List of forms of government
101-455: A tyrant (from Ancient Greek τύραννος ( túrannos ) 'absolute ruler'), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law , or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means. The original Greek term meant an absolute sovereign who came to power without constitutional right , yet
202-541: A deme . The word tyrannos , possibly pre-Greek, Pelasgian or eastern in origin, then carried no ethical censure; it simply referred to anyone, good or bad, who obtained executive power in a polis by unconventional means. Support for the tyrants could come from fellow oligarchs, from the growing middle class or from the peasants who had no land or were in debt to the wealthy landowners. The Greek tyrants stayed in power by using mercenary soldiers from outside of their respective city-state. To mock tyranny, Thales wrote that
303-543: A pitch accent . In Modern Greek, all vowels and consonants are short. Many vowels and diphthongs once pronounced distinctly are pronounced as /i/ ( iotacism ). Some of the stops and glides in diphthongs have become fricatives , and the pitch accent has changed to a stress accent . Many of the changes took place in the Koine Greek period. The writing system of Modern Greek, however, does not reflect all pronunciation changes. The examples below represent Attic Greek in
404-472: A "prince") with "tyranny", regardless of the legitimacy of that rule, in his Discourses on Livy . He also identifies liberty with republican regimes. Sometimes he calls leaders of republics "princes". He never uses the word in The Prince . He also does not share in the traditional view of tyranny, and in his Discourses he sometimes explicitly acts as an advisor to tyrants. Ancient Greeks , as well as
505-539: A Roman-period author, Polyaenus , there was a religious procession in armour out of the city of Samos to the Heraion, led by Pantagnotus and Syloson. When the procession was over, the Samians removed their armour to sacrifice, and Pantagnotus and Syloson seized the chance to murder their enemies. At the same time, Polycrates seized Astypalaea, the citadel of the city of Samos. The tyrant of Naxos , Lygdamis , invaded with
606-493: A bodyguard which he used to seize power. He later appeared with a woman dressed as a goddess to suggest divine sanction of his rule. The third time he used mercenaries to seize and retain power. Lengthy recommendations of methods were made to tyrants by Aristotle (in Politics for example) and Niccolò Machiavelli (in The Prince ). These are, in general, force and fraud. They include hiring bodyguards, stirring up wars to keep
707-567: A decent resistance, the crafty tyrant submitted to the orders of the senate; and consented to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies..." Emperors "humbly professed themselves the accountable ministers of the senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed." The Roman Empire "may be defined as an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth." Roman emperors were deified. Gibbons called emperors tyrants and their rule tyranny. His definitions in
808-521: A democracy, call it anarchy..." The first part of Dante Alighieri 's The Divine Comedy describes tyrants ("who laid hold on blood and plunder") in the seventh level of Hell, where they are submerged in boiling blood. These include Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun , and share the level with highway robbers. Niccolò Machiavelli conflates all rule by a single person (whom he generally refers to as
909-471: A fisherman caught a large fish that he wished to share with the tyrant. While Polycrates' cooks were preparing the fish for eating, they discovered the ring inside of it. Polycrates told Amasis of his good fortune, and Amasis immediately broke off their alliance, believing that such a lucky man would eventually come to a disastrous end. Within Herodotus' work, this story serves to advance general themes about
1010-480: A fleet of 40 triremes , probably becoming the first Greek state with a fleet of such ships, which he crewed with sailors he considered to be politically dangerous, and sent to the Persian king Cambyses with instructions to put the crews to death. Modern scholars consider this story unlikely. The dispatch of these ships is usually connected with the Persian invasion of Egypt in 525 BC. Herman Wallinga argues that
1111-472: A force to support Polycrates. However, it is uncertain whether Polyaenus' account describes Polycrates' initial seizure of power or the conflict with his brothers which left him as sole ruler. Polycrates recruited an army of 1,000 archers and assembled a navy of 100 penteconters , which became the most powerful navy in the Greek world –– Herodotus says that Polycrates was the first Greek ruler to understand
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#17327985375211212-599: A friend would be more appreciative if what was taken from him was returned than if it had not first been snatched away." Aideen Carty argues that the focus of this raiding was the acquisition of slaves whom he exported to Egypt to serve as mercenaries in Amasis' army. The nature of Polycrates' navy is debated. Some scholars have conceived of his penteconters as powerful warships in a state navy which owned, crewed and operated them in accordance with Polycrates' command. Other scholars consider this picture anachronistic; they present
1313-477: A lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period. They have the same general outline but differ in some of the detail. The only attested dialect from this period is Mycenaean Greek , but its relationship to the historical dialects and
