Title: Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander, The Late Archaic City-State, Tyranny in the City-States
Headings: Thomas R. Martin,
An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander

Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander
Table of Contents:
Tyranny in the City-States
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Content: For one, although tyrants were by definition rulers who usurped  power by force rather than inheriting it like legitimate kings, they then established  family dynasties to maintain their tyranny, with sons inheriting their fathers' position  as the head of state. Also, the men who became tyrants were usually aristocrats, or at  least near-aristocrats, who nevertheless rallied support from non-aristocrats for their  coups. In places where propertyless men may have lacked citizenship or at least felt  substantially disenfranchised in the political life of the city-state, tyrants perhaps  won adherents by extending citizenship and other privileges to these groups. Tyrants  moreover sometimes preserved the existing laws and political  institutions2 of their city-states as part of their rule, thus  promoting social stability. 1 TRM OV 5.18, Hdt. 3.53.3 on Periander's dynasty, Hdt. 5.92B.1 ff on rise of Cypselus of Corinth, Thuc. 1.13 on rise of tyrannies, Thuc. 1.17 on his view of tyrants
2 Hdt. 1.59.6, Thuc.