Lycurgus turned Sparta from a city ruled by an aristocratic elite into a far broader oligarchy dedicated solely to warfare. By 500 BC it had conquered almost all of the surrounding territory and ...

Now some say democracy in the US could be giving way to something else entirely: an oligarchy. That’s an alarm former president Joe Biden sounded in his farewell address. Addressing the nation as ...

In reality Isagoras ruled as the head of an oligarchy of three hundred noblemen, who in turn relied upon the military backing of Sparta. Under instructions from the Spartan king, Cleomenes ...