Title: Tyranny - Greek tyrants | Britannica
Headings: Greek
tyrants

Greek tyrants
Tyranny in Rome
Tyranny and the people
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Content: At several points under the early emperors, conspiracies were formed to remove the ruler and restore the republic on the grounds that the imperial power was unconstitutional and therefore illegal, but they failed owing to lack of support by the people (who strongly favoured monarchic rule) and the individual ambitions of the conspirators. Soon imperial rule was established as constitutional, and the language of tyranny again became ethical in application rather than political. Accusations of tyranny came to refer to the quality of rule rather than its legitimacy: an emperor who abused his power or used it for personal ends was seen as despotic, although it took a brave man to say so in public. Tyranny and the people
The most-significant change in the conception of tyranny from the ancient world to the modern lies in the role of the people under a tyrant. In ancient times tyrants tended to be popular, because the people saw them as upholding their interests. Tyrants often introduced measures to improve the economic and social status of the poor; it was the aristocracy (who wrote the histories) who tended to oppose tyranny, because, in bypassing the constitution, tyranny threatened their traditional privileges. But as absolute rule became established in the Roman Empire, the terms of debate shifted, focusing on the question of when monarchic power became tyrannical in nature. From that springs the idea of tyranny in its modern sense: