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Essay on ancient democracy
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Roman Republic versus Greek Democracy
The Greek Democracy was very simple on how they changed over time to fit the people. The governments from the two empires were design for the people. Though the Roman government was based off of the Greek Democracy they had more additions to the government than the Greek did. The formation of the Roman republican government influenced directly by the ideology of a Greek democracy because of the similar style in the power to the people such as elections, people participating in the government, and the citizens’ rights.
Elections are one of the major things that transferred from the Greek democracy to the Roman republicans. In the Roman republic the people hold the power to elect their representation in the government. The Roman way of giving power to the people was slightly different in the way they were adapting to the same democracy in Greece. The Greece had a more direct approach when giving people the power in the government. Instead of elections’ they actually let the people attend a council of 500 people which means 50 people from each tribes. Their government was more direct than the Roman republican government. Another difference was that the Greece democracy gave more power to their
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people than the Romans did. The Greece let the people participate in trails of the jury to determine if the person was guilty or not. The Romans did the same as before they have a person elected for positions for consul. A consul is a person who was responsible for war, justice, and finance. The people had their power in elections, but the Greece had a direct power to the people. Participations in government are where we draw a thin line between Roman republican and the Greek democracy.
The Roman republican has people participating in the government only through their elections. The governments offer spots to the people such as the senate, consuls, and the assemblies. The Greek democracy had people participating in the government through the Council of 500 where people come to set the agenda for the assembly, and the people courts. Only representation is the only way you can participate in the Roman republican government. Greece democracy did effect the Roman republican government for participations for the people but the Roman changed a little bit to representations in governments other than the
assembly. Citizens’ rights were very similar between the two governments. They both had the male as the more in power than the women. Male citizens had rights in the government, while the women job was household chores and take caring of the children. Later on, the women in the Roman Empire gained more freedom but not in the governments. Caesar did help made more people have more citizenship. Women in Greece had a secluded lifestyle, while the men had more freedom. The education system on both side had a good education for both the girls and boys. Though the Roman government opens spots for the common people the Greeks didn’t and this is one of the differences in the governments. The Roman republican government had more additions to the government compared to the democratic government of Ancient Greece. The influence on the Roman republican government was affected by the elections, people participating in the government, and the citizens’ rights. The influence of Greece democracy government on the Roman republican government wasn’t exactly the same. The Romans ended up giving more rights to the common people and the women than the Greeks did. The democratic government of the Greeks helped create the elections, and male citizens had the say in government. In the end, those were the only extent that the Greece was able to influence in making the Republican government.
In document E and F you learn that Athens follows this basic idea, while Rome strays from it. Document E states that Athens allows for all of its citizens to participate and hold a seat in its assembly. One the other hand, Document F explains that Roman Senate did not allow the public to attend, and the seats were inherited, making the entire system corrupt. Athens citizens were more involved in the government than Rome’s citizens, making Athens government more effective for everyone to be able to voice their
Greece and Rome’s governments included many democratic aspects that continue to be used in modern
By the fourth century B.C.E. there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Greece was not a single political entity it was a collection of about 1500 separate poleis or cities scattered around the Mediterranean and black sea shores. The cities that were not democracies were either oligarchies or monarchies (often times called tyrannies). Of the democracies, the oldest, the most stable, the most long-lived, and the most radical, was Athens.
The Roman Republic was an extraordinary civilization with an exceptionally complex political system that still impact governments today. The Roman Republic comprised of three sections. The most astounding being the Consul that was made up of two male individuals who are chosen every year. Furthermore, there was the Senate made up of elder statesmen that exhorted the Consul and lastly there was the Assemblies where people voted by groups on issues. A couple of their strengths of the political system was its citizen association, in spite of the fact that plebeians really didn't have much power. Another strength of the political system was that it was administered and in view of well spelt out laws to maintain a strategic distance from cases of dictatorship.
The Ancient Greeks were the first to put the power of a nation in the hands of the average citizen, they created the idea of the democratic government, practiced as a direct democracy. Voting, political assembly, and official citizenship are all concepts that can be traced back to Classical Grecian ideas .The Romans developed the concept of the representative democracy .This was best exemplified by the Roman Senate. The upper house of the US Congress is the Senate in ode to this ancient ideal. Although American Democracy is defined as a Representative Democracy, that is to say citizens elect those who make decisions, they owe a great deal to Greek ideas and concepts.
There is a fundamental difference between a democracy and a republic as it concerned the political entitlement of the citizenry. The citizens of a republic do not participate directly with governmental affairs. The citizens of a republic can however have a say in who does participate. The Roman republic has two prefect systems to prevent dictatorship which didn’t work.
Eventually, however, the Greek government became democratic. Rome, on the other hand, was a republic that elected its officials, and common citizens were not allowed as many opportunities as Athenians to participate in matters of the state. While Greece had branches of government to represent citizens, Rome implemented branches of government to represent different components of society. For example, Rome had authorities to supervise public works projects, administer justice, supervise recreational activities and conduct a census (text). Rome, who, like Greece, was a polytheistic society, also appointed a priest for life who was in charge of the entire state's religion.
