Hierarchy classification:

1. top of the aat hierarchies
2. Agents Facet
3. People (hierarchy name)
4. people (agents)
5. [people by occupation]
6. [people in administration and government]
7. rulers (people)

Anotations

Scope note:

Rulers who exercise power oppressively, cruelly, or unjustly. Examples include in ancient Greece and Sicily, where tyrants usurped power from the legal authorities or inherited such power, but often with popular support. In modern contexts, examples include rulers who hold supreme political power and exercise it oppressively. For non-hereditary rulers who exercise absolute power over the government of a nation, whether or not cruelly or unjustly, see "dictators."