The Three Forms Of Government In Ancient Greece

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Madeline Mann, John Cammon, Amanda Smith
Forms of Government in Ancient Greece There were many different forms of government in Ancient Greece. This is because Ancient Greece was not just one country. Greece has city-states which are big cities that act as a country with their own political system. This is why even though greece was a country on its own the cities had individual ways of government. Three of the ways of government are Oligarchy, Tyranny, and Democracy. Oligarchy is defined as “a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution,” In ancient greece those in control were always chosen by being the richest and most powerful men of their city state. These men chosen were usually landowners. How rich
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The city of Athens was told to have up to five thousand leaders running the city. Most greek cities were Oligarchies. This is because it excluded most of those against the Oligarchy making it harder to overthrow. Women in ancient Greece were not even considered actual citizens. Oligarchies often occur when Democracy went wrong. When the rich became unhappy with a democracies decision then they would assemble an Oligarchies. Oligarchies are a lot like democracy in the way that, it 's a big group of people making decisions. The main difference though is that the people in democracy are elected while the people in Oligarchies are determined by their wealth and social status. Oligarchies died down around the same time as ancient Greece. Ancient Greece was the most common place for them. Though there are few Oligarchies still around, it is not anything like it was in Ancient Greece. Tyranny is another form of government in Ancient Greece. Tyranny is when one person rules over all. In 6th Century BC many states were ruled by Tyrants. It is not like Monarchy though. In Monarchy people are born into power. Tyrants were put in power by killing whoever was ahead of …show more content…
There once was a Tyrant that was named Cypelus. Cypelus lived in the city of Corinth and Corinth was a city ahead of its time due to its advanced mechanics and it was relied on for trade.Corinth was ran by a family called the Bacchiads, and the Bacchiads were very bad leaders who were ruining the city. Cypelus’s mother was a Bacchiadae. Despite this Cypelus recognized that the family was ruining the city so he took action. He became very popular with the poor people of the town and then overthrew the Bacchiads. He banned them from the city of Corinth. Most Tyrants need bodyguards after over throwing a city like the way Cypelus did but, since he made friends with so many different people, especially the poor, he never needed a bodyguard. While Cypelus was in power he funded the building of treasury at Delphi and founded the colonies of Ambracia, Anactorium, and Lecas. When Cypelus died his son Periander took

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