With an in-depth exploration of rule by a single man and how this was seen as heroic activity, the book challenges orthodox views of ruling in the ancient world and breaks down traditional ideas about the relationship between so-called hereditary rule and tyranny. It looks at how a common heroic ideology among rulers was based upon excellence, or arete, and also surveys dynastic ruling, where rule was in some sense shared within the family or clan.

This book examines reasons why both personal and clan-based rule was particularly unstable and its core tension with the competitive nature of Greek society, so that the question of who had the most arete was an issue of debate both from within the ruling family and from other heroic aspirants. The book demonstrates that monarchy, which is generally thought to have disappeared before the end of the archaic period, remained a valid political option from the Early Iron Age through to the Hellenistic period.
The book detects a common ideological basis for their diverse regimes in claims to heroic heritage and values, and argues persuasively that monarchical but not absolutist modes of rule remained central to Greek political experience from Homer's Agamemnon to Aristotle's Alexander and beyond.

Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Basileia and tyrannis: Exploding myths
2 Arete and the right to rule
3 Ruling families
4 Rulers in the polis
5 Epilogue: Athens, ruling and arete
Bibliography
Index

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