1414-419: A lesser degree. Pamphylian Greek , spoken in a small area on the southwestern coast of Anatolia and little preserved in inscriptions, may be either a fifth major dialect group, or it is Mycenaean Greek overlaid by Doric, with a non-Greek native influence. Regarding the speech of the ancient Macedonians diverse theories have been put forward, but the epigraphic activity and the archaeological discoveries in
1515-429: A new environment. Conditions were right for Cypselus to overthrow the aristocratic power of the dominant but unpopular clan of Bacchiadae . Clan members were killed, executed, driven out or exiled in 657 BC. Corinth prospered economically under his rule, and Cypselus managed to rule without a bodyguard . When he then bequeathed his position to his son, Periander , the tyranny proved less secure, and Periander required
1616-498: A prefix /e-/, called the augment . This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist). The two kinds of augment in Greek are syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment
1717-549: A retinue of mercenary soldiers personally loyal to him. Nevertheless, under Cypselus and Periander, Corinth extended and tightened her control over her colonial enterprises, and exports of Corinthian pottery flourished. However, tyrants seldom succeeded in establishing an untroubled line of succession. Periander threw his pregnant wife downstairs (killing her), burnt his concubines alive, exiled his son, warred with his father-in-law and attempted to castrate 300 sons of his perceived enemies. He retained his position. Periander's successor
1818-534: A ridge who met in the middle with an error of only a few metres — a remarkable engineering feat for the time, and one which probably reflects the practical geometry skills which the Samians had learned from the Egyptians. Polycrates also sponsored construction of a large temple of Hera , the Heraion , to which Amasis dedicated many gifts, and which at 346 feet (105 m) long was one of the three largest temples in
1919-434: A ruler, an illegitimate ruler (a usurper), an absolute ruler (despot), or an oppressive, unjust, or cruel ruler. The term is usually applied to vicious autocrats who rule their subjects by brutal methods. Oppression, injustice, and cruelty do not have standardized measurements or thresholds. Ancient Greek and Sicilian tyrants were influential opportunists that came to power by securing the support of different factions of
2020-608: A separate historical stage, though its earliest form closely resembles Attic Greek , and its latest form approaches Medieval Greek . There were several regional dialects of Ancient Greek; Attic Greek developed into Koine. Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language , divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic , Aeolic , Arcadocypriot , and Doric , many of them with several subdivisions. Some dialects are found in standardized literary forms in literature , while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms. Homeric Greek
2121-412: A sophisticated approach to economic development, importing improved breeds of sheep, goats, and dogs from elsewhere in the Greek world. According to Herodotus , Amasis thought Polycrates was too successful, and advised him to throw away whatever he valued most in order to escape a reversal of fortune. Polycrates followed the advice and threw a jewel-encrusted ring into the sea; however, a few days later,
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#17327985375212222-630: A standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance . This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period ( c. 300 BC ), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek , which is regarded as
2323-441: A violent abuse of human beings who are subject to it." While this may represent a consensus position among the classics, it is not unanimous – Thomas Hobbes dissented, claiming no objective distinction, such as being vicious or virtuous, existed among monarchs. "They that are discontented under monarchy, call it tyranny; and they that are displeased with aristocracy, call it oligarchy: so also, they which find themselves grieved under
2424-510: A vowel or /n s r/ ; final stops were lost, as in γάλα "milk", compared with γάλακτος "of milk" (genitive). Ancient Greek of the classical period also differed in both the inventory and distribution of original PIE phonemes due to numerous sound changes, notably the following: The pronunciation of Ancient Greek was very different from that of Modern Greek . Ancient Greek had long and short vowels ; many diphthongs ; double and single consonants; voiced, voiceless, and aspirated stops ; and
2525-570: Is a literary form of Archaic Greek (derived primarily from Ionic and Aeolic) used in the epic poems , the Iliad and the Odyssey , and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic and other Classical-era dialects. The origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of
2626-418: Is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r , however, add er ). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel: Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e → ei . The irregularity can be explained diachronically by the loss of s between vowels, or that of the letter w , which affected
2727-666: Is called 'East Greek'. Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian Greek had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, as exemplified in the poems of the Boeotian poet Pindar who wrote in Doric with a small Aeolic admixture. Thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to
