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A tyrant (from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos) 'absolute ruler'), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means.
Melas the Elder, 7th century BC, brother-in-law to king Gyges; Miletus, grandson of Melas, son-in-law of king Ardys; Pythagoras, son of Miletus, 6th century BC
Plato describes a violent tyrant as the opposite of a good and "true king" in the Statesman, [6] and while Aristotle in the Politics sees it as opposed to all other beneficial forms of government, he also described tyrannicide mainly as an act by those wishing to gain personally from the tyrant's death, while those who act without hope of personal gain or to make a name for themselves are rare.
In Archaic Greece, the term tyrant did not connote malevolence. A tyrant was one who had seized power and ruled outside of a state's constitutional law. When Peisistratus died in 528/7 BC, his son Hippias took the position of Archon and became the new tyrant of Athens, with the help of his brother, Hipparchus, who acted as the minister of ...
To reform their laws as the Spartans instructed, Athens appointed five ephors to organize all voting through the phylarchoi, the tribal council representing the eleven tribes of Athens.
Hippias succeeded Peisistratos as tyrant of Athens in 528/7 BC when his father died of advanced age. He was a patron of poets and craftsmen and under his rule Athens experienced a time of prosperity. His brother Hipparchus , who may have ruled jointly with him, was murdered by Harmodius and Aristogeiton (the tyrannicides ) in 514 BC during the ...
Agathocles (Ancient Greek: Ἀγαθοκλῆς, Agathoklḗs; 361–289 BC) was a tyrant of Syracuse from 317 BC and king of much of Sicily from 304 BC until his death. Agathocles began his career as a military officer, and raised his profile as a supporter of the democratic faction in Syracuse against the oligarchic civic government.
In antiquity, the term "tyrant" referred to a ruler with no legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation. [2] [3] [4] Of Sophocles' three Theban plays that have survived, and that deal with the story of Oedipus, Oedipus Rex was the second to be written, following Antigone by about a dozen years.