tyrant
Sign in to savethumb|King Jie of Xia holding a Ji polearm and sitting on two ladies. thumb|Killing No Murder, cover page, 18th century reprint of 17th century English pamphlet written to inspire and Tyrannicide|make righteous the act of assassinating Oliver Cromwell
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A tyrant is a ruler who holds absolute power and exercises it oppressively, often without legitimate authority or legal constraints. The concept matters historically because societies have grappled with how to respond to tyrannical rule, from philosophical justifications for resistance to questions about the limits of political power.
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Article
19 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Definition
- Greco-Roman culture
- Archaic tyrants
- Corinth
- Athens
- Sicilian tyrants
- Later tyrants
- Roman tyrants
- Greek political thought
- In the classics
- Enlightenment
- Lists of tyrants
- Methods of obtaining and retaining power
- Obtaining
- Retaining
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|King Jie of Xia holding a Ji polearm and sitting on two ladies. thumb|Killing No Murder, cover page, 18th century reprint of 17th century English pamphlet written to inspire and Tyrannicide|make righteous the act of assassinating Oliver Cromwell
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to repressive means. The original Greek term meant an absolute sovereign who came to power without constitutional right, yet the word had a neutral connotation during the Archaic and early Classical periods. However, Greek philosopher Plato saw tyrannos as a negative form of government, and on account of the decisive influence of philosophy on politics, deemed tyranny the "fourth and worst disorder of a state."