tyrant

(noun)

An absolute ruler who governs without restriction.

Related Terms

  • portico
  • agora

Examples of tyrant in the following topics:

  • Effects of the Peloponnesian War

    • Citizens reacted against Athens’ defeat, blaming democratic politicians like Cleon and Cleophon, and the Spartan army encouraged revolt, installing a pro-Spartan oligarchy within Athens called the Thirty Tyrants in 404 BCE.
    • Lysander, the Spartan admiral who commanded the Spartan fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE, helped to organize the Thirty Tyrants as a government for the 13 months they maintained power.
    • During the Thirty Tyrants’ rule, five percent of the Athenian population was killed, private property was confiscated, and democratic supporters were exiled.
    • This list of men was constantly being revised, and selection was most likely a reflection of loyalty to the regime, with the majority of Athenians not supporting the Thirty Tyrants’ rule.
    • Athens struggled to recover from the upheaval caused by the Thirty Tyrants in the years that followed.
  • Archaic Greece

    • Archaic Greece from the mid-seventh century onward has been referred to as an “age of tyrants”.
    • The most popular explanation dates back to Aristotle, who argued that tyrants were set up by the people in response to the nobility becoming less tolerable.
    • Some argue that tyrannies were set up by individuals who controlled privates armies and that early tyrants did not need the supports of the people at all.
    • Other historians question the existence of a seventh-century “age of tyrants” altogether.
    • As a result, many historians argue that Greek tyrants were not considered illegitimate rulers and cannot be distinguished from any other rulers during the same period.
  • Developer Guidelines

    • A tyranny pretending to be a democracy will turn people off; a tyranny that says it's a tyranny will do fine as long as the tyrant is competent and trusted.
  • The Rise of Classical Greece

    • Classical Greece rose after the fall of the Athenian tyrants and the institution of Cleisthenes' democratic reforms and lasted throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BCE.
    • After struggling to control the cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them.
    • When the tyrant of Miletus embarked on an unsuccessful expedition to conquer the island of Naxos with Persian support, however, a rebellion was incited throughout Hellenic Asia Minor against the Persians.
    • In 510 BCE, Spartan troops helped the Athenians overthrow their king, the tyrant Hippias, son of Peisistratos.
  • The Persian Wars

    • Finding the Ionians difficult to rule, the Persians installed tyrants in every city as a means of control.
    • At the heart of the rebellion lay a deep dissatisfaction with the tyrants who were appointed by the Persians to rule the local Greek communities.
    • Specifically, the riot was incited by the Milesian tyrant Aristagoras, who in the wake of a failed expedition to conquer Naxos, utilized Greek unrest against Persian king Darius the Great to his own political purposes.
  • The Agora

    • The site was the location of private houses until the sixth century BCE until the Athenian tyrant Peisistratus decided to dedicate the center of the city to public space.
    • Tyrants continued to improve the agora with new buildings, temples, fountains, and trees.
  • The Revolution and Churches

    • The caption reads: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God".
  • The Constitutional Right to Petition the Government

    • A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. "
  • The Political Revolution

    • Philosophers such as Voltaire depicted organized Christianity as a tool of tyrants and oppressors and as being used to defend monarchism.
  • Fall of the Flavian Emperors

    • As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate.
    • Under the rulers of the Nervan-Antonian dynasty, senatorial authors published histories that elaborated on the view of Domitian as a tyrant.
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