Forms Of Government In Ancient Greece
Introduction
Ancient Greece as one of the cradles of civilization and an employer of several forms of governmental rule during its time in history serves as an excellent beginning point to compare and contrast some of the common structures of government. In my paper I will be briefly describing and discussing monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in ancient Greek city-states and will provide my opinion of the results of those experiments in governmental rule.
The Forms of Government in Ancient Greece
Monarchies are governments where men known as kings, who assume power from an elective process or assume their role via blood right, rule over the general populace ("The Rise of Democracy", n.d.). The …show more content…
Numerous examples of Tyrannies existed in ancient Greece, notable examples being Dionysios of Syracuse who ruled from 405 B.C. and his son Dionysios II, who assumed power in 367 B.C. (Cartwright, 2013). Further examples are Pesisistratos in Athens who ruled around 560 B.C, Pheidon in Argos and Lykophron in Thessaly (Cartwright, 2013). Though the word Tyranny has a bad connotation in our day and age, this does not infer that all Tyrants that ruled in ancient Greece were necessarily harsh rulers (Kokemuller, n.d.). In fact, initially Tyrants sought to right many of the wrongs perpetuated by the former ruling oligarchs, which resulted in them being popular with the common folk ("Rise of Democracy", n.d.). However, likely due to the corrupting effects of absolute power, tyrants would eventually begin to rule harshly, acting only in their own interests ("Rise of Democracy", n.d.). Subsequently, this led to the people demanding a government where their voice is heard, which led to the formation of a government known as a Democracy, which occurred most notably in the city-state of Athens ("Rise of Democracy", …show more content…
the people of the city of Athens began the noble experiment and formed a type of government known as a Democracy, where the populace as a whole rules over the affairs of the state by voting on bills and serving on juries ("Rise of Democracy, n.d.). Any citizen over the age of 18 could vote in the assembly of Athens, though it is important to note that women did not have the right to vote and those who qualified to vote in the assembly only comprised around 10 - 20% of the entire population of the city of Athens (Cartwright, 2013). However, there were weaknesses in the Democratic system in that influential members of the assembly could and would often inflame the passions of the other members and lead them towards making impulsive decisions with severe consequences (Cartwright, 2013). Subsequently, a string of bad decisions would often lead to the collapse of democracy on several occasions and the form of government practiced in Athens would then regress to an oligarchy or tyranny ("Rise of Democracy,
Ancient Greece as one of the cradles of civilization and an employer of several forms of governmental rule during its time in history serves as an excellent beginning point to compare and contrast some of the common structures of government. In my paper I will be briefly describing and discussing monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in ancient Greek city-states and will provide my opinion of the results of those experiments in governmental rule.
The Forms of Government in Ancient Greece
Monarchies are governments where men known as kings, who assume power from an elective process or assume their role via blood right, rule over the general populace ("The Rise of Democracy", n.d.). The …show more content…
Numerous examples of Tyrannies existed in ancient Greece, notable examples being Dionysios of Syracuse who ruled from 405 B.C. and his son Dionysios II, who assumed power in 367 B.C. (Cartwright, 2013). Further examples are Pesisistratos in Athens who ruled around 560 B.C, Pheidon in Argos and Lykophron in Thessaly (Cartwright, 2013). Though the word Tyranny has a bad connotation in our day and age, this does not infer that all Tyrants that ruled in ancient Greece were necessarily harsh rulers (Kokemuller, n.d.). In fact, initially Tyrants sought to right many of the wrongs perpetuated by the former ruling oligarchs, which resulted in them being popular with the common folk ("Rise of Democracy", n.d.). However, likely due to the corrupting effects of absolute power, tyrants would eventually begin to rule harshly, acting only in their own interests ("Rise of Democracy", n.d.). Subsequently, this led to the people demanding a government where their voice is heard, which led to the formation of a government known as a Democracy, which occurred most notably in the city-state of Athens ("Rise of Democracy", …show more content…
the people of the city of Athens began the noble experiment and formed a type of government known as a Democracy, where the populace as a whole rules over the affairs of the state by voting on bills and serving on juries ("Rise of Democracy, n.d.). Any citizen over the age of 18 could vote in the assembly of Athens, though it is important to note that women did not have the right to vote and those who qualified to vote in the assembly only comprised around 10 - 20% of the entire population of the city of Athens (Cartwright, 2013). However, there were weaknesses in the Democratic system in that influential members of the assembly could and would often inflame the passions of the other members and lead them towards making impulsive decisions with severe consequences (Cartwright, 2013). Subsequently, a string of bad decisions would often lead to the collapse of democracy on several occasions and the form of government practiced in Athens would then regress to an oligarchy or tyranny ("Rise of Democracy,