2828-448: Is considered by some linguists to have been closely related to Greek . Among Indo-European branches with living descendants, Greek is often argued to have the closest genetic ties with Armenian (see also Graeco-Armenian ) and Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). Ancient Greek differs from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and other Indo-European languages in certain ways. In phonotactics , ancient Greek words could end only in
2929-695: Is probably identical with a victory over Persian navy mentioned in Thucydides and some other historians. Thucydides emphasises his conquest of Delos, the key religious centre of the Aegean. Polycrates formed an alliance with King Amasis of Egypt and A. Carty suggests that Polycrates assisted Amasis in the conquest of Cyprus. In general, though, the ancient sources stress not specific campaigns, but wide-ranging raiding, which may have been more like piracy than campaigns of conquest. Herodotus says that he "raided everyone without any discrimination. For he said that
3030-445: Is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage." Locke's concept of tyranny influenced the writers of subsequent generations who developed the concept of tyranny as counterpoint to ideas of human rights and democracy . American statesman Thomas Jefferson described
3131-530: Is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector". Tyrants either inherit the position from a previous ruler, rise up the ranks in the military/party or seize power as new men. Early texts called only the usurpers tyrants, distinguishing them from "bad kings". Such tyrants may act as renters, rather than owners, of the state. The political methods of obtaining power were occasionally supplemented by theater or force. Peisistratus of Athens blamed self-inflicted wounds on enemies to justify
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3232-440: Is vague about the manner of Polycrates' death, saying only that it was an undignified end for a glorious ruler; he may have been impaled and his dead body was crucified . Herodotus claims that Polycrates' daughter warned him not to go to Magnesia, reporting a prophetic dream that she had had of him hanging in the air, being washed by Zeus and anointed by the sun god Helios . His death fulfilled this prophecy as when it rained he
3333-522: The Dionysia (ultimately leading to the development of Athenian drama), Peisistratus managed to maintain his personal popularity. He was followed by his sons, and with the subsequent growth of Athenian democracy , the title "tyrant" took on its familiar negative connotations. The murder of Peisistratus' son, the tyrant Hipparchus by Aristogeiton and Harmodios in Athens in 514 BC marked the beginning of
3434-580: The Greek τύραννος tyrannos "monarch, ruler of a polis "; tyrannos in its turn has a Pre-Greek origin, perhaps from Lydian . The final -t arises in Old French by association with the present participles in -ant . "The word 'tyranny' is used with many meanings, not only by the Greeks but throughout the tradition of the great books." The Oxford English Dictionary offers alternative definitions:
3535-708: The Greek region of Macedonia during the last decades has brought to light documents, among which the first texts written in Macedonian , such as the Pella curse tablet , as Hatzopoulos and other scholars note. Based on the conclusions drawn by several studies and findings such as Pella curse tablet , Emilio Crespo and other scholars suggest that ancient Macedonian was a Northwest Doric dialect , which shares isoglosses with its neighboring Thessalian dialects spoken in northeastern Thessaly . Some have also suggested an Aeolic Greek classification. The Lesbian dialect
3636-547: The Ionian Greeks. Thucydides reports that Polycrates chained Delos to the neighbouring island of Rhenaia . In 522 BC Polycrates celebrated an unusual double festival in honour of the god Apollo of Delos and of Delphi ; it has been suggested that the Homeric Hymn to Apollo , sometimes attributed to Cynaethus of Chios, was composed for this occasion. Polycrates lived amid great luxury and spectacle and
3737-499: The Maccabees and Herod the Great . He also identified some later tyrants. The Greeks defined both usurpers and those inheriting rule from usurpers as tyrants. Polybius (c. 150 BC) indicated that eventually, any one-man rule (monarchy/executive) governing form would become corrupted into a tyranny. The Greek philosophers stressed the quality of rule rather than legitimacy or absolutism. "Both Plato and Aristotle speak of
3838-554: The Peloponnesus and Polycrates ruled Samos . During this time, revolts overthrew many governments in the Aegean world. Chilon , the ambitious and capable ephor of Sparta , built a strong alliance amongst neighboring states by making common cause with these groups seeking to oppose unpopular tyrannical rule. By intervening against the tyrants of Sicyon, Corinth and Athens, Sparta thus came to assume Hellenic leadership prior to
3939-537: The Roman Republicans , became generally quite wary of many people seeking to implement a popular coup. Shakespeare portrays the struggle of one such anti-tyrannical Roman, Marcus Junius Brutus , in his play Julius Caesar . In Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I, Chapter III, Augustus was shown to assume the power of a tyrant while sharing power with the reformed senate. "After
4040-556: The Roman Senate . Those who were advocates of "liberty" tended to be pro-Republic and pro-Senate. For instance, regarding Julius Caesar and his assassins, Suetonius wrote: Therefore the plots which had previously been formed separately, often by groups of two or three, were united in a general conspiracy, since even the populace no longer were pleased with present conditions, but both secretly and openly rebelled at his tyranny and cried out for defenders of their liberty. Citizens of
