Iconcracy, Tyranny, Oligarchy, And Democracy In Ancient Greece

When evaluating the government of ancient Athens, some might say that it was a democracy, however, it can be better described as an oligarchy: a form of government in which a small group of people has the power and control (Doc. D by Mogens Herman Hansen). A democracy takes all the citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account, unlike an oligarchy that only takes the male citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account. Thus, Athens is more similar to an oligarchy than a democracy. The people of Athens also decide as a whole what the best government for their city-state was, as opposed to a democracy where the people elect representatives to make decisions for them and their city-state. Athens could be seen as not a true democracy because of the lack of basic democratic rules and methods such as what they define democracy as, who is able to vote, and how they vote.

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

Though there were numerous factors involved in the fall of tyranny, the main cause for the Greek’s tyrannic end was the actions made by the Aristocrats. Tyrants desired to take away control from the Aristocrat’s and gain their power. They were able to come into a place of absolute rule by gaining favor from the Greeks. The majority of the Greeks were poor, so tyrants catered to the poverty-stricken in order to be supported (“What is Tyranny?”). Tyrants provided for their people by building structures like aqueducts that could be used to greatly benefit the poor by supplying a vital source needed for survival -clean water (“Tyranny”).

Classical Greek Era, one of the most advanced eras ahead of its time. However, what made the democracy that the Greeks established so significant to the Greece’s overall development? How did they do it? How did the Greek democracy last for long as it did? What factors caused the downfall of the infamous Greek democracy?

In the mid 600s BCE, Greece poleis transitioned from oligarchy (malignant) to tyranny (malignant) although both rules of government were destructive for the general population. The multiple rulers of oligarchy were forced to resign their power to a single king who unlawfully obtained power across city-states. “Most Greek tyrants were military leaders who gained the support of the people by promising them more rights” (THHS at Queens College, n.d.). After Greece could no longer tolerate tyranny (malignant), another rule of government would emerge for the people of the

In order to establish dominance, rulers during the Hellenistic period liked their power with the gods. This created a sense of unity between places of different rulers. These rulers never had the same connection with their people as the Greeks had for their polis. These rulers usually paid professionals to make their political decisions and full-time soldiers to fight their battles. Alexander’s greatest contribution to Greece was Hellenization.

In the ancient Greek city-states and over many centuries, the government (political power) took many forms: held by a single individual: (monarchies and tyrants), or by a select few (oligarchies and aristocracies), or by every male citizen (democracy). A monarchy is a type of governance of the people by a single individual, with the power retained by blood lines. In the pre-Classical period, ancient Greece was composed of small geographic units ruled by a local king. People in these small geographic units, paid taxes to the king, obeyed his laws, and depended on him for their defense.

Oligarchy comes from the Greek words “oligos” meaning “few” and “archo” meaning “rule”. Essentially “oligarchy” means “rule of the few in their own interests and not in the interest of the majority or the public good.” (Melville, 2011). Melville states that oligarchy was a “degeneration” of aristocracy as stated by Aristotle. Oligarchies were the most common form of government in the Ancient Greek city-states. In Sparta, the Gerousia (council of twenty-eight men over sixty-year of age together with the two kings) was an elite assembly dominated by the wealthier members of Spartan society. The Gerousia approved all laws that were submitted to the popular assembly for vote. The Ephors were a group of five men who were elected annually for a single term of office. The Ephors usually deferred to the guidance of the Gerousia (Brand, n.d.).

For a long time, ancient Athens ran under an oligarchy, to some success, but there were issues present, like the drastic inequality. When Cleisthenes became ruler of Athens, he introduced democracy as a political regime. Cleisthenes allowed anyone to be a part of the assembly and restructured the tribe system. There were 4 main tribes in Athens, dating back to the time of Solon. Cleisthenes expanded the number of tribes to 10 and he occupied his council of 500 with 50 people from each of the 10 tribes.

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)

In the early days the government of these cities was led by a Patriarchal Monarchy, but in the seventh century A.C. begin to make their influence felt oligarchies clan chiefs. Here begins a period of struggles between its different factions until about the year 500 B.C. appear the "tyrants" who present themselves as the protectors of the masses. These tyrants were overthrown because of their despotic governments and excesses committed by mercenary armies which supported his mandate. Again the struggle between the old aristocracy and democracy for control of the city-states is renewed, this led to different forms of government of which the most representative and interesting are the political organizations of Sparta and Athens. The system of

Governmental systems from antiquity through modern eras seem to display the progression of cultural maturity and regression. An aristocrat could “bequeath” their social status to descendants. Over several generations, the masses may solicit the elite for input on a social challenge, perhaps assuming that their “success” – which could be nothing more than descended imagery, conveys intellectual prowess. Again, over generations, the aristocratic families become monarchies, whereas power and influence are incumbent with birth and usually protected by legislative means derived through their ancestral

We will examine four main forms of governments in this essay and later examine how the city-states in ancient Greece practiced these forms of governing. These forms are monarchy,

Both Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic contributed greatly to the development of the modern world, bringing into it the notions of democracy and republic. The evolution of these concepts took them to a level much higher than one present in Ancient Greece and Rome respectively. However, modern society continues to draw on somewhat idealized accounts of the ancient world for inspiration in improving today’s governing procedures.

Even though Ancient Greece went through three different governments, the experienced Democracy, which we use some form of today. In Ancient Greece, the government started as a Monarchy. I guess that they decided that one person having all the power wasn’t right for them, the civilization swapped to being a Democracy. Although Democracy wasn’t the first choice of the Greeks, they still used it for a decent amount of time. After some time, Oligarchy sounded very appealing to Greece, so they shuffled over to the Oligarchy side, which was way more prominent at the time. They stayed as an Oligarchy until the Romans took over. Although democracies weren’t very well-known at the time, Greece was one of the first civilizations to use Democracy as their government, which America uses as our government.