Ancient Greek Government

Ancient Greece was formed by approximately 1,500 different ‘poleis’ or city-states, each one of them with its own form of government.

There was one common characteristic between all of them. To hold any form of political position you must be a free adult male citizen.

Many of the words used to describe governments are of Greek (and Roman) origin. Words like monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and of course democracy are examples of this.

In order to compare and contrast different forms of government, we first need to define what we understand by them.

Monarchy: a governmental system based on the rule of a single person. The supreme authority is this person (monarch) and it is passed within the family or monarchic dynasty through succession.

In ancient times it was the wealthiest families that controlled most of the land in a region.

Tyranny: an autocratic form of government in which one individual holds the absolute power without any legal restrain. In ancient times the word tyranny did not have the same negative connotations as today.

Oligarchy: a governmental system based on the rule of a few small-privileged groups of people. Aristotle used the term to describe a governmental system ruled by few not good people (a kind of bad Aristocracy).

Democracy: a governmental system based on the will of the people. According to Cartledge (2011) in ancient times the original word ‘demokratia’ could imply “people-power” or “mob rule” or “dictatorship of the proletariat”.

Approximately from 2,000 BCE to 800 BCE monarchs ruled most ‘poleis’. The word Monarchy derives from ‘monos’ (one) and ‘arkhein’ (rule).

Most monarchs were chosen from few families and they tried to maintain their power by means of succession (the oldest son).

This went changing, and from 800 BCE few aristocratic families held the power.

The ‘poleis’ move from a Monarchic to an Aristocratic form of

Some of them become tyrants. The word Tyranny has its root in ‘tyrannos’ (supreme power).

In Athens the tyrant Hippias threatened to kill anyone who opposed his will.

Most tyrants were overthrew by the same people that supported them. In Athens, the reforms started by Solon and later Cleisthenes (507 BCE) derived in what is considered today the first Democracy.

We need to understand that in ancient times even in the most democratic regimes, very few people held the government. According to Jones (1995) we can estimate the population of Athens at approximately 20,000 citizens, 10,000 ‘metics’ and 400,000 slaves. Out of the 20,000 less than half participated actively in the different governmental institutions.

At that time Spartan citizens were no more than 6,000, and ‘periokoi’, and ‘helots’ were more than 300,000.

So we can argue about Athens Democracy, and define it as an extended Oligarchy, mainly due to the fact that few people decide the fate of many.

The fact that today we are still using the same words to describe forms of government is the clearest example of the importance of Greek legacy in