How Did Greek Oligarchies

democratic governance. Looking back at how the Greek city-states evolved and reacted to who held a

Democracy comes from the Greek words “demos” meaning “people” and “kratia” meaning “power or rule”. Essentially “democracy” means “rule of the people”. Cleisthenes took Solon’s reforms even further and reorganised the Boule (legislative council) to ensure that it was represented by all sections of society and not just the aristocracy. The popular assembly consisted of all free male citizens who voted on laws proposed by the Boule. Eventually, citizens would be paid to attend the assembly and to serve in public office. This would ensure that the poorer citizens would also be able to

It was usually a tyranny, a form of monarchy or a select group of people. The Greek states could either be ruled by a single individual, such as monarchs and tyrants, or a select group of people, an oligarchy, or every male citizen, which was a democracy. Also the idea of a democracy was regarded as the Greeks' greatest contribution to civilizations of today. But actually monarchies were rare and often not distinguished from a tyranny unless the hereditary ruler was really kind and ruled in the interest of his people rather than himself. But tyrants were not necessarily considered evil, rather they were considered rulers that were just looking out for themselves.“The most famous monarchies were the states of Macedonia and Epiros, where the ruler shared power with an assembly of people” (Cartwright). The Ancient Greek government went through a lot of changes, but, unlike the government, the military stayed

First, the definition of a monarchy is “a state or nation in which the supreme power is actually or nominally lodged in a monarch (Dictionary.com, 2017).” Ancient Greek city-states that had a monarchy were Sparta (partially), as well as Macedonia and Epeiros. Monarchies were not found often in Ancient Greece (Cartwright and Cartwright, 2017). The form of governance most like a monarchy are tyrannies, since the center of power is on one person. The form of governance most unlike a monarchy are democracies, since the center of power rests with the largest group, the people themselves.

Democracy is “the power of the people” (McKay et al, Western Society, 69). They were actually ruled buy their citizens not by all the people. They defined a citizen as an adult man who has at least one or two parents who are citizens. Women were considered citizens but only for reproductive and religious purposes, and weren’t able to participate in government. Still this form of government let some people participate in the government which I feel is a big step for this time period.

Quite a few different government systems were present in ancient Greece and varied tremendously. Among the many government types functioning in the city states were the monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Though some governments were vastly dissimilar, some shared things in common. A notable monarchy was present in Sparta. The city state had an unusual dual monarchy that was comprised of two members of different royal tribes called the Agiads and Eurypontids.

In comparing and contrasting monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of Government in ancient Greek city-states, it is important to note that while many people did associate ancient Greece with the origin of democracy, it was also home to many types of Governments, as has been stated above, thus monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy did exist. Monarchy is a system of Government in which one person rules, and that one person is usually a Queen or King. Greek states were ruled by monarchies around the year 2,000 B.C and this begun with the mycenaeans. The power of a monarchy was considered to be hereditary.

In ancient Greece rose two of the greatest city-states of its time. These city states were the first of their time to display characteristics of a true society of people who collaborate with each other and the first to form an official government. The two major forms of government in Greece were democracy and oligarchy; which was best represented by the city states of Athens and Sparta. The government chosen of Athens is the key reason to the fall of Greece and the reason Sparta is the superior of the two city-states. The democratic form of government which is great and needed today was not the type of government needed at the time for Greece because its main priority should have been survival and war.

To illustrate, it was a direct democracy where a citizen was to vote or form a consensus on a policy by himself directly. On the contrary, most forms of modern democracy involves representative or indirect democracy, where you vote for a representative of your ideas instead of directly doing voting yourself. Furthermore, only citizens were allowed to vote, and the state of being a citizen is more stringent than now. Foreigners, slaves, and women did not qualify as citizens. Only a native male who was not a slave qualified as a citizen, and was included in these

One of the major influences from the Greeks was their advancements in government. Greece started out with polis, their essential governing force. The rules of polis varied for different areas, some places had kings, others had monarchies, but these rules were accepted and followed by the people. Around 700 BCE the oligarchy gets thrown out and is replaced with democracy. In 594 BCE, Solon, a poet, was elected as the first archon who essentially acted as president or prime minister.

Monarchy: means the government of a person. In the context of ancient Greece it was hereditary and the power was exercised by a king, a Polis whose government was a monarchy was the city-state of Corinth. The power was recognized and had been taken in a legal manner. In ancient Greece this form of government was rare and was distinguished from tyranny by the benevolence of the hereditary ruler (Cartwright, 2018).

Picture a world of nothing but oligarchies, and you’ll see what ancient Greece was like. Ancient Greece consisted of a large amount of city states that were interconnected only via trade routes and alliances and, most of them, were almost all ruled by oligarchies and aristocracies. In 508 B.C., a city state set itself apart from the rest of the world by becoming a democracy. Athens, an influential “polis,” which is an ancient Greek city-state. Athens, which was located in the southeastern Grecian peninsula known as Attica, was the world’s first democracy. The Athenian Democracy lasted for 186 years, and even after it fell in 322 B.C., there were still traces of democracy in the Athenian government.

What made the Greek city-state a new form of political and social organization was that there was no longer a king in power of the people. The Greek city-state came during the Archaic Age which was led on by the Greek Dark Age. Although the king no longer had any power within the government, there still remained a king. The new government that was formed was called the polis. The polis allowed for the people to feel they had more of a say of what was going on in the government. Instead of the king creating all of the laws, there was a group of people who made the laws. These people were not royal, they were common citizens who were interesting in creating laws and justice.

Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt ran their countries as an monarchy, Ancient Greece was at one point a monarchy, and an oligarchy, then a democracy (“Mesopotamia” school.eb.com, “Ancient Egypt” school.eb.com, “Ancient Greece” school.eb.com). Ancient Greece was also different because in Athens, they had a council that was randomly selected, the selected council would sit on the council for a year and then they would pick new members (“Creating laws in Ancient Athens” from Bil). Those members were always men older than eighteen years old, any men were allowed to vote unless they were a slave or a foreigner. Greek government is so important because it is the closest resemblance to modern

Governments of ancient civilizations like Sparta and Athens were alike and different in many ways. Sparta’s government was based on their military. The government was ruled by two kings making an oligarchy, meaning a small group of people had control over sparta. Athens government was a democracy meaning everyone could vote. But it technically wasn’t a true democracy because they still had slaves and treated women unfairly.