he seized the sons of the Athenians who remained and did not flee the city, and held them hostage on the island of Naxos. [2] (He had conquered Naxos too and put Lygdamis in charge.) ...[3] So Pisistratus was sovereign of Athens: and as for the Athenians, some had fallen in the battle, and some, with the Alcmeonids, were exiles from their native land.

(65).  And so Croesus learned that at that time such problems were oppressing the Athenians, but that the Lacedaemonians had escaped from the great evils and had mastered the Tegeans in war. ...