4141-667: The Sword of Damocles . Under the Macedonian hegemony in the 4th and 3rd century BC a new generation of tyrants rose in Greece, especially under the rule of king Antigonus II Gonatas , who installed his puppets in many cities of the Peloponnese. Examples were Cleon of Sicyon , Aristodemus of Megalopolis , Aristomachus I of Argos , Abantidas of Sicyon , Aristippus of Argos , Lydiadas of Megalopolis , Aristomachus II of Argos , and Xenon of Hermione . Against these rulers, in 280 BC
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4242-501: The present , future , and imperfect are imperfective in aspect; the aorist , present perfect , pluperfect and future perfect are perfective in aspect. Most tenses display all four moods and three voices, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. Also, there is no imperfect subjunctive, optative or imperative. The infinitives and participles correspond to the finite combinations of tense, aspect, and voice. The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least)
4343-433: The tyrant of Samos from the 540s BC to 522 BC. He had a reputation as both a fierce warrior and an enlightened tyrant. The main source for Polycrates' life and activities is the historian Herodotus , who devotes a large section of book 3 of his Histories to the rise and fall of Polycrates (3.39-60, 3.120-126). His account was written in the third quarter of the 5th century BC, nearly a century after Polycrates' death,
4444-399: The "Great Ideas" of Western thought. The classics contain many references to tyranny and its causes, effects, methods, practitioners, alternatives. They consider tyranny from historical, religious, ethical, political and fictional perspectives. "If any point in political theory is indisputable, it would seem to be that tyranny is the worst corruption of government – a vicious misuse of power and
4545-494: The 4th century BC to the Roman Imperial period . These sources preserve useful information but tend to assimilate Polycrates to a stereotypical model of the tyrannical ruler, which may be anachronistic. Polycrates' family background is not clearly known to us. J.P. Barron proposed that Polycrates' ancestors formed a dynasty that ruled Samos from around 600 BC. A shadowy figure, Syloson, son of Calliteles might have been
4646-1031: The 5th century BC. Ancient pronunciation cannot be reconstructed with certainty, but Greek from the period is well documented, and there is little disagreement among linguists as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represent. /oː/ raised to [uː] , probably by the 4th century BC. Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages , is highly inflected. It is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. In ancient Greek, nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases ( nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , and vocative ), three genders ( masculine , feminine , and neuter ), and three numbers (singular, dual , and plural ). Verbs have four moods ( indicative , imperative , subjunctive , and optative ) and three voices (active, middle, and passive ), as well as three persons (first, second, and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated through seven combinations of tenses and aspect (generally simply called "tenses"):
4747-495: The Archaic period of ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκε, πολλὰς δ' ἰφθίμους ψυχὰς Ἄϊδι προΐαψεν ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι· Διὸς δ' ἐτελείετο βουλή· ἐξ οὗ δὴ τὰ πρῶτα διαστήτην ἐρίσαντε Ἀτρεΐδης τε ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν καὶ δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς. The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from
4848-556: The Classical period of ancient Greek. (The second line is the IPA , the third is transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme .) Ὅτι [hóti Hóti μὲν men mèn ὑμεῖς, hyːmêːs hūmeîs, Polycrates Polycrates ( / p ə ˈ l ɪ k r ə ˌ t iː z / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Πολυκράτης ), son of Aeaces , was
4949-463: The Greek mainland, Nabis of Sparta , was assassinated in 192 BC and after his death the Peloponnese was united as a confederation of stable democracies in the Achaean League. Roman historians like Suetonius , Tacitus , Plutarch , and Josephus often spoke of "tyranny" in opposition to "liberty". Tyranny was associated with imperial rule and those rulers who usurped too much authority from
5050-486: The Greek world, and he upgraded the harbour of his capital city (modern Pythagorion ), ordering the construction of a deep-water mole nearly a quarter mile long, which is still used to shelter Greek fishing boats today. Although these projects are often associated with Polycrates on the strength of the passage of Herodotus, he is actually very vague about when these projects were carried out and what - if anything - they had to do with Polycrates. Archaeological work has made
5151-523: The Greeks on behalf of the Persians and provided military advice to the Persians against the Greeks. The Thirty Tyrants whom the Spartans imposed on a defeated Attica in 404 BC would not be classified as tyrants in the usual sense and were in effect an oligarchy . The best known Sicilian tyrants appeared long after the Archaic period. The tyrannies of Sicily came about due to similar causes, but here
