january 26


Today in class we went over the powerpoint again. We took some more notes, and we also got a cookie from Mr. Schick cause he has been a stressful week.

Government Terms

polis is fundamental political unit, made up of a city and the surrounding countryside politics (affairs of the cities), policy, political, etc.

Monarchy: rule by a single person (a king, in Greece)

Aristocracy: rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families

Oligarchy: wealthy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, who seized power (often with military help)
Tyrant: powerful individual who seized control by appealing to the common people for support

sometimes aristocrats would form alliances with hoplites (well-armed soldiers), and set up an alternative form of gov’t called a


We also learned that there are different meaning of tyrant

tyrant: someone who rules outside the framework of the polis
modern meaning of tyrant: an abusive or oppressive ruler
the Greek meaning of tyrant: someone who simply seized power (usually with hoplite help)

Comments