MONARCHY, a large state governed by one man, or astate where the supreme power is lodged in the hands of a single person. The word comes from the Greek, μovagχης , one who governs alone; formed of μονος, solus, alone, and ά ζχη, imperium, government. Of the three forms of government, democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy, the last is the most powerful, all the sinews of government being knit together, and united in the hand of the prince; but then there is imminent danger of his employing that strength to improvident or oppressive purposes. As a democracy is best calculated to direct the end of a law, and an aristocracy to invent the means by which that end shall be obtained, a monarchy is most fitted for carrying those means into execution.

The most ancient monarchy was that of the Assyrians, which was founded soon after the Deluge. We usually reckon four grand or universal monarchies; the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman; though St Augustin makes them but two, namely, those of Babylon and Rome. Belus is placed at the head of the series of Assyrian kings who reigned at Babylon, and is by profane authors esteemed the founder of that empire; by some he was considered as the same person whom the Scriptures call Nimrod. The principal Assyrian kings after Belus were Ninus, who built Nineveh, and removed the seat of empire to it; Semiramis, who, disguising her sex, took possession of the kingdom instead of her son, and was killed and succeeded by her son Ninyas; and Sardanapalus, the last of the Assyrian monarchs, and more effeminate than any woman. After his death the Assyrian empire was divided into three separate kingdoms, viz. the Median,’ Assyrian, and Babylonian. The first king of the Median kingdom was Arbaces; and this kingdom lasted till the time of Astyages, who was subdued and divested of his dominions by Cyrus.

In the time of Cyrus there arose a new and second monarchy called the Persian, which lasted upwards of 200 years from Cyrus, whose reign began in the year of the world 3468, to Darius Codomannus, who was conquered by Alexander, and the empire transferred to the Greeks in 3674. The first monarch was Cyrus, founder of the empire; the second, Cambyses the son of Cyrus; the third, Smerdis; the fourth, Darius the son of Hystaspis, who reigned 521 years before Christ; the fifth, Xerxes, who reigned 485 years before Christ; the sixth, Artaxerxes Longimanus, who reigned 464 years before Christ; the seventh, Xerxes the second; the eighth, Ochus or Darius, called Nothus, who reigned 424 years before Christ; the ninth, Artaxerxes Mnemon, 405 years before Christ; the tenth, Artaxerxes Ochus, 359 years before Christ; the eleventh, Arses, 338 years before Christ; the twelfth, Darius Codomannus, who was defeated by Alexander the Great, and deprived of his kingdom and life about 331 years before Christ. After his death, the dominion of Persia was transferred to the Greeks.

The third monarchy was the Grecian. As Alexander, when he died, did not declare who should succeed him, there started up as many kings as there were commanders. At first they governed the provinces, which were divided amongst them, under the title of viceroys; but when the family of Alexander the Great became extinct, they assumed the style and title of kings. Hence, in process of time, the whole empire of Alexander produced four distinct kingdoms. The first was the Macedonian, the kings of which, after Alexander, were Antipater, Cassander, Demetrius Poliorcetes, Seleucus Nicanor, Meleager, Antigonus Doson, Philip, and Perseus, under whom the Macedonian kingdom was reduced to the form of a Roman province. The second was the Asiatic kingdom, which, upon the death of Alexander, fell to Antigonus, comprehending the country now called Anatolia, together with some other regions beyond Mount Taurus. From this kingdom proceeded two lesser ones; that of Pergamus, whose last king, Attalus, appointed the Roman people to be his heir; and Pontus, reduced by the Romans into the form of a province, when they had subdued the last king, Mithridates. The third was the Syrian, of whose twenty-two kings the most celebrated were, Seleucus Nicanor, founder of the kingdom, Antiochus Deus, Antiochus the Great, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Tigranes, who was conquered by the Romans under Pompey, when Syria was reduced into the form of a Roman province. The fourth was the Egyptian, which was formed by the Greeks in Egypt, and flourished near 240 years, under twelve kings, the principal of whom were, Ptolemy Lagus, its founder; Ptolemy Philadelphus, founder of the Alexandrian library; and Queen Cleopatra, who was overcome by Augustus, in consequence of which Egypt was added to the dominion of the Romans.

The fourth monarchy was the Roman, which lasted 244 years, from the building of the city until the time when the royal power was abrogated. The kings of Rome were Romulus, its founder, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Aneus Martius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus, who was banished, and with whom terminated the regal power.

There seems in reality to be no necessity for making the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks, succeed to the whole power of the Assyrians, in order to multiply the number of the monarchies. It was the same empire still; and the several changes which happened in it did not constitute different monarchies. Thus the Roman empire was [7:15:382]successively governed by princes of different nations, yet without any new monarchy being thereby formed. Rome, therefore, may be said to have immediately succeeded to Babylon in the empire of the world.

Fifth- Monarchy Men, in the ecclesiastical history of England, were a set of wrong-headed and turbulent enthusiasts, who arose in the time of Cromwell, and expected Christ’s sudden appearance upon earth to establish a new kingdom; in consequence of which illusion, they aimed at the subversion of all human government.