Greek Tyranny

by: Lewis, S.

Price: 19,00 EURO

(in stock)

 As well as introducing the reader to individual Greek tyrants, Greek Tyranny situates the phenomenon of tyranny within Mediterranean society as a whole, rather than treating it as an isolated episode. The title ?tyrant? became gradually less acceptable in Greek politics and the book aims to trace the changing attitudes of the Greeks towards autocratic rule, and the place that it occupied in the political life of Greece. The book covers the whole period between 750 and 250, treating tyrants from Cypselos and Phalaris to Agathocles and Hieron II. Its horizons are also broad; instead of concentrating on mainland Greece, the discussion draws examples and comparisons from Rome and Italy, Sicily, Asia Minor, Thessaly and the Black Sea. The book offers powerful new arguments on the subject of tyranny and Greek political life and redresses the usual overemphasis on fifth-century Athens and democracy by presenting some of the alternative forms of government prevalent in classical Greece. The inclusion of a very wide range of rulers (and the colourful traditions which surround them) make both a lively book and a well-contextualised study.

The tyrants of Greece are some of the most colourful figures in antiquity, notorious for their luxury, excess and violence, and provoking heated debates among political thinkers. Greek Tyranny examines the phenomenon of autocratic rule outside the law in archaic and classical Greece, offering a new interpretation of the nature of tyranny. The development of tyrannical government is examined in theory and in practice, embracing lesser-known rulers such as the tagoi of Thessaly and the Hecatomnids of Halicarnassus, as well as canonical figures like the Pisistratid rulers of Athens and the Dionysii at Syracuse. The book considers the different forms which sole rulership took - the violent usurper, the appointed magistrate, the general and the Hellenistic king - and the responses which tyranny evoked, both from the citizens of the polis and from intellectuals such as Plato and Aristotle. Lewis replaces the longstanding theory of an 'age of tyranny' in Greece with powerful new arguments,

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Map of the Greek world
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Archaic tyrants
2. The end of tyranny?
3. Tyranny remade?
4. Philosophers and tyrants
5. Tyrants and kings
Conclusion
Notes
Further reading
Index

Subjects:
Ancient history: to c 500 CE
Classical history / classical civilisation
Dictatorship
Dictatorship Greece History
Dictature Grèce Histoire
Greece
Greece History Age of Tyrants, 7th-6th centuries B.C
Greece Politics and government To 146 B.C
Grèce Politique et gouvernement Jusqu'à 146 av. J.-C
History
History Ancient Greece
History of Western philosophy
Politics and government
Social & political philosophy
To 146 B.C

Series:
Greece and Rome live

Greek Tyranny

by: Lewis, S.

• ISBN-13: 9781904675273 / 978-1-904675-27-3
• ISBN-03: 1904675271 / 1-904675-27-1
• Bristol Phoenix Press, Exeter, 2009

Price: 19,00 EURO

(in stock)