Everything about Tyrant totally explained
In modern usage a
tyrant is a single ruler holding vast, if not absolute
power through a
state or in an
organization. The term carries modern connotations of a harsh and cruel ruler who places their own interests or the interests of a small
oligarchy over the best interests of the general population which they govern or control. However, in the classical sense, the word simply means one who has taken power by their own means as opposed to hereditary or constitutional power (and generally without the modern connotations). This mode of rule is referred to as
tyranny. Many individual rulers or government officials are accused of tyranny, with the label almost always a matter of controversy.
The word derives from
Latin tyrannus, and ultimately from the
non-pejorative Greek τύραννος
tyrannos, meaning "illegitimate ruler", although this wasn't
pejorative and applicable to both good and bad leaders alike.
Historical forms
In
ancient Greece, tyrants were influential opportunists that came to power by securing the support of different factions of a
deme. The word "tyrant" then carried no ethical censure; it simply referred to anyone who illegally seized executive power in a
polis to engage in
autocratic, though perhaps benevolent, government, or leadership in a crisis. Support for the tyrants came from the growing class of business people and from the peasants who had no land or were in debt to the wealthy land owners. It is true that they'd no legal right to rule, but the people preferred them over kings or the
aristocracy. The Greek tyrants stayed in power by using mercenary soldiers from outside of their respective city state.
Cypselus, the first tyrant of
Corinth in the
7th century BC, managed to bequeath his position to his son,
Periander. Tyrants seldom succeeded in establishing an untroubled line of succession. In
Athens, the inhabitants first gave the title to
Peisistratus of
Athens in
560 BC, followed by his sons, and with the subsequent growth of Athenian
democracy, the title "tyrant" took on its familiar negative connotations. The murder of the tyrant
Hipparchus by
Aristogeiton and Harmodios in Athens in 514 BC marked the beginning of the so-called "cult of the
tyrannicides" (for example of killers of tyrants). Contempt for tyranny characterised this
cult movement. The attitude became especially prevalent in Athens after 508 BC, when
Cleisthenes reformed the political system so that it resembled
demokratia (ancient participant democracy as opposed to the modern representative democracy).
The
Thirty Tyrants whom the Spartans imposed on a defeated Attica in
404 BC wouldn't class as tyrants in the usual sense.
Aisymnetes
An aisymnetes (pl. aisymnetai) was a type of tyrant or dictator, such as
Pittacus of Mytilene (c. 640 -568 BC), elected for life or a specified period by a city-state in a time of crisis. Magistrates in some city-states were also called aisymnetai.
Hellenic Tyrants
The heyday of the classical Hellenic tyrants came in the early
6th century BC, when
Cleisthenes ruled
Sicyon in the
Peloponnesus, and
Polycrates ruled
Samos. During this time, revolts overthrew many governments in the
Aegean world. Simultaneously
Persia first started making inroads into Greece, and many tyrants sought Persian help against forces seeking to remove them.
Popularism
Greek tyranny in the main grew out of the struggle of the popular classes against the
aristocracy or against priest-kings where archaic traditions and mythology sanctioned hereditary and/or traditional rights to rule. Popular
coups generally installed tyrants, who often became or remained popular rulers, at least in the early part of their reigns. For instance, the popular imagination remembered
Peisistratus for an episode - related by (pseudononymous)
Aristotle, but possibly fictional - in which he exempted a farmer from taxation because of the particular barrenness of his plot. Peisistratus' sons
Hippias and
Hipparchus, on the other hand, were not such able rulers and when the disaffected aristocrats Harmodios and Aristogeiton slew Hipparchus, Hippias' rule quickly became oppressive, resulting in the expulsion of the Peisistratids in
510.
Sicilian Tyrants
The tyrannies of Sicily came about due to similar causes, but here 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,
Hiero II,
Dionysius the Elder, and
Dionysius the Younger maintained lavish courts and became patrons of culture.
Roman Tyrants
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 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.
In the Arts
Ancient Greeks, as well as the
Roman Republicans, became generally quite wary of anyone seeking to implement a popular coup.
Shakespeare portrays the struggle of one such anti-tyrannical Roman,
Marcus Junius Brutus, in his play
Julius Caesar.
Further Information
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