Introduction
Greece’s culture was made up of many different societies that made it so diverse. From the artistic and cultural hub of Athens, to the militaristic and brutal polis of Sparta. There were many more poleis in between both which, even though belittled by Sparta and Athens, triumphed in creating their own governmental structures. There were five main types of governmental structures in Ancient Greece; Monarchy, Aristocracy, Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Democracy. In the following, we will go through the individualistic characteristics that make each governmental system unique or similar.
Monarchy
Governments that are ruled by a single king or queen is called a monarchy. The king and queen usually rule for life and when they pass away, they …show more content…
The reason this happened was because people of a polis did not enjoy the idea of having a single king and an elite assembly ruling. Aristocracy was practiced in Athens and eventually led to building Athens democracy as we know it today.
Tyranny
Pure dictatorships would fall under a tyranny. A tyranny had one sole leader and usually took power by murdering the previous predecessor (Cartwright, 2013). Not all tyrants used their power for evil doing but instead, they pursued their own self-interests. An example from Ancient Greece would be Dionysios who took over a polis in Greece. A more prominent tyranny was of Xerxes where he had a huge amount of military power to attack Sparta which, at that time, was led by kind Leonidas.
Oligarchy
An Oligarchy is where governmental power is controlled by a small selected group of individuals. This meant that the entire citizen-body was excluded from making decisions that impacted the poleis well-being. Most of the time in ancient Greece, what was not considered a tyranny or a monarchy, was considered an oligarchy. Oligarchy was a common structure in Greece and often occurred when a democracy failed (Cartwright, 2013). Similar to aristocracy, but not of
Greece’s culture was made up of many different societies that made it so diverse. From the artistic and cultural hub of Athens, to the militaristic and brutal polis of Sparta. There were many more poleis in between both which, even though belittled by Sparta and Athens, triumphed in creating their own governmental structures. There were five main types of governmental structures in Ancient Greece; Monarchy, Aristocracy, Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Democracy. In the following, we will go through the individualistic characteristics that make each governmental system unique or similar.
Monarchy
Governments that are ruled by a single king or queen is called a monarchy. The king and queen usually rule for life and when they pass away, they …show more content…
The reason this happened was because people of a polis did not enjoy the idea of having a single king and an elite assembly ruling. Aristocracy was practiced in Athens and eventually led to building Athens democracy as we know it today.
Tyranny
Pure dictatorships would fall under a tyranny. A tyranny had one sole leader and usually took power by murdering the previous predecessor (Cartwright, 2013). Not all tyrants used their power for evil doing but instead, they pursued their own self-interests. An example from Ancient Greece would be Dionysios who took over a polis in Greece. A more prominent tyranny was of Xerxes where he had a huge amount of military power to attack Sparta which, at that time, was led by kind Leonidas.
Oligarchy
An Oligarchy is where governmental power is controlled by a small selected group of individuals. This meant that the entire citizen-body was excluded from making decisions that impacted the poleis well-being. Most of the time in ancient Greece, what was not considered a tyranny or a monarchy, was considered an oligarchy. Oligarchy was a common structure in Greece and often occurred when a democracy failed (Cartwright, 2013). Similar to aristocracy, but not of