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The history of the Roman governments
Democracy in ancient rome
The history of the Roman governments
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Rome socially, economically, and politically is unbalanced and unequal which will cause the two Roman classes to be separated and not unified as a whole. For example, one crucial component of Roman politics is who had the political power in the government setting. The political power of a government is very important to the citizens because it affects all aspects of every single person’s life. Also politics is how a Roman citizen is able to voice their thoughts, opinions, and problems if not given proper recognition it could be fatal to the government. According to ROME AS A WORLD POWER, “The patricians and plebeians had united in their efforts to drive out the kings; but when the struggle against the kingship was ended, the chief fruits of …show more content…
Having this toxic leadership will impact the citizens lives causing them to think that one class is better than the other even though both classes defeated the enemy together. When the Patricians claim the accomplishment as their own it is a sign of how the Plebeians will be treated because they aren’t being recognized for helping in any way, shape, or form. This shift in accountability in who defeated the enemy is a foresight into the future of Rome and it’s government system and treatment. According to ROME AS A WORLD POWER, “Rome became a republic, but it was an aristocratic, and not a democratic republic; that is, the chief power rested not in the whole people, but in a particular class,” (Unknown 3). This shows how the Roman government was not ruled by the people but by a specific class of individuals. These individuals had great influence on all political decisions instead of the citizens of Rome all being allowed to elect representatives for themselves. Injustice like this impacts many different aspects of daily life causing the unfortunate to have an even worse life since they don’t have a political voice to elaborate on their …show more content…
Socially every civilization has an undermined class and Rome was like no other. It was divided between two classes Patricians and Plebeians the more successfully wealthy of the two classes were the Patricians and the Plebeians were the deprived citizens. According to ROME AS A WORLD POWER, “Accordingly, when they were serving in the army, their little farms were neglected, or ravaged by the enemy, their families were driven away, and their property was destroyed,” (Unknown 3).This shows social imbalance because the Plebeians were conquering new land that Patricians ordered them to fight for and while the Plebeians are fighting their belongings are being disregarded by the Patricians. An outcome of this is when the Plebeians come home their farms the only income they have is gone, family is gone, property gone, all of it has been taken away from them since they didn’t have a high enough social place in the hierarchy to be considered worth protecting. The effects of this will cause even more social imbalance because not caring for the people who fight the wars shows the mistreatment of the different social classes and how one class is being held higher than the other. Being held higher than another class is how rebellions and feuds of any kind originate from which is why the inequality in Patrician and Plebeian life will lead to Rome’s demise. According to ROME AS A WORLD POWER, “The
From ages past, the actions of conquerors, kings and tyrants had brought the Roman Republic to a stance that opposed any idea of a singular leader, of a single man that held total power over the entirety of the state. Their rejection of the various ruthless Etruscan rulers that had previously dictated them brought the Republic to existence in 509 BC , and as a republic their prominence throughout the provinces of the world exponentially expanded. Throughout these years, the traditions of the Romans changed to varying degrees, most noticeably as a result of the cultural influence that its subject nations had upon the republic, as well as the ever-changing nature of Roman society in relation to then-current events. However, it was not until the rise of Augustus, the first of a long line of succeeding emperors, that many core aspects of the Republic were greatly changed. These were collectively known as the “Augustan Reforms”, and consisted of largely a variety of revisions to the social, religious, political, legal and administrative aspects of the republic’s infrastructure. Through Augustus, who revelled in the old traditional ways of the past, the immoral, unrestraint society that Rome was gradually falling to being was converted to a society where infidelities and corruption was harshly looked upon and judged. The Roman historian Suetonius states, “He corrected many ill practices, which, to the detriment of the public, had either survived the licentious habits of the late civil wars, or else originated in the long peace” . Through Augustus and his reforms, the Republic was transformed into an Empire, and through this transformation, Rome experienced one of its greatest and stabl...
The year is 476 A.D. and the Roman Empire has collapsed after being overthrown by barbarians. Looking back, the causes of Rome’s decline can be separated into four categories, social, economic, military, and political. The social aspects of Rome’s fall are the rise of christianity and civil wars. The rise of christianity displaced Rome’s polytheistic roots which viewed the emperor as having a godly status. Pope and church leaders took an increased role in political affairs which further complicated governance. Civil wars also deteriorated the empire. More than 20 men took the throne in only 75 years and the empire was thrust into chaos. The economic aspects of Rome’s fall were high taxes from the government and labor deficit. The roman empire
The Roman Republic was a political system which was stamped and swayed, but it was not by parties and programmes which we are so familiar with which is a modern and parliamentary variety. And it was not swayed even by the powerful opposition between Senate and People, Optimates and Populares, nobiles and novi homines. The main locomotive force of politics was the strife for power, wealth and glory. (ref: Syme, Ronald 1960 The Roman Revolution, Oxford University Press) [1]
There was a constant struggle between the plebeians and patricians as a result of grievances which resulted in enslavement and discord with the patricians. However they knew that Rome could not afford to do without the plebeians because of the constant warfare on the Italian peninsula. By the fifth century the plebeians won the right to form their own assembly and slowly gained legal equality. As a result of the plebeian revolt, around 450 B.C., The first Roman code of laws was written (called the Twelve Tablets). The plebeians received some protection against the unfair practices of the patricians. However, despite the many reforms, Rome...
