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Roman Democracy Vs Athenian Democracy Essay

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The societies of antiquity have been significant in shaping modern societies. Whilst exhibiting notions of fairness and equality, they were neither truly fair, equal nor representative (Green S, 2016). They have, however, contributed to our own ideas of a democratic society. For this essay I will focus on two societies that have helped shaped modern forms of government: the early Roman republic and Athenian democracy
The Roman Republic (c. 509–27 B.C.E) came into existence when a group of wealthy families succeeded (Crawford, M, 1992, p. 24) after the overthrow of the Etruscan kings. Magistrates took the place of the kings and made only moderate steps towards being fair and representative as they “spread power more widely among the rich and powerful.” (Boatwright M.T, 2004, p. 49) In a show …show more content…

507-338 B.C.E) operated as a direct democracy that ruled Athens and the adjacent region of Attica. This form of democracy allowed true citizens -free adult males of Athenian origin- (Bulliet et al, 2011, p.101) to attend assembly meetings to vote, listen to and discuss laws that affected important matters. All who attended the meetings were paid, which was an incentive to include the poorer citizens, however, equality was a political concept that never extended to social spheres (Hansen, M. H, 1999, p81.) Women, slaves, and migrants made up the majority of the population, but did not enjoy the privileges of citizenship, (Wood, E.M, p.60) leaving the male population of 30,000 - 40,000 out of a approximate population of 300,000 to vote. (Bulliet, 2011, p.101) With Athenian Democracy, the political process silenced women’s voices, and they found themselves confined to the role of housekeeper. In contrast to this, during the former Mycenaean Greece period (1600-1200 B.C.E), women played a pivotal role in society as they were held in high regard for their insight and wisdom into political and military affairs. (Cole, J, & Syme, C, 2014,

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Athenians Democracy Ancient Athens has two documents that discuss democracy. The first one is “Document A: Pericles” and the other one is “Document B: The The Athenian Constitution”. In document A, I found that is truly democratic because your social class is not allowed the interfere with someone 's merit. For example, if you’re poor you’re still able to serve the state or be part of the government. In document A it also states that “you get equal justice.”

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Although Athens was the first “true” democracy, “their definition of the ‘people’ was far narrower than ours today, excluding everyone but free adult women” (Athenian Democracy at Work, 29). In Athens, women lived in a male-dominated society and were considered to be unimportant, thus women and slaves were not Athenian citizens. Women were kept under strict control and were expected to take care of the family and to do household work. Athenian women could not own property beyond their personal items and always had a male guardian. Women were expected to remain at home out of sight unless attending funerals or festivals (113).

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There was a very large number of slaves and they were kept under watch for every second of the day. The Greeks had watch towers looking over the area where they slept at night. It is evident that there was a clear division among the different people during this time, with the male citizens having the ultimate power and only say over everything that went on. The citizens in the Athenian democracy who did not vote were not viewed highly at all, they were called iodites, where the word idiot comes from. (Copestake and Hughes).

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Athenian Democracy: a brief overview. Stoa.org. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from

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The magistrates and tribunes… were the only ones who could place legislation before the voters.” The small percent of citizens that actually did vote in Ancient Rome were spoon-fed their candidates by higher ups like the magistrates in

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