» Thu May 03, 2012 9:04 pm
The Despot -
"Despotism is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_of_government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. That entity may be an individual, as in an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocracy, or it may be a group,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despotism#cite_note-0 as in an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy. The word despotism means to "rule in the fashion of a despot" and does not necessarily require a singular "despot", an individual.
Despot comes from the Greek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despotes, which roughly means "master" or "one with power", and it has been used to translate a wide variety of titles and positions. It was used to describe the unlimited power and authority of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh of Egypt, employed in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine court as a title of nobility, used by the rulers of Byzantine vassal states, and adopted as a title of the Byzantine Emperors. Thus, despot is found to have different meanings and interpretations at various times in history and can not be described by a single definition. This is similar to the other Greek titles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basileus and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autokrator, which, along with despot, have been used at various times to describe everything from a local chieftain to a simple ruler, king or emperor."