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The Four Governments Of Ancient Greek Democracy

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There were many governments in ancient Greece. The Greek people developed long term governing styles, which evolved Greece to what it is today. There were four governments that ancient Greece used. Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, and Democracy are all ways that the Greeks experimented with. The governments in ancient Greece were different to each city-state. At the time, Greece was not a whole country however, but many different city-states all ruled by a different person. Over more than 2000 years, Greece has constantly changed it's way of ruling and it showed how Greek democracy would develop over the course of time. These four governments shaped Ancient Greece into what it is today. The first style of government was Monarchy. From about 2000 to 800 B.C.E. The Greeks were ruled by Monarchy. The many different city-states were ruled by a certain person in power called a Monarch. Power was in the hands of one person, usually a king. At first, new kings were chosen to rule by election. However, in time new kings were elected through heritage. After this, the normal way …show more content…

First, a tyrant cannot claim that the laws of the land give him the right to rule. A tyrant has unlimited power because there are no legal limits. Although a tyrant would rule by force, they were quite popular because of the false claims. Tyrant also promised the people more rights. Once the tyrants were in rule, they were quite good, by making the lives of the poor better. Some took away the aristocrat's power and were very hostile to them.
There however were a few good tyrants. One example of this is a man named Hippas, along with his brother, Hipparchus. At first Hippas ruled lightly, but when his brother was killed by two enemies of Hipparchus, Hippas ruled harshly. He would send spies out and look for anyone who criticized him. Since tyrants have unlawful power, this caused the Greeks to develop another form of government called

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