1. Monarchy
"rule by one person," late 14c from Greek. monarkhia "absolute rule," literally: "ruling of one," comes from monos
"alone" + arkhein "to rule".
Meaning "a state ruled by monarchical government" 1
Mycenaeans originally established monarchies on the Peloponnesian peninsula around 1100 BCE. Each city-state was ruled by a king, the position of king was hereditary and the title was passed from father to son. The king would collect taxes from local villages and in return he would offer protection, however this exchange was rarely straightforward and the king’s men frequently had to resort to violence to extract the taxes. The king also expected loyalty from the villagers and that they would follow the laws of the kingdom.
Around 1200 BCE there was much fighting between kingdoms which eventually lead to the decline of the Mycenaean civilization and this was followed by the Dorian invasion of Greece which wiped out the remaining Mycenaean monarchies.
2.Oligarchy
from Gk. oligarkhia "government by the few," from oligoi "few, small, little" (of unknown origin) + arkhein "to rule" 2
Oligarchies rose up to power in ancient Greece around 1100-800 BCE when small groups of people began to share power. Usually these people were wealthy aristocrats who had wealth from their families, who may have been connected to an old monarchy. Overtime the makeup of the oligarchy changed and some on the wealthier members of the middle-class were able to attain some power. Oligarchies, as monarchies, needed the support of an army in order to maintain order. An oligarchy is similar to a monarchy in that the citizen had very few rights and no say in matters of the state. As time passed the power of the oligarchies weakened and slowly this system of political rule started to disappear, although while it disappeared from many parts of ancient Greece, it did continue in Sparta. An illustration of why oligarchies started to disappear can be seen in Athens. As a result of harsh leadership and food shortages the citizens became very dissatisfied with the system and revolted, demanding political change. In response powerful individuals hired armies and mercenaries to take control.
1
Source: Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/
2
Ibid
History  of  Civilization,  Semester  One                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1

3. Tyranny
"cruel or unjust use of power," from Greek. tyrannia "rule of a tyrant," from tyrannos "master"
Tyrant
In the exact sense, a tyrant is an individual who arrogates to himself the royal authority without having a right to it. This is how the Greeks understood the word 'tyrant': they applied it indifferently to good and bad princes whose authority was not legitimate.
[Rousseau, "The Social Contract"] 3
During the 600s BCE Tyrants rose to claim power. The Tyrants were able to take power by making promises to the middle-class and gaining their support. It is important to note that this change occurred as a result of increasing wealth, as people had more money and the size of the middle-class increased; they demanded more participation in the social and political processes. These tyrants, while assuming full control, often reformed the law, assisted the poor and opened up space for citizens and wealthy members of society to have a voice in the government. Some tyrants were good, productive and hardworking while many were harsh and greedy and very quickly overthrown by the people.
4. Democracy
From Greek. demokratia "popular government," from demos "common people," originally "district" + kratos "rule, strength"
Democracy implies that the man must take the responsibility for choosing his rulers and representatives, and for the maintenance of his own 'rights' against the possible and probable encroachments of the government which he has sanctioned to act for him in public matters. [Ezra Pound, "ABC of Economics," 1933] 4
It was around 500 BCE when democracy developed in Athens.
Athenian citizens were able to participate in the Assembly and have direct participation in the development of laws, foreign policy and in the evaluation of public officials. Athenian democracy is not like modern day representative democracy, it was a system of direct democracy where all citizens could participate and vote in the assembly. There was also the council of 500 which was more concerned with daily business. One of the key features of Athenian democracy is that each individual public official could not hold too much power. There was also a wartime authority which consisted of ten generals who were elected each year and could be re-elected if their performance please the citizens. The major limitation of
Athenian democracy was the definition of who exactly was a citizen.
Women, foreigners and slaves were not able to participate in the political processes as they were not considered citizens. So while it seems Athenian democracy was overarching there were sever restrictions that meant a large proportion of the population was excluded.
Pictures1: Mycenaean King
Picture 2: Ancient Greek Scene
Picture 3: Tyrant Periander, of Corinth
Picture 4: Cleisthenes – “the Father of democracy”
3
Quoted by Online Etymology Dictionary
4
ibid