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Canaletto: The Doges' Palace and Piazza San Marco, Venice
oil on canvas by Canaletto; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence
This may come as a shock to your average Magat, or Dogeling — whose knowledge of world history is as frail as their economic understanding — but a doge is historically nothing to do with government efficiency, and everything to do with statism and dictatorship.
No. surprise, right?
In Venice the office of doge (from Latin dux, “leader”) originated when the city was nominally subject to the Byzantine Empire and became permanent in the mid-8th century. According to tradition, the first doge was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, elected in 697.
From the 8th to the 12th century the doge’s power was extensive ... and became more and more powerful, with hereditary successions, conflicts and violent deaths. ... By the 15th century the office had assumed the character of prince subject to law.You can see why Magats in inappropriate leader-love with their leader would like the idea of a prince, subject to no law.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica:
doge, (Venetian Italian: “duke”), highest official of the republic of Venice for more than 1,000 years (from the 8th to the 18th century) and symbol of the sovereignty of the Venetian state. ...In Venice the office of doge (from Latin dux, “leader”) originated when the city was nominally subject to the Byzantine Empire and became permanent in the mid-8th century. According to tradition, the first doge was Paolo Lucio Anafesto, elected in 697.
From the 8th to the 12th century the doge’s power was extensive ... and became more and more powerful, with hereditary successions, conflicts and violent deaths. ... By the 15th century the office had assumed the character of prince subject to law.You can see why Magats in inappropriate leader-love with their leader would like the idea of a prince, subject to no law.
Maybe the rest of us could refer instead to the dog that is it really is.
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