Download Evolution of Democracy in Ancient Greece

Evolution of Democracy in Ancient Greece
From Monarchy to Democracy
1. Monarchy
"rule by one person," late 14c from Greek. monarkhia "absolute rule," literally: "ruling of one," comes from monos
"alone" + arkhein "to rule".
Meaning "a state ruled by monarchical government"1
Mycenaeans originally established monarchies on the Peloponnesian peninsula
around 1100 BCE. Each city-state was ruled by a king, the position of king was
hereditary and the title was passed from father to son. The king would collect taxes
from local villages and in return he would offer protection, however this exchange
was rarely straightforward and the king’s men frequently had to resort to violence to
extract the taxes. The king also expected loyalty from the villagers and that they
would follow the laws of the kingdom.
Around 1200 BCE there was much fighting between kingdoms which eventually
lead to the decline of the Mycenaean civilization and this was followed by the Dorian
invasion of Greece which wiped out the remaining Mycenaean monarchies.
2.Oligarchy
from Gk. oligarkhia "government by the few," from oligoi "few, small, little" (of unknown origin) + arkhein "to rule" 2
Oligarchies rose up to power in ancient Greece around 1100-800 BCE when small
groups of people began to share power. Usually these people were wealthy
aristocrats who had wealth from their families, who may have been connected to an
old monarchy. Overtime the makeup of the oligarchy changed and some on the
wealthier members of the middle-class were able to attain some power. Oligarchies,
as monarchies, needed the support of an army in order to maintain order. An
oligarchy is similar to a monarchy in that the citizen had very few rights and no say in
matters of the state. As time passed the power of the oligarchies weakened and
slowly this system of political rule started to disappear, although while it disappeared
from many parts of ancient Greece, it did continue in Sparta. An illustration of why
oligarchies started to disappear can be seen in Athens. As a result of harsh
leadership and food shortages the citizens became very dissatisfied with the system
and revolted, demanding political change. In response powerful individuals hired
armies and mercenaries to take control.
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Source: Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/
Ibid
History of Civilization, Semester One 1
3. Tyranny
"cruel or unjust use of power," from Greek. tyrannia "rule of a tyrant," from tyrannos "master"
Tyrant
In the exact sense, a tyrant is an individual who arrogates to himself the royal authority
without having a right to it. This is how the Greeks understood the word 'tyrant': they
applied it indifferently to good and bad princes whose authority was not legitimate.
[Rousseau, "The Social Contract"] 3
During the 600s BCE Tyrants rose to claim power. The Tyrants were able to take power
by making promises to the middle-class and gaining their support. It is important to note
that this change occurred as a result of increasing wealth, as people had more money
and the size of the middle-class increased; they demanded more participation in the
social and political processes. These tyrants, while assuming full control, often reformed the law, assisted the
poor and opened up space for citizens and wealthy members of society to have a voice in the government. Some
tyrants were good, productive and hardworking while many were harsh and greedy and very quickly overthrown
by the people.
4. Democracy
From Greek. demokratia "popular government," from demos "common people," originally "district" + kratos "rule,
strength"
Democracy implies that the man must take the responsibility for choosing his rulers and representatives, and for
the maintenance of his own 'rights' against the possible and probable encroachments of the government which he
has sanctioned to act for him in public matters. [Ezra Pound, "ABC
of Economics," 1933] 4
It was around 500 BCE when democracy developed in Athens.
Athenian citizens were able to participate in the Assembly and have
direct participation in the development of laws, foreign policy and in
the evaluation of public officials. Athenian democracy is not like
modern day representative democracy, it was a system of direct
democracy where all citizens could participate and vote in the
assembly. There was also the council of 500 which was more
concerned with daily business. One of the key features of Athenian
democracy is that each individual public official could not hold too
much power. There was also a wartime authority which consisted of
ten generals who were elected each year and could be re-elected if
their performance please the citizens. The major limitation of
Athenian democracy was the definition of who exactly was a citizen.
Women, foreigners and slaves were not able to participate in the
political processes as they were not considered citizens. So while it
seems Athenian democracy was overarching there were sever
restrictions that meant a large proportion of the population was
excluded.
Pictures1: Mycenaean King
Picture 2: Ancient Greek Scene
Picture 3: Tyrant Periander, of Corinth
Picture 4: Cleisthenes – “the Father of democracy”
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Quoted by Online Etymology Dictionary
ibid