9/14/25, 8:08 PM Timocracy - Wikipedia
Timocracy
A timocracy (from Greek τιμή timē, "honor, worth" and -κρατία -kratia, "rule")[1] in Aristotle's
Politics is a state where only property owners may participate in government. More advanced
forms of timocracy, where power derives entirely from wealth with no regard for social or civic
responsibility, may shift in their form and become a plutocracy where the wealthy rule.[2]
Ancient Greece
Solon introduced the ideas of timokratia as a graded oligarchy in his Solonian Constitution for
Athens in the early 6th century BC. His was the first known deliberately implemented form of
timocracy, allocating political rights and economic responsibility depending on membership of one
of four tiers of the population. Solon defined these tiers by measuring how many bushels of
produce each man could produce in a year, namely:
Pentacosiomedimnoi – "Men of the 500 bushel", those who produced 500 bushels of produce
per year, could serve as generals in the army
Hippeis – Knights, those who could equip themselves and one cavalry horse for war, valued at
300 bushels per year
Zeugitae – Tillers, owners of at least one pair of beasts of burden, valued at 200 bushels per
year, could serve as hoplites
Thetes – Manual laborers
N. G. L. Hammond supposes Solon instituted a graduated tax upon the upper classes, levied in a
ratio of [Link], with the lowest class of thetes paying nothing in taxes but remaining ineligible for
elected office.
Aristotle later wrote in his Nicomachean Ethics (Book 8, Chapter 10 ([Link]
[Link]#8.10)) about three "true political forms" for a state, each of which could appear in
corrupt form, becoming one of three negative forms. Aristotle describes timocracy in the sense of
rule by property-owners: it comprised one of his true political forms. Aristotelian timocracy
approximated to the constitution of Athens, although Athens exemplified the corrupted version of
this form, described as democracy.
Thirteen Colonies
In the early times of American independence only men who would hold enough property and
money (except in New Jersey, where women meeting the requirements were allowed as well) could
vote; there were also at times requirement of race:
Connecticut: an estate worth 40 shillings annually or £40 of personal property
Delaware: fifty acres of land (twelve under cultivation) or £40 of personal property
Georgia: fifty acres of land
Maryland: fifty acres of land and £40 personal property
Massachusetts Bay: an estate worth 40 shillings annually or £40 of personal property
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New Hampshire: £50 of personal property
New Jersey: one-hundred acres of land, or real estate or personal property £50
New York: £40 of personal property or ownership of land
North Carolina: fifty acres of land
Pennsylvania: fifty acres of land or £50 of personal property
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations: personal property worth £40 or yielding 50 shillings
annually
South Carolina: one-hundred acres of land on which taxes were paid; or a town house or lot
worth £60 on which taxes were paid; or payment of 10 shillings in taxes
Virginia: fifty acres of vacant land, twenty-fives acres of cultivated land, and a house twelve
feet by twelve feet; or a town lot and a house twelve feet by twelve
In Other Places
In the Uthiramerur inscription of the Chola dynasty, which lays down the rules for who could
become a member of the Sabha; one of the requirements for a nominee were to possess and reside
in a certain amount of land, which may be considered a form of timocracy. [3]
Timocracy, comparable values, and Plato's five regimes
In The Republic, Plato describes five regimes (of which four are unjust). Timocracy (Book VIII, 545
B - 550 B) is listed as the first "unjust" regime. Aristocracy degenerates into timocracy when, due
to miscalculation on the part of its governed class, the next generation of guardians and auxiliaries
includes persons of an inferior nature. A timocracy, in choosing its leaders, is "inclining rather to
the more high-spirited and simple-minded type, who are better suited for war".[4] The city-state of
Sparta provided Plato with a real-world model for this form of government. Modern observers
might describe Sparta as a totalitarian or one-party state, although the details we know of its
society come almost exclusively from Sparta's enemies. The idea of militarism-stratocracy
accurately reflects the fundamental values of Spartan society. The only one of Plato's five regimes
that he does deem fit to govern is aristocracy, the four other regimes (including Timocracy) are
unjust according to Plato. The unjust regimes in Plato's work refer to governing that lead to chaos
and ultimately corruption.[5]
See also
Anarcho-capitalism
Forty-shilling freeholders
Right-libertarianism
References
1. Harper, Douglas (November 2001). " "Timocracy" etymology" ([Link]
[Link]?term=timocracy). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
2. Padilla Gálvez, Jesús (2023). " "Towards a New Timocracy" " ([Link]
Synthesis Philosophica. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
3. [Link]
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4. Rep. 8.547e; Cahn, Steven M., Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy, Oxford University
Press, 2002. ISBN 0199791155
5. "The Five Stages of Government Aristocracy, Timocracy, Oligarchy, Democracy, Tyranny" (htt
p://[Link]/classes/philosophyS2/readings/plato/[Link]) (PDF).
[Link]. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
Bibliography
Jesús Padilla Gálvez, Towards a New Timocracy ([Link] Synthesis
Philosophica, 76, 2/2023, pp. 361–377. doi: 10.21464/sp38207.
Websters New World Dictionary of the American Language, 2nd College Edition, p. 1490
Retrieved from "[Link]
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