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#17327985375215252-484: The Magna Carta), Henry VIII of England and Oliver Cromwell . The path of a tyrant can appear easy and pleasant (for all but the aristocracy). In 1939, Will Durant wrote: Hence the road to power in Greece commercial cities was simple: to attack the aristocracy, defend the poor, and come to an understanding with the middle classes. Arrived at power, the dictator abolished debts, or confiscated large estates, taxed
5353-617: The Persian invasions. Simultaneously Persia first started making inroads into Greece, and many tyrants sought Persian help against popular forces seeking to remove them. Corinth hosted one of the earliest of Greek tyrants. In Corinth , growing wealth from colonial enterprises, and the wider horizons brought about by the export of wine and oil, together with the new experiences of the Eastern Mediterranean brought back by returning mercenary hoplites employed overseas created
5454-507: The Samians developed an engineering and technological expertise to a level unusual in ancient Greece. In the midst of his account of Polycrates, Herodotus presents three astounding engineering works of the Samians. The first of these is an aqueduct in the form of a tunnel 1,036 metres (3,399 ft) long which can still be seen and which is known as the Tunnel of Eupalinos . The tunnel was constructed by two teams tunnelling from opposite sides of
5555-467: The Tunnel, who was originally from Megara , the famous physician Demodocus of Croton, Rhoikos the architect of the Heraion , and the master metal-worker Theodoros, who had made a famous silver bowl which Croesus dedicated at Delphi and which is described by Herodotus, and who also made the ring which was Polycrates' most treasured personal possession. Polycrates established a library on Samos, and showed
5656-529: The West Cemetery at Samos cease, while the first great temple of Hera , known as the Rhoikos temple, was destroyed - only a decade after it was built. However, more recent archaeological research has challenged this picture, showing that the destruction of the Rhoikos temple was a structural failure resulting from subsidence under the foundations, and that the West Cemetery fell out of use gradually over
5757-570: The accounts of the fate of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, in Herodotus' Histories, Book III. The early 20th century opera Der Ring des Polykrates by Erich Wolfgang Korngold retells the story of Polycrates as a modern fable. Polycrates is mentioned in Byron's famous stanzas "The Isles of Greece:" In modern folkloristics, the tale of Polycrates' Ring originated the Aarne–Thompson–Uther tale type ATU 736A, named after this episode. The story
5858-586: The actions of King George III as "tyrannical" in the United States Declaration of Independence . Enlightenment philosophers seemed to define tyranny by its associated characteristics. Edward Sexby's 1657 pamphlet, "Killing, No Murder" ( PDF file ) outlined 14 key traits of a tyrant, as the pamphlet was written to inspire the assassination of Oliver Cromwell, and show in what circumstances an assassination might be considered honorable. The full document mulls over and references points on
5959-550: The aorist. Following Homer 's practice, the augment is sometimes not made in poetry , especially epic poetry. The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below. Almost all forms of the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. (A few irregular forms of perfect do not reduplicate, whereas a handful of irregular aorists reduplicate.) The three types of reduplication are: Irregular duplication can be understood diachronically. For example, lambanō (root lab ) has
6060-583: The aristocracy the people destroyed the dictatorship; and only a few changes were needed to make democracy of freemen a reality as well as a form. Ancient Greek philosophers (who were aristocrats) were far more critical in reporting the methods of tyrants. The justification for ousting a tyrant was absent from the historian's description but was central to the philosophers. In the Republic , Plato stated: "The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. [...] This and no other
6161-419: The augment when it was word-initial. In verbs with a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed not at the start of the word, but between the preposition and the original verb. For example, προσ(-)βάλλω (I attack) goes to προσ έ βαλoν in the aorist. However compound verbs consisting of a prefix that is not a preposition retain the augment at the start of the word: αὐτο(-)μολῶ goes to ηὐ τομόλησα in
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#17327985375216262-470: The best part of him (reason) is enslaved, and likewise, the tyrannical state is enslaved, because it too lacks reason and order. The philosophers Plato and Aristotle defined a tyrant as a person who rules without law, using extreme and cruel methods against both his own people and others. The Encyclopédie defined the term as a usurper of sovereign power who makes "his subjects the victims of his passions and unjust desires, which he substitutes for laws". In
6363-438: The center of Greek scholarship, this division of people and language is quite similar to the results of modern archaeological-linguistic investigation. One standard formulation for the dialects is: West vs. non-West Greek is the strongest-marked and earliest division, with non-West in subsets of Ionic-Attic (or Attic-Ionic) and Aeolic vs. Arcadocypriot, or Aeolic and Arcado-Cypriot vs. Ionic-Attic. Often non-West
