θεοκρατία

From θεο- (theo-, “god, deity”) +‎ -κρατία (-kratía, “power, rule”) from θεός and κρᾰτέω.

Coined in the 1st century CE by Josephus (Against Apion 2.17) to denote the idealistic political system of a Jewish state ordained by Moses, as contrasted with democracy, oligarchy and monarchy.

θεοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ • (theokrătĭ́ā) f (genitive θεοκρατῐ́ᾱς); first declension (Koine)

1. (politics, religion) theocracy
   • 37 CE – 100 CE, Josephus, Against Apion 2.17:

     οἱ μὲν γὰρ μοναρχίαις, οἱ δὲ ταῖς ὀλίγων δυναστείαις, ἄλλοι δὲ τοῖς πλήθεσιν ἐπέτρεψαν τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν πολιτευμάτων. ὁ δ’ ἡμέτερος νομοθέτης εἰς μὲν τούτων οὐδοτιοῦν ἀπεῖδεν, ὡς δ’ ἄν τις εἴποι βιασάμενος τὸν λόγον θεοκρατίαν ἀπέδειξε τὸ πολίτευμα θεῷ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸ κράτος ἀναθείς.

     hoi mèn gàr monarkhíais, hoi dè taîs olígōn dunasteíais, álloi dè toîs plḗthesin epétrepsan tḕn exousían tôn politeumátōn. ho d’ hēméteros nomothétēs eis mèn toútōn oudotioûn apeîden, hōs d’ án tis eípoi biasámenos tòn lógon theokratían apédeixe tò políteuma theōî tḕn arkhḕn kaì tò krátos anatheís.

     • 1895 translation by William Whiston

       Some legislators have permitted their governments to be under monarchies, others put them under oligarchies, and others under a republican form; but our legislator had no regard to any of these forms, but he ordained our government to be what, by a strained expression, may be termed a Theocracy, by ascribing the authority and the power to God. (@perseus.tuftus.edu)

• θεοκρᾱσῐ́ᾱ f (theokrāsĭ́ā, “mingling with god”)
• θεόκρῐτος m (theókrĭtos, “judge of gods, epithet for Paris”)
• and see θεο- and-κρατία

• → Danish: teokrati
• → Dutch: theocratie
• → English: theocracy
• → French: théocratie
• → German: Theokratie
• Greek: θεοκρατία (theokratía)
• → Italian: teocrazia
• → Norwegian Bokmål: teokrati
• → Portuguese: teocracia
• → Romanian: teocrație
• → Spanish: teocracia
• → Swedish: teokrati

• “θεοκρατία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• θεοκρατία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette

From Hellenistic Koine Greek θεοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (theokrătĭ́ā). Morphologically from θεο- (“god”) +‎ -κρατία (“holding power, ruling”).

• IPA^(key): /θe.o.kraˈti.a/
• Hyphenation: θε‧ο‧κρα‧τί‧α

θεοκρατία • (theokratía) f (plural θεοκρατίας)

1. (politics, religion) theocracy

   Στην αρχαία Αίγυπτο επικρατούσε θεοκρατία.

   Stin archaía Aígypto epikratoúse theokratía.

   Theocracy was dominant in Ancient Aegypt.

• θεοκρατικός (theokratikós, “theocratic”)

• see: θεο- and -κρατία