...ion this all showed that style of governing and ruling an empire started a century long pattern of events that eventually lead to the fall and destruction of the old oligarchy led by the Senate. The combination of desire for personal gain and glory of a politician or general was what weakened the Roman customs and the Senate. This was a cycle among the Senate, to find themselves stuck in a problem and to find others to fix with of course military means but in turn make everything more corrupt with their disruptive practices such as Pompey and Julius Caesar. But they were not the only ones there were others who were to blame for causing such decay and corruption such as Marius, Sulla, Gaius and Tiberius Gracchus. They were the ones who kept this corruption cycle going and it was Augustus Caesar who finally broke the cycle and brought stability and order back to Rome.
...picture, that on the verge of its collapse the Roman Republic, was a society composed of internal flaws. The Republic namely submitted to its own internal divisions, on multiple levels, from the divisions inherent to any society based on a slave economy, to divisions within the proto-democracy of the Senate itself. Inequalities between the haves and the have nots, as well as inequalities and struggles for power and control on the very highest level of Roman society created a general instability of the Republic, thus making its collapse not a miraculous or shocking event, but almost something to the effect of the removal of an illusion. With the collapse of the Republic, the internal tensions and conflict that constituted Roman life on multiple levels merely finalized themselves, taking a new political form that followed the same path as previous the political form.
The Roman Republic had an upstanding infrastructure, a stable social system, and a balanced constitution that solidified Rome’s greatness. Regardless of its achievements, however, the Roman Republic owes much of its success to classical Greek cultures. These cultures, in conjunction with the fundamental values of Roman society, certified Rome as one of the most significant powers the world has ever seen.
Over the span of five-hundred years, the Roman Republic grew to be the most dominant force in the early Western world. As the Republic continued to grow around the year 47 B.C it began to go through some changes with the rise of Julius Caesar and the degeneration of the first triumvirate. Caesar sought to bring Rome to an even greater glory but many in the Senate believed that he had abused his power, viewing his rule more as a dictatorship. The Senate desired that Rome continued to run as a republic. Though Rome continued to be glorified, the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus finally converted Rome to an Empire after many years of civil war. Examining a few selections from a few ancient authors, insight is provided as to how the republic fell and what the result was because of this.
There were several strengths of the Roman Empire which enabled it to survive for more than four hundred years. These strengths included a strong foundation, having been built off of the Roman Republic; the standardization across the empire of many aspects of life, such as language, law, and especially the extension of citizenship, which made the empire more cohesive and easier to rule; and strong leaders, who were able to utilize the manipulation of the upper class and Senate, and the management of the military.
The army in Rome was made up of Plebeians, they were in the frontier to fight for their country, but they didn’t get an equal or fair treatment. Patricians on the other hand were enjoyed the fruits of success by the whole Romans. Rome was not a democratic Rome, but an aristocratic Rome at that time. The unfairness between the Patricians and Plebeians made a conflict.
Rome’s government was quite unstable due to the amount of dead rulers they had especially in a fifty year time span which led to frequent leadership changes, and eventually meant an empire that was constantly out of control. With these things listed some may think okay well we understand Rome fell because too many rulers die but a majority of them didn't just die they were assassinated. In Document A it showed that thirteen out of the twenty-two rulers over a course of fifty years were assassinated. The fact that so many were hated enough to be killed is definitely an eye opener. Either way with the amount of deaths in that fifty years shows how frequent the change of leadership was for Rome. With the constant change it had a ripple effect on the army(second highest power of Rome)as well.
Rome became a powerful empire engulfing much of Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia and what seemed like this great entity called the Romans were always in the search of more territory and land to conquer and assimilate into their ever growing vast empire. However, this was not always the case, before Rome became one of the greatest empires in all of history, Rome was a republic. They were government consisted of a Senate who much like our country today represented certain classes of the citizens of the Republic. During the growth and rise of the Roman republic conquering neighboring territories and competing for land grabs was not Romans primary objectives. Romans believed in the well being and wealth of Rome, and if that meant the total destruction of a potential adversary, then as history will show that is unfortunately to the detriment of the adversary what happened.
The nature of government and political culture in ancient Roman society was similarly complicated as our our political infrastructure in modern day Western civilization. In addition, it had its own unique characteristics rendering it a mechanism of social ideal; one where the population was provided for, and at the same time ruled by an upper lass in the electorate.
The Roman Republic began approximately around 509 B.C. when the nobles drove the King and his family out of Rome. This monumental incident helped shape the start to the transformation of the monarchy into a republican governmental system. This is known to have begun by that of the Roman nobles trying to hold their power that they had gained. The Republic was “[a] city-state [which] was the foundation of Greek society in the Hellenic Age; in the Hellenistic Age, Greek cities became subordinate to kingdoms, larder political units ruled by autocratic monarchs” (Perry 105)
Ultimately, the Roman Republic’s downfall lay in its lack of major wars or other crises, which led to a void of honor and leadership. War united all of Rome’s people, and provided the challenge to its leaders to develop honor and leadership by their causes and actions. The lack of war allowed the Roman Republic to stagnate and become self-indulgent. By the end of the Punic Wars, which combined these elements, Rome was sure to fail. Without a common thread uniting its society, the Roman Republic unraveled because it had nothing left holding it together.