On Tyranny and Tyrants - Echoes from Ancient Texts

It may seem strange to speak of tyranny and tyrants in the 21^st century. Unfortunately, the year 2022 is displaying a good number of tyrants and the damage is tragically manifest. For this reason, I’d like to dedicate this video to one of my students from Ukraine and to her family. 

 

Concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, Krišjānis Kariņš, said this: “This is the new ‘usual’, so to speak, we have an aggressive neighbor who is interested in recreating an empire who believes in the right to subjugate others and has a disregard for national self-determination. This is a threat to all of us.” (Source: BBC World News, 23 Feb. 2022). 

 

When I heard this statement, it sounded like something I had read in a speech in one of the ancient histories or tragedies. As a form of rule, tyranny is ancient and very well documented in various types of literature. In this video, we’ll look at some ancient texts that help us to understand why it was attractive to some and why it was opposed by many. 

Some resources:

For definitions of ‘tyranny’ and ‘tyrant’:

 

τυραννίς in The Online Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexicon

 

"1. τῠ́ραννος" in: The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, edited by: Franco Montanari. Consulted online on 05/04/2022 

<https://dictionaries.brillonline.com/search#dictionary=montanari&id=120347> First published online: July 2015.

 

Other resources cited in the text or found elsewhere:

 

Andrewes, A. The Greek Tyrants. London: Hutchinson University Library, 1956.

 

Austin, M., “Greek Tyrants and the Persians, 546–479 B.C.” The Classical Quarterly, 40(2), (1990), 289-306. doi:10.1017/S0009838800042889

 

Berve, H. Die Tyrannis bei den Griechen. München: C.H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1967.

 

Ehrenberg, Victor, and P. J. Rhodes. "tyranny." In The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2012. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-6624.

 

Herodotus, Histories, translation by A. D. Godley, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920.

 

Lewis S. Ancient Tyranny. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006.

 

Theognis, elegiac poet, VIBCE, Θέογνις: in IEG 1; ALG 2; PLG 2; ed. D. Young, T 1971; J. Carrière, BL 1948; A. Garzya, Firenze 1958; B. A. van Groningen, b. I, Amsterdam 1966; M. Vetta, b. II, Roma 1980.

What do you do with your democracy? (Herodotus strikes again!)

Introduction

Democracy: the rule of the people; or the rule that is partially in the hands of the people. Some people are struggling for democracy right now. Some people live in a democracy but don’t fully appreciate it, because they haven’t lived under other forms of government. Others appreciate democracy but don’t know how to live it effectively.

 

This raises a few questions: what is the best form of government? Does it make any difference? Interestingly, these questions are actually quite ancient. 

 

In this video, we are going to consider a brilliant text from antiquity written by Herodotus, a Greek historian from fifth-century BCE. In this text Herodotus describes a group of Persians who are debating about three types of government: monarchy[1], oligarchy, and democracy. 

You can find the text here: Herodotus’s Histories, Book 3, chapters 80-86. 

Which one is the best for Persia? Which one did they choose? Why did it matter to Herodotus? And what does it matter to us? 

 

For more, please watch the video. 

Other important texts mentioned in the video: See especially Plato, Rep. 1.338e; Books 6 and 8, specifically VIII.1–VIII.5. 543a–550c. Timocracy; VIII.6–VIII.9. 550c–555b. Oligarchy; VIII.10–VIII.13. 555b–562a. Democracy; VIII.14–IX.3. 562a–576b. Tyranny.

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[1] Synonyms: autocracy = a system of government by one person with absolute power. Tyranny = cruel and oppressive government or rule.