Sōphrōn Eunomia: Why It (Supposedly) Paid to Belong to an Oligarchic Community in Classical Greece

Recent work has suggested that Classical Greek oligarchies were authoritarian regimes that did not bother trying to appeal to the “hearts and minds” of their subjects. This chapter explores two areas through which oligarchs may have attempted to legitimize their rule, both having to do with the polis’ *archai *or offices. Examining Aristotle’s criticism of democratic approaches to the *archai *in the Politics, we see that non-democratic regimes, by empowering officials to make binding, unappealable decisions, claimed that they better upheld the rule of law. Meanwhile, in the military sphere, oligarchs argued that strong executive magistrates led to better army discipline and therefore better security for the city. Oligarchs thus gave members of the *dēmos *a reason to share in the constitution.