They were originally established with the intent to give most of the power to the people. The power to vote for the leaders and settle issues professionally. Both forms of governments had senates, which represented the people and helped the nations succeed, by not allowing one person to gain complete power like a king or emperor would. They both did not want kings ruling the entire kingdom, so they gave the people more power by allowing them a voice with some form of voting. Power was also given to representatives and officials in the republic and democracy. The Athenians were able to vote for legislation and bills, while the Romans elected officials to vote on the people’s behalf. The Roman’s established an aristocratic republic controlled by only wealthy people, so the power was not shared equally in society. On the contrary the Athenians allowed anyone to be in government as long as they were a male citizen. A form of the executive branch emerged from both systems; Rome had two consuls elected by council and Athens had a council of five hundred men. They both had different regulations on who was able to be a citizen. The Athenians only granted citizenship to native born males, while the Romans gave half citizenship to Italians allowing them to have full rights, but were not able to
Sparta and Athens both had Oligarchies between the 7th century B.C and 5th century B.C. Until Cleisthenes reformed Athens and installed a new council of 500, that proposed laws that the assembly would vote on. Spartan oligarchy had a council of elders that consisted of two kings and 28 men over the age of 60 who had served in the Spartan military. This differed from a democracy because the assembly did not make laws, but just passed them. There was also no open debate or discussion. These governments and political institutions although we're both expressions of hellenic culture, manifested because of the virtues and cultures of Athens and Sparta as well as their history. Athens became a democracy because of its openness to new ideas and great education, as well as the enslavement of the Athenian farmers via debt. In the Age of Pericles, Athens flourished culturally and politically. They had a direct democracy and had seen the growth of the arts and intellect divisions. When the
The differences between the governments in Rome and Carthage are as follows: Type of Government Rome is a republic, and runs the republican type of government in which citizens can vote and elect those representatives who make laws for them. Carthage is an aristocracy, and runs the aristocratic type of government. Government Structure Rome: The government of Rome is controlled by two groups, and structured as follows: The Patricians The Senate: This is the highest body of government in Rome which is comprised of three hundred (300) upper class aristocrats and wealthy landowners.
The Roman Republic was truly democratic since the Roman government was split into three groups, the people had the greatest salient role. The people controlled everything, sure the magistrates are the ones to lead the military and are the supreme masters of the government, but the people are the ones to determine when to use these military forces since they were the ones to say if they are in fact going to war or not. While the senate’s job is to propose
The government of Ancient Rome, the Roman Republic, has influenced American government. The Roman Republic influenced the laws, republican form of government, branches of government, and balance of power. However, the Republic was different from American government. For instance, the Romans had two leaders as consuls of the empire. What was taken from Rome to America, was the idea of a ruling senate that controlled what laws were passed. Consuls had supreme power in both civil and military matters. In the city of Rome, the consuls were the head of the Roman government. They would be the head of the senate and the assemblies. The republic was a large democratic system structured under the rule that no one could hold too much power. Also, people's assemblies were elected by the people to represent the lower classes of Rome. The military was controlled by elected officials. Their terms only lasted for one year! However, it was not a perfect democracy. The Romans did not have a sense of human rights. The city held m...
The term democracy comes from the Greek language and means "rule by the people."(Democracy Building 2012) The democracy in Athens represents the events leading up to modern day democracies. Like our modern democracy, the Athenian democracy was created as a reaction to a concentration and abuse of power by the rulers. Philosophers defined the essential elements of democracy as a separation of powers, basic civil rights, human rights, religious liberty and separation of church and state. The most current definition of a democracy is defined as a “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”(Dictionary.com). The American democracy was greatly influenced by the Athenian democracy. The Founding Fathers of the American democracy borrowed ideas from the Athenian way of governing. Presently, Americans live in a democracy that is much different than that the Athenian democracy, and what the Founding Fathers of the American Democracy envisioned. Although there are some commonalities between Athens and what our Founding Fathers intended, there are major differences as well. Differences between the modern American democracy the Athenian democracy and what the Founding Fathers envisioned are size of the democracies, the eligibility of a citizen to participate in the democracy and how a citizen participated.
The political system of both Roman empires was based on virtue and the republic was founded with the Senate as the center. The magistrates were elected annually and also had control of the armies. The key to Roman superiority was the patriotism and training and drills.
Ancient Greece was made up of individual city states, known as a Polis, which relied heavily on citizen participation in politics. The idea of self-rule was an entirely new way of governing. Citizenship was unheard of at the time. Although still considered citizens not everybody was allowed to participate. In Athens only adult males who had military training were allowed to vote. The majority of the population, namely slaves, children, metics (free noncitizens) and women were excluded from participation in politics. “[Metics] and women were not citizens and did not enjoy any of the privileges of citizenship.”(Sayre, 137) Athenian citizens had to be descended from citizens, excluding the children of Athenian men and foreign women. Individuals could be granted citizenship in to Athens by the assembly this was usually as a reward for some service to the state. Ancient Greece paved the way for the representative democratic style of government that is practiced by many countries today. Much like how voting rights started out in America, originally only the wealthy land owners were allowed to vote and call themselves citizens, but soon all men were allowed to have a vote and a voice in their states politics. Essentially the Greeks were the first to introduce citizen rights and freedom similar to what’s seen today.