Tyrannicide

For the ships, see Massachusetts ship Tyrannicide (1776) and French ship Tyrannicide (1793).
Look up tyrannicide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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The tyrant Hipparchus of Athens (center) is assassinated by Harmodius and Aristogeiton (illustration from a Greek vase).

Tyrannicide or tyrannomachia is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good,[1] and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects.[2] Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in Classical Athens. Often, the term "tyrant" was a justification for political murders by rivals, but in some exceptional cases students of Platonic philosophy risked their lives against tyrants. The killing of Clearchus of Heraclea in 353 BC by a cohort led by his own court philosopher is considered a sincere tyrannicide. A person who carries out a tyrannicide is also called a "tyrannicide".[3]

The term originally denoted the action of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, who are often called the Tyrannicides, in killing Hipparchus of Athens in 514 BC.[4] In modern terms, carrying out a tyrannicide, as in taking life of another person, is a criminal act, and lawbreakers are liable to police arrest and trial by a court.

  1. ^ Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Tyrannicide." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Thomas Zemanek. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0001.682. Originally published as "Tyrannicide" in the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 16:785 (Paris, 1765).
  2. ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tyrannicide" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  3. ^ "Tyrannicide". Britannica. the killer or would-be killer of a tyrant
  4. ^ Webb, E. Kent (October 18, 1997). "The Athenian Tyrannicides: Icons of a Democratic Society". University of Washington. Archived from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2008-10-30. [dead link]