Monarchy and Tyranny in Ancient Greece Essay

Democracy, the form of government in which there is a rule by the people, is said to have originated and thrived in the classical period of Athens, from 500-350 B.C.. Democracy inherently gave all that were considered citizens power to participate in politics. That being said, it is highly debated as to how much power the people, also known as the demos, exercised in this democracy. Many practices and informal institutions can be said to have limited the power of the demos. The democracy in Athens could be said to have been a democracy in theory yet not in practice, as can be proven through a variety of primary sources recounting Athenian political institutions and practices. Such primary sources that can demonstrate this include Herodotus’ History, Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, and Demosthenes’ Oration Against Eubulides.

The city-states of Ancient Greek provide examples of different types of government structures that, even

Doc E states, “Two kings who were generals in command of the armies and with some religious duties.” In Sparta you might like this government because if there were two kings they could make two decisions and then meet in the middle if you like one and not the other. Doc E also states, “The Assembly of all Spartan males aged 30 or over could support or veto the council's recommendations by shouting out their votes.” Since the Spartan assembly was 30 and older they could make wiser decisions and not have some 20 year old come and make terrible decisions. Finally, the Government Document Set states, “Usually classified as an "oligarchy" (rule by a few), but it had elements of monarchy (rule by kings), democracy (through the election of council/senators), and aristocracy (rule by the upper class or land owning class),”(Doc E).

a. Oligarchy – rule by a few and a minority group holds power over a majority as in an aristocracy or a clerical establishment

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

Let’s see what is Monarchy? It is a king or queen who gets all the powers of authority from inheritance and power stays in the same family, usually the bloodline from father to son. In Ancient Greeks, there weren’t too many monarchies, but there was some present and even Athens went under the monarchy at the end of the classical period which ended with the death of Alexander the Great. His father Phillip II of Macedon who became king after the deaths of his two brothers conquered Athens after the Peloponnesian war and ended democracy in the great city of Athens. (Wasson, 2014)

Oligarchy is the practice of a small group of people governing the states.1 Democracy is a system of government by the whole population, or all the eligible members of a state.2 The word Democracy comes from two Greek words, demo, which means people, and kratos, which means power, literally translating into the power of the people.3 The main influential form of government in the United States ¬¬¬was democracy. Democracy was created by a magistrate in Athens named Solon in an attempt to ease social tensions between the poor and the rich citizens in Athens. The Athenians as a whole appointed Solon, who was appointed the task of easing tensions and created laws based on balance, justice and good order, which gave power to the

On the other hand, some differences in governmental structures after the public officers were elected by the Assemblies. In Sparta, the hierarchy structure extended to the Ephors and Gerousia, whose political power was more potent than the kings and it’s citizens. Meanwhile, in Athens, the structure extended to the Magistrate, Council, and the People’s Court, where the majority rules by it’s citizens. Hence, the Sparta’s dictatorships vs. Athen’s direct democracy laid the foundation of two different governmental structures which still exist in modern

(Cartledge, 2011.) Though Sparta was considered on some level to be an imperial state with a monarchy, this is not strictly true. (Cartledge, 2011.) Not only did having dual kings disqualify it from being known as a strict monarchy, but the kings really did not hold the most power in the Spartan state as most common monarchies would. (Brand, 2010)

Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.

Supposedly formed by Lycurgus, the government in Sparta is very unique in that it is an Oligarchy; combining monarchy, aristocracy and democracy.

In Sparta, it had a dual-rulership, not a sole king, for its monarchy. The dual-rulership

A monarchy was the best form of government for the ancient world. A monarchy is a form of government run by one person, called a king or queen, or in Egypt's case a Pharaoh. In this form of government, power is passed on through a family, once the former leader dies or resigns. In a monarchy, the government is less likely to corrupt, because there is a clear leader. This one leader has a chance to do a lot of good for his or her country, as their parents were Kings and Queens, and taught them from birth how to run their country well. One famous monarch was Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who is credited for having the first written laws. Sparta also had kings, who led them through battle, such as King Leonidas, who died fighting in the battle

Aristocratic Government – the rule by few elites. Its success is depended on the people that rule. It however degenerates into oligarchy which is when men of property take over government.

A monarchy is a form of government where a monarch is ruling and usually, they are referred to as a king or queen. Also, a monarchy is hereditary. In history, the ancient Egyptians saw their monarchs as gods. Beginning in 1500, many European monarchs claimed that their power came from gods; also known as the divine right of kings. The World War I ended many important monarchies; however, there are still 26 monarchies around the world some of which are the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Morocco, Jordan, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Swaziland.