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 ...

Roosevelt, approached the idea of American oligarchy with a slightly more open ... could resemble the oligarchies of ancient Athens and Sparta more than they do the current government in ...

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 ...