Government
During the times of Ancient Greece there wre 4 types of governing that were used.
Monarchy
In the monarchy there was one king that ruled over all the people and normally his crown was most likely passed on to his eldest son and so on in the traditional throne inheriting form. The major problem of this form of governing is that the king could be disliked and killed or overthrown by his enemies. During 2000 to 1100 B.C.E the rulers of ancient greece were the Mycenaeans that were worrior people that created monarchies for their kingdoms. The king would often live in the capital city in a lavish fortress-ish castle, beyond that would be a network of different villages that would need to pay the king taxes. These kings would often rely on heavily armed soldiers to enforce his rules and most importantly having his villagers to pay taxes. This ruling method was not the one to last long because during 1200 B.C.E. because of trade routes shutting down due to wars there were no more important things coming in like metals to create weapons and they had no other way of fending for themselves in attacks. The people started feuding and the Dorians from the north invaded and eventually tore down their monarchies.
A greek king infront of his subjects
Oligarchy
In the Oligarchy there were a few main leaders that overall worked together as a team to form “one leader”. Mainly from 1100 B.C.E to 800 B.C.E people started to not only have one leader for each city state but a few leaders. These people were often aristocrats that inherited wealth along with power. Over a period of time these rules shifted to become people that had political power overruled but there were still selected wealthy people in the group of leaders. Some were born into their aristocratic positions and most of the others were just a wealthier middle class. The members of the oligarchy had pretty luxurious life considering the position they were in. they often had the military on their side to enforce their rules. Although they enjoyed their protection from the army they had somewhat little say on how things would turn out due to the fact that they had very limited political rights because of things like not being allowed to vote. Although this lasted for a good time these oligarchies were overthrown because of their harsh overrule Even in Athens they soon grew to be dissatisfied by the oligarchy and as the peasant population numbers started to climb the food shortages began to become a common thing. The oligarchy began to be threatened by the other citizens and later only in 400 B.C.E only one city state remained an oligarchy and that was Sparta.
A picture of an oligarchy where more than one person rules.
Tyranny
This form includes having only one leader that has seized the power to rule, they are most often called tyrants ruling with harsh, controlling and abusive ways. In mid 600 B.C.E. The middle class people were bubbling with anger along with demanding more opportunities in political decisions with their new found wealth from trading and manufacturing. Although if they wanted to join an oligarchy they would not let them do anything as well. Mostly only the former military leaders responded to the middle class and promised the changes they wanted. Backed by the number of the middle class they took power from the tyrants. The leader often became very wealthy because they would often be showered with gifts. Many of the tyrants only ruled for a short period of time because they often became very greedy and their rule became harsh. The last important ruler in mainland greece was called Hippias, he was overthrown in 510 B.C.E. a group of spartan and athenian who disagreed with his rule forced him to resign and even leave Greece.
A depiction of a greek tyrrant.
Democracy
This was truly what Ancient greece has had as more of an advanced Ancient Civilization. This form is one not ruled by singled out individuals (Or an individual.) but this system is about the people. Unlike all the other forms for governing this one had thrived on even to this day. Developed in 500 B.C.E. when people started to oppose the system of tyranny and never discontinued in the whole time period of Ancient Greece. The main governing included the Athenian body, this comprises of usually 5000-6000 people aside from the 30,000-40,000 adult males. Both rich, middle class and poor could attend as long as you were 35. These meetings would be held almost 40 times a year discussing almost every big problem that arose, they reached all agreements with a fair vote and a debate. Although they had the mass of 5000-6000 there were a higher council of 500 that was responsible for the day to day running of the city, these people were chosen by lottery. they were the ones that proposed new laws and enforced a smooth running of the Assembly along with its decrees. This council of 500 also looked after all the finances, foreign ambassadors and maintenance of the Athenian fleet. a very important aspect was that the public officials did not have much individual power that would lead them to be corrupt. Even during war times there was not just one but 10 generals that took care of war time matters. These 50 people were annually re-elected and any person could be elected more than once. The people on this council/jury were paid for their services, this way of governing allowed both rich and poor to have equal amounts of rights in the government.
