In modern language, the concept of "tyranny" has a sharply negative meaning associated with the arbitrariness of the supreme ruler, violating the rights and freedoms of citizens. In the XlX century, however, the term was no longer used in the social sciences, replacing it with a dictatorship. With this view of the problem of tyranny, this is the forerunner of the various totalitarian forms of government that the 20th century will be rich in.
History of the term
Today it is generally accepted that tyranny is one of the most terrible forms of government. However, this was not always the case. In ancient Greece, where both the term and the form of government appeared, tyranny also played a positive role.
The so-called elder tyranny was generated by the clash of conflicting interests of the landowning nobility and the craft people. In the wake of the confrontation, passionate personalities came to power, claiming to protect national interests. It is assumed that only people in full power could protect the nascent polis system, which would subsequently grow into a democracy.
According to one version, the term appeared in the Anatolian Greek cities and was first noticed by the poet Archilochus, who believed that tyranny is a form of rule under which a cruel usurper is in power.
The differences between Greek and modern meanings
For modern man tyranny is, first of all, a government accompanied by impunity for cruelty. At the same time, the ruler’s legitimacy is not called into question, since in the modern sense a legitimately elected president of a democratic state can be a tyrant.
For the Greeks, the tyrant was, above all, an illegal ruler, a usurper who seized power. And in this case it was not decisive, he used it for the benefit of the people or against his own citizens. He always remained a tyrant. It is this factor that makes it possible to equate the Greek form of government with much later Roman Caesarism. The Greek term τυραννίς (tyurannis) itself is translated as "arbitrariness." Thus, tyranny is a form of government, according to the Greeks, not quite reasonable, not suitable for the Greek urban communities.
Tyranny was especially widespread in the colonies of Great Greece, where natural wealth and a favorable climate created conditions for the rapid enrichment of individuals involved in maritime trade and the management of the communal treasury. Riches made it possible to win over armed citizens to their side and thus usurp the supreme power in the city.
This form of government especially flourished in Sicily. The history of the wealthy city of Aragragas (now Agrigento) is well known, which pretty soon after its founding was ruled and ruled by the cruel Falaris for sixteen years. Greek literature is full of stories of his uncompromising cruelty: he regularly tortured and killed citizens dissatisfied with his power, fried them in a huge copper tank. However, in the same tank his life ended when he was overthrown by Telemachus, who led a conspiracy against the usurper.
After tyranny: people take power
It should be recognized that tyranny is a kind of step in the development of the political system of Ancient Greece, which, despite all its cruelty, was overcome by the Greeks very successfully. After several centuries of tyrannical rule and endless internecine wars, the Greek demos nevertheless took control of the policies in their hands, which had a rather positive effect on the development of culture and economy.