The Five Forms Of Government In Ancient Greece

These self-governed city-states were governed by the natural laws of the universe. The polis also had a psychological pull to the point where it was infested into the art, religion, literature and philosophy (Document 1). In a way similar to India though, everyone identified first and foremost with their polis identity, like the Indians did with their caste system (Document 1). The way to gain power in Greece was not though money, but through family names and heritage, but in 330 BC, Cleisthenes created the basis of his reform for Greece: the demes (Document 2). By doing this he takes out the powerful noble families and gives the lower class the power to decide what happens with their government and therefore became more “deme-ocratic.” He did many things to change the structure of Greece to make it fairer. For example he took the original four tribes of Greece and redistributed them into ten different tribes so now the tribes can have more “civic rights.” Another example of what Cleisthenes did to fix things was that he increased the Council members from 400 to 500. Now each tribe was only sending fifty representatives, instead of the original hundred. Finally, one last example is that Cleisthenes divided Greece up into thirty parts. Ten urban and suburban, ten costal and ten inland and each of these contained its own special number of demes. Now, men were to be identified first by their demes name, which is very similar to India’s recognition of their caste name or level (Document

Throughout the centuries, countries had always been ruled by a monarch, or something that was similar. The civilizations that attempted democracy or republicanism would

On the topic of governmental standpoints Sparta was an oligarchy whereas Athens was a democracy. An oligarchy is a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique (Dictionary.com). Sparta’s government was set up into four branches: two co-kings, Gerontes or Gerousia, Ephors, and Appella or Demos. The co-kings were of two different family lines of limited hereditary monarchs who were kept in check by the other parts of government as well as by each other. One of the two kings was the commander in chief of the army. Gerontes were a council of 30 consisting of the 2 co-kings plus 28 others each were rich elders of noble birth. They would hold office for the rest of their life after being elected by the people. Gerontes acted as advising body and court of criminal justice in which

Introduction This assignment describes the character of the four ancient governments in order to compare and contrast the five government forms in the Ancient Greek city-states. They are monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy.

Comparisons in Governmental Rule in Ancient Greece. Trane DePriest University of the People Abstract; I will describe the definitions and distinctions between Monarchies, Tyrannies, Aristocrats, the Oligarchs, and Democratic Governance. In ancient Greece, there were over 1,500 poleis or 'cities' peppered around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea shores. As Plato once said, they were “like frogs around a pond.”

Ancient Greece had many governments that ruled over the people. They did not have one government, but had different communities of people which were ruled by different governments. This was because the land was divided because of the terrain and mountains. This causes many areas to be isolated, which then causes different communities to form and different governments to rule over them. The four main governments were oligarchy, monarchy, aristocracy, and direct 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

Monarchies were ruled by one family, with a direct blood relative (a son) inheriting the throne and a claim

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.

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)

In ancient Greece, there are different political regimes. Democracy is lead by representatives of all people while monarchy is a one person. There is an

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.

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.

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.