6464-539: The chapter were related to the absolutism of power alone – not oppression, injustice or cruelty. He ignored the appearance of shared rule. During the Age of Enlightenment , Western thinkers applied the word tyranny to the system of governance that had developed around aristocracy and monarchy . Specifically, English philosopher John Locke , as part of his argument against the " Divine Right of Kings " in his 1689 book Two Treatises of Government , defined it as such: "Tyranny
6565-698: The course of the second half of the sixth century. Aideen Carty argues that shifts in the deposition of Laconian pottery on Samos suggest the development of pro- and anti-Spartan factions on the island, one faction associated with the Heraion and the other with the Artemision of Samos. Herodotus reports that Polycrates took power with his brothers Pantagnotus and Syloson and a force of only fifteen men. This coup seems to have taken place in 540 BC or slightly earlier. Initially, Polycrates ruled along with his brothers, but soon had Pantagnotus killed and then exiled Syloson to take full control for himself. According to
6666-541: The democratic cities started to join forces in the Achaean League which was able to expand its influence even into Corinthia , Megaris , Argolis and Arcadia . From 251 BC under the leadership of Aratus of Sicyon , the Achaeans liberated many cities, in several cases by convincing the tyrants to step down, and when Aratus died in 213 BC, Hellas had been free of tyrants for more than 15 years. The last tyrant on
6767-563: The dialect of Sparta ), and Northern Peloponnesus Doric (including Corinthian ). All the groups were represented by colonies beyond Greece proper as well, and these colonies generally developed local characteristics, often under the influence of settlers or neighbors speaking different Greek dialects. After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the late 4th century BC, a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Attic Greek , but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of
6868-655: The empire were circumspect in identifying tyrants. " Cicero 's head and hands [were] cut off and nailed to the rostrum of the Senate to remind everyone of the perils of speaking out against tyranny." There has since been a tendency to discuss tyranny in the abstract while limiting examples of tyrants to ancient Greek rulers. Josephus identified tyrants in Biblical history (in Antiquities of the Jews) including Nimrod , Moses ,
6969-673: The forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek ( c. 1400–1200 BC ), Dark Ages ( c. 1200–800 BC ), the Archaic or Epic period ( c. 800–500 BC ), and the Classical period ( c. 500–300 BC ). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers . It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been
7070-506: The founder of this dynasty. Barron further proposed that Polycrates' father, Aeaces , ruled Samos around the middle of the sixth century. An inscription survives from this period, in which an individual called Aeaces dedicates some plunder to Hera . Barron's analysis was broadly accepted by Graham Shipley , but has been challenged by Aideen Carty. Polycrates had two brothers, Pantagnotus and Syloson , who were originally his co-rulers. Syloson ruled Samos again after Polycrates' death, and
7171-561: The historical Dorians . The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, who regarded themselves as descendants of the population displaced by or contending with the Dorians. The Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people – Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians (including Athenians), each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Allowing for their oversight of Arcadian, an obscure mountain dialect, and Cypriot, far from
7272-476: The historical circumstances of the times imply that the overall groups already existed in some form. Scholars assume that major Ancient Greek period dialect groups developed not later than 1120 BC, at the time of the Dorian invasions —and that their first appearances as precise alphabetic writing began in the 8th century BC. The invasion would not be "Dorian" unless the invaders had some cultural relationship to
7373-516: The importance of sea power and Thucydides includes him in his list of thalassocracies in the Aegean. With these forces he implemented a plan to bring all the Greek islands and cities of Ionia under his rule. Polycrates' rise to power took place in the period when the Achaemenid empire under Cyrus conquered western Anatolia. In theory, the Aegean islanders had accepted Persian overlordship after Cyrus conquered Lydia in 546 BC, but in practice
7474-519: The island of Samos in support of the Samian rebels around 520 BC. After 40 days they withdrew their unsuccessful siege. "It's said that Polycrates was one of the earliest known coin counterfeiters. Herodotus wrote that Polycrates bought off the besieging Spartans in 525/4 B.C. with counterfeit Samian coins. Some of these fakes still exist and are described in Spink's coin catalogue." Herodotus also tells
7575-402: The king as a good monarch and the tyrant as a bad one. Both say that monarchy, or rule by a single man, is royal when it is for the welfare of the ruled and tyrannical when it serves only the interest of the ruler. Both make lawlessness – either a violation of existing laws or government by personal fiat without settled laws – a mark of tyranny." Tyranny is considered an important subject, one of
7676-520: The late fifth and fourth centuries BC, a new kind of tyrant, one who had the support of the military , arose – specifically in Sicily . One can apply accusations of tyranny to a variety of types of government: The English noun tyrant appears in Middle English use, via Old French , from the 1290s. The word derives from Latin tyrannus , meaning "illegitimate ruler", and this in turn from
