Aim: Why no

1
Aim Why no kings among the Greeks?

• What form of government should take its place?

2
From Homer to Herodotus why no true monarchs?

• Geography city-states (poli), rather than
  kingdoms
• Culture / State-Building - more tribal, like
  Jacobsens primitive democracy
• Technology the phalanx/hoplites creates
  citizen landholders with rights - why?

Athens as a special case The poor rowed its
ships, demanded equal rights
3
From Homer to Herodotus why no monarchs?

• A period of experimentation
• Tyrannies
• Oligarchies
• Direct democracies
• No one idea dominated for long in any city
• Debate about which form was best and best for
  who the state or the individual?

4
From Herodotus to Sophocles the needs of the
individual, the needs of the state

• Who was right and wrong?
• Doesnt Creon have right to expect she will
  follow the law? What if no one followed the law?
• Can exceptional individuals decide not to
  follow the law?
• What if the law or state is wrong?
• How does this relate to whats going on in the
  Greek world? How does this relate to our world?

5
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle all were opponents of
direct democracy

• Socrates taught the oligarchs of Athens, who
  tried to end direct democracy, and justified it
  intellectually because the common people were
  blockheads
• Plato believed in a state run by
  philosopher-kings those most capable of getting
  to the truth
• Aristotle was the tutor of Alexander the Great
  and felt only those of the middle class should
  be part of government, not the uneducated mob

6
Were the Greeks unique or may there have been
many other societies debating these types of
questions before empire established itself?