Monarchy
What is a monarchy?
A government ruled by one person, usually a king or queen, with power passed down through family.
What is an oligarchy?
A government controlled by a small group of wealthy or powerful people.
What is a tyranny in Ancient Greek terms?
A government where one person seizes power by force and rules alone (not necessarily always cruel at first).
What is democracy?
A government where citizens have power and vote on decisions.
What two big geographic features shaped Greek life according to the unit?
Mountains and seas.
During which approximate years did monarchies dominate early Greek government according to the timeline?
Around 2000–800 BCE.
According to the lesson, what was a common basis for power in an oligarchy?
Wealth or noble status.
Around what period did tyrannies become common in Greece (per the timeline)?
Around 600–500 BCE.
Around when did democracy begin to develop in Greece?
Around 500 BCE.
Name two results of Greece’s rocky land and limited farmland.
Not enough food for everyone; Greeks started colonies and depended on trade.
Give one reason why early Greek city-states might have been ruled by monarchs (think about security or organization).
A single ruler could provide quick decisions in war, lead religious rites, and organize resources for defense.
Why might mountainous geography contribute to the development of oligarchies in some city-states?
Small, isolated settlements could be dominated by a few wealthy landowners who controlled local resources.
Explain why some citizens might support a tyrant at first.
Tyrants sometimes promised reforms, protection, or help against elite landowners and could stabilize chaos.
In Athens’ democracy, who had the right to participate and who was excluded?
Free adult male citizens could participate; women, slaves, and many foreigners were excluded.
How did geography lead to the development of independent city-states (polis)?
Mountains and distance separated communities so each city and surrounding lands developed its own independent government.
Explain how succession worked in a monarchy and one problem that could arise from that system.
Power usually passed to a king’s child/relative; problems included weak or contested heirs causing instability.
Provide one argument someone might use to say oligarchy is unfair.
Power is held by a few, so most people have little say and decisions may favor the rich.
Give one reason tyrannies often didn’t last and what usually followed them.
Tyrants could lose support due to harsh rule or resistance; their fall often led to experiments with democracy or other reforms.
Give one way Athenian democracy was different from modern representative democracy (think direct vs. representative).
Athens used direct participation by citizens in many decisions rather than electing representatives to make all decisions.
List three goods Greeks exported and three goods they imported. (Traded in and traded away)
Exported: olive oil, wine, pottery. Imported: grain, metals, wood.
Compare monarchy to later Greek systems: name one way monarchy limited ordinary citizens’ power and one consequence that pushed Greeks toward other systems.
Ordinary citizens had little or no voice in decision-making; dissatisfaction and the desire for fairness led to experiments with oligarchy, tyranny, and eventually democracy.
Describe a social or economic condition that could cause people to replace an oligarchy with another system (EX-(tyranny or democracy).
Economic inequality, unrest among the poor, or perceived corruption could lead to revolt or support for a new leader (tyrant) or reforms toward broader citizen power.
Compare tyranny and monarchy: how is a tyrant’s claim to power different from a monarch’s?
A tyrant typically seizes power by force or popular support without hereditary right; a monarch inherits power through lineage.
Explain one reason why some historians argue Athens was not “truly” democratic.
Large groups (women, slaves, non-citizen residents) were excluded from political power, limiting the scope of citizen participation.
Use the cause-and-effect chain from the unit to explain how geography ultimately contributed to diverse government systems in Greece.
Mountains and islands made travel difficult and separated people → limited farmland led to colonies and dependence on trade → independent poleis formed around local needs and elites → different social/economic conditions produced monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies, and eventually democracies as citizens pushed for more say.