Athens Vs Rome Dbq Research Paper

900 Words4 Pages

Picture Athens buzzing with democracy and Rome towering with power, their clash echoing through history, shaping civilizations forever. The clash between these civilizations echoes throughout history and has shaped our world in countless ways. Citizenship started way back in these two city-states near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the ways it has shaped our world is that Rome and Athens both gave the gift of citizenship to their people. The notion of citizenship, whether in Athens or Rome, symbolized rights, and responsibilities within the society. If one had to choose between the two, it would be Rome’s concept of citizenship. The reason why Rome had the better system was because of its variety of people who could have citizenship and adjustments …show more content…

Considering the content and images presented in documents E and F, we can see that Rome’s structure and stability surpassed that of Athens. According to Document F, “members of the Senate (about 300 men) served for life”. This feature ensures that Rome’s Senate remains steady and consistent over time, offering long-term stability in its leadership. Based on Document E, “All of Athens’s 40,000 citizens were eligible to attend, though travel made that difficult. Six thousand were necessary for a quorum on important issues such as ostracism.”(Doc E). Out of the 40,000 citizens, only 6,000 people were needed to participate in important decisions. To have a meeting it was required to have full participation of its citizens in decision making. While, Rome’s Senate had a more manageable size of about 300 members, establishing efficiency and country governance. Others might say that Athens allowed participation from citizens to share all kinds of opinions and ideas. What needs to be taken into consideration is, that Rome’s Senate size was smaller, allowing for more efficient decision-making processes compared to Athens’ direct democracy. This categorization system was an essential part of Roman society, helping maintain order and allocate resources fairly. Without it, chaos would have ensued, and the city would not have been able to function properly. As such, we should recognize the crucial role that the censors played in the development of ancient Rome and its lasting impact on history. A brilliant move by the Roman leaders was their creative approach to granting citizenship to foreigners, by using unique methods. For example, Claudius, one of Rome's emperors says, “What was the ruin of Sparta and Athens, but this, that mighty as they were in war, they spurned [rejected] from them as aliens [foreigners] those whom they had conquered? Our founder