Dynasteia
(δυναστεία; dynasteía, cf. also δυνάστης; dynástēs, ‘Ruler’). Derived from δύνασθαι; dýnasthai, ‘to be capable’, ‘to be able’; ‘to have influence’, ‘to be wealthy’ [1. 116]. Dynasteia was primarily the rule ( rulership) of a small, influential group, within which high offices were inherited. Two basic levels of meaning are to be distinguished for dynasteia: in the first of them, its character as the term for a group of rulers or an individual ruler expresses more the original sense of the word; in the second the inheritance of leading positions as an impetus for continuity complements that sense in a defining way (cf. the dynasties of the kingdoms of ancient Egypt).
There was an early example of the second kind in Thessaly, whose dynasteia was characterized by established right and patriarchal power exercised over families living in dispersed localities, as well as by the lack of centralized institutions (e.g. an advisory assembly and laws) (Pl. Leg. 680b). Aristotle was later to distinguish the fourth form of oligarchy, corresponding to democracy in its lawlessness, as dynasteia (Aristot. Pol. 1293a 30-34). Whereas in the third form sons took up their fathers' place by law (Aristot. Pol. 1293a 26-30), in the fourth the process of inheritance was accompanied by the suspension of political institutions and laws: in their place, a few powerful individuals held sway, exercising great influence with their wealth, and passing on their positions of power to their sons. Its arbitrariness brought dynasteia close to tyrannis (Aristot. Pol. 1292b 5-10. In Mytilene and Corinth dynasteia was an early form of tyrannis: Dem. Or. 40,37; Diod. Sic. 7,9,2-6). A precondition for the emergence of dynasteia was the enfeeblement of institutional order by the formation of a small group within the oligarchy, who shared and inherited offices among themselves (in Elis, this form of government brought rebellion and anarchy; cf. Aristot. Pol. 1306a 10-20). It is in this context that the Thebans are to be understood, when they attempt to justify their pro-Persian stance by asserting that a group of dynasts, intent solely on increasing their personal power, had taken over the government (Thuc. 3,62). In reaction to the coup in Athens in 411 BC, Andocides remarked that democracy had turned into dynasteia (And. 2,27). Discussing contemporary events, dynasteia was contrasted with demokratia ( Isonomia in Plato Polit. 291c-d), but with oligarchia in texts orientated towards the past; in any case, it was never one of the canonic forms of constitution.
Cassius Dio uses the term dynasteia in the original sense of the word. Observing the concentration of power in Rome in the hands of particular private individuals who, owing to their wealth, did not feel themselves bound by laws, he describes the period between 133 and 127 BC as dynasteia (Cass. Dio 52,1); in Rome too, he claims, disruption of the aristocratic order paved the way for dynasteia. A striving for dynasteia was esp. imputed to Scipio Africanus, the Gracchi in their exceptional status as people's tribunes, and to other members of the elite up to and including Augustus. In the Roman Imperial period the selection of a successor occurred not only by the dynastic principle, but also ─ according to contemporary propaganda ─ by the criterium of virtus, which became the basis for the legitimation of rule, alongside inheritance.
Bibliography
1 Frisk.
P. Barceló, Basileia, Monarchia, Tyrannis, 1993
H. Berve, Die Tyrannis bei den Griechen, 1967, Index s.v. D.
J. Martin, D., in: R. Koselleck (ed.), Histor. Semantik der Begriffsgeschichte, 1978, 228-241
M. Stahl, Aristokraten und Tyrannen im archa. Athen, 1987
L. Whibley, Greek Oligarchs, 1967, 124-126.