贵族

Today we will talk about a form of governance known as Aristocracy. What is Aristocracy? Aristocracy, translated from Greek, means "Aristo" - the most distinguished, noblest descent; "Kratos" - power, state, influence. In other words, it is a form of government where all the power belongs to the nobility. The features of this form of governance can be seen in some ancient city-states (Ancient Rome, Sparta, etc.) and some medieval republics in Europe. It is opposed to early democracy, where state power is recognized as belonging to the entire society or the majority of citizens. The idea underlying this form of governance is that only the chosen ones should rule the state, that is, those with great intellect, any talented skills, or something else, or at least the person should be of noble birth - in other words, an Aristocrat. Apart from state forms, the highest aristocratic classes are also called Aristocrats. Membership in them may be determined by birth and inheritance of certain real estate (hereditary aristocracy, the nobility in a narrow sense). In other words, if you are of aristocratic descent, then after the death of the most senior aristocrat, you become the inheritor of all of it if you have no competitors in the family (I mean elder brothers, sisters, or evil stepmothers), and all roads are open to you that you desire to take. At its time, this form of governance was good, but soon people considered it too discriminating against the rights of other people in governing the state and abolished it. Also, at its time, it was fashionable to unite other aristocrats with others (I mean when two clans unite to expand their territories and wealth, often marrying their daughters and sons with those of other clans). As you can see, this form of governance has not come down to us today, but I think it is for the better...