Usually in the past, monarchies have been ruled by kings, together with his advisors. The word monarchy is derived from the Greek terms monos (meaning single or alone) and arkhein (meaning to rule). Former kingdoms that operated under a monarchy were the Mycenaeans. They ruled Greece from 2000 to 1100 B.C.E. Under a monarchy, a king lived in a palace in the capital city.
According to Diffen (n.d), “the Athenian form of electing a government was called limited democracy while the Sparta form was called oligarchy with an inclusion of elements of monarchy”. Therefore with Athenian, their government was chosen through election whereas with the Sparta the government was made up of few individuals with the inclusion of the kings. The kings who ruled Sparta will be there until they die whereas with the Athens, official were elected annually. The Sparta system of government can be described as very exclusive as it was open only to those who had the highest social standing in the Sparta society. On the hand, the Athenian system could be termed democracy due to the fact that it involved good number of citizens.
For the Spartans the right to participate and made important decisions from the entire community were only exercised by the adult and legitimate male citizens of Sparta. Therefore, their parents must be full-blooded Spartans. The form of government of Spartan was military totalitarian. The government governed by the selected few among the legitimate male citizens. In short, to obtain the absolute right to take part in running the political system, one must be born with Spartan parents and it should be an adult male ages 30 and above.
Forms of Government: Monarch, Aristocracy, Oligarch, Democracy, and Tyranny Introduction In ancient Greek political systems, there were different forms of government, such as Monarchy, Aristocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, and Tyranny. In this essay, we will illustrate, compare and contrast these government forms. Monarchy is an old form of government; a monarch, such as a king or a queen, rules a kingdom or empire. In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch's power is limited by a constitution, but in an absolute monarchy, the monarch has unlimited power. Aristocracy, which was the combination of Greek words “aristos” means "excellent", and “kratos” means "power" (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989).
A demagogue, defined by Michael Signer, is a “political figure who fashioned themself as [a] leader of the masses and who would go to almost any extreme to hold and expand their power” (2009, p. 20) . This is not a new idea. As M. I. Finely covers in their work “Athenian Demagogues,” the writer Thucydides discussed the demagoguery of the fall of Athens in the 400s B.C. Many other nations throughout history have also been exposed to this system of power.
(Wasson, Donald L. “Olympias.” 01 Jun 2013) Alexander’s father was Philip II of Macedonia who was born in Pella, Greece in 382 B.C. Alexander III was born in Pella, Macedonia, in 356 B.C. to King Philip II and Queen Olympias. (History.com Staff 2009) Although his father was mortal, he spread the word that his father was Zeus. Despite being a great and honored leader we know very little about his childhood.
Before the rise of the classical Greek culture, it is known that two related civilizations preceded Hellenic Greece: the Minoan and Mycenaean (was also known as the early Aegean civilizations). The Minoan or Cretan were the oldest non-Greek civilization that had an influence on mainland Greece. The Minoan society lasted about 1,350 years, from 2600-1250 B.C., and reached its peak during the period from 1700 to 1450 B.C. The center of Minoan civilization had brilliant palaces as evident by the kings wealth and power. Inside the palaces, there were workshops that produced daggers, pottery, and decorated silver vessels.
There are several mainstreams forms of government, why democracy is regarded as an ideal form of government which agreed by the majority? Even Winston Churchill said before, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” Though democracy is an unsatisfactory form of government, it is better than dictatorial government or oligarchy, especially in ancient times. There are not too many civilizations accepting democracy as the form of government, but it was first practiced in Ancient Greece. Although at that time, only free men were counted as citizens, not included women, children, or slaves, vote was first developed in Ancient Greece. Five hundred names were drawn from a pool of all names of Athens citizens and those people could have a chance to make new laws and change old laws, then all citizens of Athens needed to vote for those laws.
This phase is characterized by its monarch rulers and, has little known of it as few records exist dating back to that era. The little records historians have at their disposal are fantasies at best and give little to no facts about the time period. Next came the Republic. This was a revolutionary form of government which has been mimicked time and time again by other countries. Finally was the dictatorship which was ruled by extremely powerful dictators who had full control of the
He inspired loyalty in most of his subjects to the point that some were willing to die for him. The Macedonian ruler had a lot of influence on both the Greek and Asian cultures. Alexander the Great obtained the reign of leadership after his father Philip was assassinated. The reign of Alexander the Great which lasted between 336 BC and 323 BC brought sweeping changes in Europe and parts of Asia. As a prince, Alexander the Great had access to the finest education in the Macedonian court under the guidance of the famous tutor, Aristotle.