Tyranny In Greece

Today, much of the world’s governments have converted to democracies. In the Ancient World, there was only one truly notable example of a democratic society: The City-State of Athens. This is actually the birthplace of democracy, where instead of the rich or powerful ruling, it was the citizens of the city-state that held the power. This advanced way of government was so effective and well structured, it even laid the foundations for the development of our own democracy, right here in the United States, over 2,000 years in the future. Prior to Athens’s collapse during the Peloponnesian War, it truly had an efficient and very organized system of government.

Ancient Greece was one of the first democratic societies and has greatly influenced modern day governments. Although the Greek idea of democracy is different from what is practiced today, their ideas formed the basis for modern democratic governments. Prior the invention of democracy, citizens had no rights and there were no guidelines for who was considered a citizen. Democracy gave voting rights and the ability to hold office to citizens – free men born in Greece, usually landowners. Today’s modern democracy is accessible to all people and has a higher degree of organization and hierarchy, it still derives its basic prinicples from Greek democracy.

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.

Sparta was governed as an Oligarchy where a few male citizens were elected to govern the city state in an annual

Greece was one of the first people to have recorded the events of their democratic system. Democracy is a Greek word literally meaning the power of the people to rule. Early democracy was established in ancient Athens, a Greek city-state, and was probably the single most powerful and stable democratic government in Greece.

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

In Greece, monarchies were found when the Mycenaeans ruled Greece during the period 2000 to 1100 BC. Monarchy is defined as a system of government where a single ruler has supreme power. The word “monarchy” comes from the Greek words “monos” meaning “single” and “archo” meaning “rule”. This single ruler, known as a king, ruled for life and passed the rule on to his heir when he died. The most famous monarchy was that of King Alexandra of Macedonia who ruled all of Greece from 336 BC.

democracy is a form of government in which people come together and make laws for the benefit of the country for example, here in the united states people have the right to vote, have equal rights, pursuit of happiness and practice in any religion of your choice. ancient athens did not have a true democracy. In ancient athens Women, free foreigners and slaves were excluded from voting, the government body could decide if you were a citizen or not. Also, women weren't allowed to vote unless they married a citizen. Therefor there constitution did not favor democracy.

A democracy is a government that is run by the people. Greece had a direct democracy. This means all men born in Athens could vote and take part in government. In document 1, (Funeral Oration of Pericles) Pericles stated “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators

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)

The Oxford English Dictionary defines tyranny as, “cruel and oppressive government or rule.” In Archaic Greece, however, tyranny held a different meaning, i.e. rule by an absolute leader. A prominent Classicist Antony Andrewes elaborated on the characteristics of tyrannies and set up some ground requirements for a regime to be labelled a tyrannical one: existing aristocracy, rise of an outsider to power, reliance on physical force and so forth. Polykrates is the absolute head of Samos, he came to power after an insurrection, he waged wars with many Greek city states and enforced an oppressive regime. However, Polykrates also developed infrastructure, promoted the arts and established friendly relationship with some Greek city states and fought

Some tyrannical rulers were even said to be just. Pisistratus, one of the tyrannic Greek rulers, was said to be “Kindly and mild in everything and in particular he was merciful to offenders and moreover he advanced loans of money to the poor for their industries (Athenian Constitution 16;1-2 qtd. in “Tyranny”).” Tyrants, especially those of the earlier time, were what absolute rulers should be. They were kind, just, hospitable, and good-natured.

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.

Ancient Greece was made up of many small city-states of which the governments varied. However, in the Late Bronze Age (2000 – 1100 BCE) all of Greece was a monarchy. Mycenaeans were that warriors that ruled in what is now appropriately called the Mycenaean Civilization Period. These kings lived lavishly. After one king died, his closest male relative would be the heir to the throne.

The Athenian government evolved from a monarchy into an aristocracy. A monarchy is when a King or Queen exercises central power. In Greece, the government was headed by a privileged minority or upper class, which ruled his or her own city-states. They created a system based on the right of each individual citizen to speak out about issues.