7777-800: The matter from early pre-Christian history, up into the 17th century when the pamphlet was writ. Of the most prevailing traits of tyranny outlined, " Killing, No Murder " emphasizes: [Original 1657 text: https://archive.org/details/killingnomurderb00sexbuoft/page/n3/mode/2up ] In Scotland, Samuel Rutherford's Lex Rex and Alexander Shields' A Hind Let Loose were influential works of theology written in opposition to tyranny. A modern tyrant might be defined by proven violation of international criminal law such as crimes against humanity . Various lists of tyrants include: There are also numerous book titles which identify tyrants by name or circumstances. Among English rulers, several have been identified as tyrants by book title: John, King of England (who signed
7878-432: The most part kept out of war, supported religion, maintained order, promoted morality, favored the higher status of women, encouraged the arts, and lavished revenues upon the beautification of their cities. And they did all these things, in many cases, while preserving the forms of popular government, so that even under despotism the people learned the ways of liberty. When the dictatorship [of the tyrant] had served to destroy
7979-467: The mutability of fortune and how to judge success. Most subsequent references to Polycrates in literature and other media have focused on this story. Polycrates' Ring (German: Der Ring des Polykrates ) is a lyrical ballad written in June 1797 by Friedrich Schiller and first published in his 1798 Musen-Almanach annual. It is about how the greatest success gives reason to fear disaster. Schiller relied on
8080-508: The older dialects, although the Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language , which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek . By about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosed into Medieval Greek . Phrygian is an extinct Indo-European language of West and Central Anatolia , which
8181-545: The penteconters as trading and raiding vessels that were owned privately by individual Samian aristocrats, who were essentially autonomous pirates only loosely constrained by Polycrates and the Samian state. In addition to these ships, Polycrates is said to have commissioned a new type of ship called the Samaina, a decked ship with two banks of oars, apparently a merchant galley designed for the rapid transport of goods or troops. Herodotus states that Polycrates later established
8282-535: The people busy and dependent, purges , assassinations , and unwarranted searches and seizures. Aristotle suggested an alternative means of retaining power – ruling justly. The methods of tyrants to retain power include placating world opinion by staging rigged elections , using or threatening to use violence, seeking popular support by appeals to patriotism , and claiming that conditions have improved. Ancient Greek language Ancient Greek ( Ἑλληνῐκή , Hellēnikḗ ; [hellɛːnikɛ́ː] ) includes
8383-487: The perfect stem eilēpha (not * lelēpha ) because it was originally slambanō , with perfect seslēpha , becoming eilēpha through compensatory lengthening. Reduplication is also visible in the present tense stems of certain verbs. These stems add a syllable consisting of the root's initial consonant followed by i . A nasal stop appears after the reduplication in some verbs. The earliest extant examples of ancient Greek writing ( c. 1450 BC ) are in
8484-402: The picture more complicated, suggesting that the Tunnel of Eupalinos may have been dug before his reign and that Polycrates continued projects that were already in course at the Heraion. One use to which Polycrates put his powerful navy was controlling the island of Delos , one of the most important religious centres in Greece, control of which would bolster Polycrates' claim to be the leader of
8585-528: The political situation in the Aegean was complicated. This confusion may have contributed to Polycrates' success in projecting his power. Few specifics of Polycrates' naval activities and conquests are preserved. Herodotus refers to an attack on Miletus , in which the Lesbians came to the aid of Miletos and Polycrates won a great naval victory, capturing and enslaving large numbers of Lesbian sailors. The Milesians had become key Persian allies and this victory
8686-505: The prosperity of the peasantry and landowning interests of the plain, which was prospering from the rise of olive oil exports, as well as his clients from Marathon , he managed to achieve authoritarian power. Through an ambitious program of public works, which included fostering the state cult of Athena ; encouraging the creation of festivals; supporting the Panathenaic Games in which prizes were jars of olive oil; and supporting
8787-406: The rich to finance public works, or otherwise redistributed the over-concentrated wealth; and while attaching the masses to himself through such measures, he secured the support of the business community by promoting trade with state coinage and commercial treaties, and by raising the social prestige of the bourgeoisie. Forced to depend upon popularity instead of hereditary power, the dictatorships for
8888-489: The ships were built at Amasis' expense, crewed by Polycrates, and sent by him to fight against the Persians. By contrast, Hans Van Wees thinks that this fleet was a gift from the Persians, crewed by Polycrates, in order to assist the Persians against Amasis. The naval detachment turned back to attack Polycrates. They defeated him at sea but could not take the island. The rebels then sailed to mainland Greece and allied with Sparta and Corinth . Sparta and Corinth invaded
