Rome And Carthage Essay

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Valerie Garske

Briefly discuss how the governments of Rome and Carthage differed.
Carthage and Rome Governments

In the mid-200s, B.C., Rome and Carthage were wealthy, sophisticated, powerful civilizations and their governments were both republics ("Phoenician Civilization - New World Encyclopedia," n.d.). Originally, Rome and Carthage were governed by kingships, but they eventually moved away from monarchies and developed into aristocratic republics. Rome continued to adapt and developed into a democratic republic, while the Carthage aristocracy was not willing to change or share for that matter.
According to Morey, the two governments were similar in structure. Carthage had two chief magistrates that would equate to …show more content…

Carthage was an economic powerhouse with lucrative trade routes throughout the Mediterranean (Morey, 1901). The aristocracy controlled the trade and held the public offices. The aristocrats lived in palaces and were wealthy merchants. Tariffs and taxes were paid to the nobles and the aristocrats paid mercenaries to defend their interests. The Carthaginians would often end up in disputes with their mercenary army refusing to appropriately support the war effort (Mark, 2011). The greed of the Carthaginian Aristocracy resulted in disputes on wages and ultimately undermined the Carthaginian military.
Rome was a democratic Republic. Many of the soldiers were Roman Citizens and they shared in the spoils of war. The Roman Army depended on the loyalty and discipline of the army as well as the strategy of great generals. The Roman army had better support. They depended on the Roman Senate to provide the support and to supply the military.
The Roman republic integrated and assimilated her conquests and therefore knew how to develop loyalties and build trust. When things went bad for the Romans during battles with the Carthaginians and they often did, the Romans were resilient to say the least. The Roman military had support of the Senate and loyalty of the citizens and always found a way to learn from their mistakes and

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