In the 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 dictatorship. Viewed in this way, tyranny is the forerunner of the various totalitarian forms of government that the 20th century will be rich in.
History of the origin 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 itself appeared, tyranny played a positive role too.
The so-called senior tyranny was generated by the conflicting interests of the landowning nobility and the artisan people. On the wave of confrontation, passionate personalities came to power, claiming to protect the interests of the people. It is assumed that only people vested with full power could protect the emerging polis system, which would later grow into 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 forma government in which a cruel usurper is in power.
Differences between Greek and modern meanings
For a modern person, tyranny is, first of all, rule, accompanied by unpunished cruelty. At the same time, the legitimacy of the ruler is not called into question, since a legally elected president of a democratic state can also be a tyrant in the modern sense.
For the Greeks, the tyrant was, first of all, an illegal ruler, a usurper who seized power. And in this case, it did not matter whether he used it for the benefit of the people or against his own citizens. He has always been a tyrant. It is this factor that makes it possible to equate the Greek form of government with the much later Roman Caesarism. The Greek term τυραννίς (turannis) itself is translated as "arbitrariness". Thus, tyranny is a form of government, according to the Greeks, not quite reasonable, not suitable for Greek urban communities.
Tranny was particularly widespread in the colonies of Magna Graecia, where natural we alth and a favorable climate created conditions for the rapid enrichment of individuals engaged in maritime trade and managing the communal treasury. We alth made it possible to win over armed citizens and thus usurp the supreme power in the city.
This form of government especially flourished in Sicily. The history of the rich city of Akragas (now Agrigento) is well known.cruel Falaris ruled for sixteen years. Greek literature is full of stories about his uncompromising cruelty: he regularly tortured and killed citizens who were dissatisfied with his power, roasted 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: the people take power
It should be recognized that tyranny is a kind of stage in the development of the state 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 into their own hands, which had a rather positive effect on the development of culture and the economy.