8989-542: The so-called "cult of the tyrannicides " (i.e., of killers of tyrants). Contempt for tyranny characterised this cult movement . Despite financial help from Persia, in 510 the Peisistratids were expelled by a combination of intrigue, exile and Spartan arms. The anti-tyrannical attitude became especially prevalent in Athens after 508 BC, when Cleisthenes reformed the political system so that it resembled demokratia . Hippias (Peisistratus' other son) offered to rule
9090-456: The story of Polycrates' death. Near the end of the reign of Cambyses (around 522 BC), the satrap of Sardis , Oroetes , planned to kill Polycrates, either because he had been unable to add Samos to Persia's territory, or because Polycrates had snubbed a Persian ambassador. Prior to this, according to Diodorus Siculus, some Lydians fleeing Oroestes' domineering rule sought sanctuary on Samos. Polycrates at first received them, but then put them to
9191-473: The strangest thing to see is "an aged tyrant", meaning that tyrants do not have the public support to survive for long. One of the earliest known uses of the word 'tyrant' (in Greek) was by the poet Archilochus in reference to king Gyges of Lydia . The king's assumption of power was unconventional. The heyday of the Archaic period tyrants came in the early 6th century BC, when Cleisthenes ruled Sicyon in
9292-413: The sword and confiscated the possessions that they had brought (Diodorus Siculus, Library 10.16.4). Polycrates was invited to Magnesia , where Oroetes lived. Oroetes claimed that he wanted a promise of refuge on Samos in the event that Cambyses turned on him and that in return he would give Polycrates a large amount of money. Polycrates was convinced and went to Magnesia, where he was assassinated. Herodotus
9393-517: The syllabic script Linear B . Beginning in the 8th century BC, however, the Greek alphabet became standard, albeit with some variation among dialects. Early texts are written in boustrophedon style, but left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks , interword spacing , modern punctuation , and sometimes mixed case , but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer 's Iliad exemplifies
9494-567: The threat of Carthaginian attack prolonged tyranny, facilitating the rise of military leaders with the people united behind them. Such Sicilian tyrants as Gelo , Hiero I , Dionysius the Elder , Dionysius the Younger , and Agathocles of Syracuse maintained lavish courts and became patrons of culture. The dangers threatening the lives of the Sicilian tyrants are highlighted in the moral tale of
9595-413: The word had a neutral connotation during the Archaic and early Classical periods. However, Greek philosopher Plato saw tyrannos as a negative form of government, and on account of the decisive influence of philosophy on politics, deemed tyranny the "fourth and worst disorder of a state." Tyrants lack "the very faculty that is the instrument of judgment"—reason. The tyrannical man is enslaved because
9696-435: Was 'washed by Zeus' and when the sun shone he was 'anointed by Helios', as the moisture was sweated from him. After the murder of Polycrates by Oroetes, Samos was ruled by Maeandrius . After some time, Syloson , the brother of Polycrates, was installed as governor of Samos by Achaemenid ruler Darius I , receiving the help of general Otanes to expel the impostor who had taken control after Oroetes. Under Polycrates
9797-480: Was Aeolic. For example, fragments of the works of the poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos are in Aeolian. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, or to an island. Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric (including Cretan Doric ), Southern Peloponnesus Doric (including Laconian ,
9898-402: Was a patron of the poets Anacreon and Ibycus . The philosopher Pythagoras was also on Samos during his reign but left for Croton about 531 BC, perhaps out of dissatisfaction with his dictatorship. He also attracted to his court, sometimes by offering generous subsidies, an array of prominent craftsmen and professionals from throughout the Greek world, including Eupalinos, the architect of
9999-476: Was based mostly on oral traditions and incorporates many folk-tale elements. Furthermore, Herodotus creatively shaped his account of Polycrates in order to make general moral points and to comment on the imperialism of the Athenian empire in his own day. Some poetry from Polycrates' time comments on him in passing and there is a smattering of references to Polycrates in other literary sources ranging in date from
10100-497: Was less fortunate and was expelled. Afterward, Corinth was ruled by a lackluster oligarchy, and was eventually eclipsed by the rising fortunes of Athens and Sparta. Athens hosted its tyrants late in the Archaic period. In Athens , the inhabitants first gave the title of tyrant to Peisistratos (a relative of Solon , the Athenian lawgiver) who succeeded in 546 BC, after two failed attempts, to install himself as tyrant. Supported by
10201-520: Was succeeded by his own son, Aeaces . Herodotus mentions a daughter in his account of Polycrates' death. In the mid-sixth century, there was apparently a period of civil strife in Samos. This conflict is mentioned by Herodotus in the context of Polycrates' rise to power. John Boardman and Graham Shipley have cited archaeological evidence for serious disruption in this period. Around 550 BC, they say, funerary stele were shattered and aristocratic burials in
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