What is tyranny?

People often associate tyrants with dictators. In ancient Greece, a tyrant was a political leader who took power by force. But they didn’t always rule like that, many tyrants were very good leaders.

Corinth was the first city-state to be ruled by a tyrant in Greece. Around 650 B.C., a man named Cypselus was a tyrant, he took power by force from Bacchiadea.

Cypselus ruled as a peaceful ruler for 30 years, he had some people forced out of the city-state and killed but he was peaceful.

After his death, his son Pariander took over, and unlike his father, he was very cruel.

In 594 B.C., Solon was the archon of Athens. He wanted to create a constitution for the people of Athens. He was a powerful ruler and didn’t want to become a tyrant, so he wrote in it that tyrants shouldn’t be allowed. 30 years later, Peisistratus tried to take over as a tyrant, he failed the first time but soon became a tyrant in 564 B.C., and he was a peaceful tyrant. But his son Hippias was a cruel tyrant and a very paranoid ruler, he feared that the people wanted his power.

But in 510B.C. Sparta helped Athens to overthrow him. Then a ruler called Cleisthenes ruled Athens and formed a new government. This was the beginning of democracy.