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Essay on roman government
The roman republic
Essay on roman government
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on roman government
The roman republic
Essay on roman government
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Roman Republic was often known for its lasting influence for the development of Western political governance and ideals and is often hailed as a beacon of democracy in ancient history. But an in depth look reveals it to be more complex. While the Roman Republic held democratic elements that allowed citizen participation and representation, its political structure was ultimately characterized by a significant concentration of power among the elite and few for the average person. This essay will explore the extent of democracy within the Roman Republic, analyzing key aspects such as the electoral system, legislative bodies, and social hierarchy and the democratic nature and the implications it had on the overall governance of the state.
The Roman Republic lasted from 509 B.C.E to 27 B.C.E. The Roman Republic was democratic, but not always. Such as when the wealthy took over, it was more difficult to become a Roman citizen, and there was a lot of division in the society. However it was still democratic because they let the majority of legal men vote, even the free slaves later on, the people had a voice, and everyone mainly had a job to do in order to help the community. The Roman Republic tried to be democratic, but then it led to it just being an aristocracy.
The real question is were the Greeks very democratic? I really do not think the Greeks were democratic at all. They really didn’t exemplify true qualities of a Democratic City-State. The next few paragraphs will show the reason behind my answer, and how people were treated unfairly. My first reason behind this is the Athenian government only granted citizenship to men who parents were free-born Athenian parents.
The Roman Republic government contributed to the development of the democratic principles because the romans developed and its government eventually dividing into three branches. The Roman Republic had three main groups, patricians, Magistrates/Consuls Censors/praetors. The three main groups were like the democratic principle separation of powers. The Roman Republic had its “Rule of Law”, but the Romans called it the Twelve Tables. The democratic principle Representative government was also in the Roman Republic government, but was differently portrayed.
Citizenship in Athens & Rome: Which Was a Better System? The Romans left a powerful legacy that impacts our modern-day society. It was founded in 753 BC around the center of the Italian peninsula. They took up 15% of the world’s population by conquering territories in western Asia, southern Europe, and northern Africa.
The term, Democracy, stems from the Greek word ‘demokratia’ which means rule by the people and it wasn’t until around 500 BCE in Athens where the first examples of democracy originated. While Athens is widely regarded as the first historical example of a democratic system, some scholars believe that the Roman Empire’s republic system was more democratic than that of the Greek. As I will come to
Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state. I do not believe that in the 4th to 5th century BCE ancient Athen were democratic for many reasons.
A democracy is a form of government that is ruled by the people and controlled by the people. For example, here in the United states which is a democracy, everyone is allowed to vote and have land. Also, everyone is allowed to practice a religion of their choice. Athens was truly democratic because everyone had the equal justice, people were voted into office, and one’s social class did not determine what a person could become.
When you look at the literal definition of democracy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there is a decently large explanation. When looking at this definition and trying to decide whether the Athenian democratic system was truly democratic, one would have to go with the answer no. While it has been stated that Athens is the “cradle of democracy”, and that it was better than any of the other governments in the world, it was still a work in progress. The Athenian democracy, while it did give more power to the people, still left a lot of citizens out. The current American democracy may have steamed from Athens, but they do not really have that much in common.
In Ancient Rome, the Romans had their own Roman Republic. The Roman republic reasonably met the common good. The way they did this was that they didn’t fully meet the common good in all areas, but in other areas they did. In public service I would give the Ancient Romans an A. One of the greatest achievements in ancient time was the waterway.
As far as democracy is concerned, critics of democracy, such as Thucydides and Aristophanes, both are pinpointing on that the demos in which that they thought that it could be too easily swayed by a good orator or popular leaders the firebrand and get carried away with their emotions. Democracy Democracy in Athens the government officials are chosen by sweepstakes and worked for 1 year for proposing and enforcing decrees but didn’t have much individual power. Democracy in Athenian government the way that the citizens pass a vote is getting done, in elected by the assembly annually for making decisions about military matters and by showing hands.
There are many similarities that can be noticed between the American Nation and the Roman Empire such as the same founding of government and both dominated in military, and economic similarities. Rome is famous for their harsh discipline amongst their own ranks and their mercifulness brutality amongst their enemies. Rome warfare was characterized by great ferocity and the roman pursuit of victory was determined. Rome gave many good ideas; the senate was ruled by the people of Rome. The Roman Republic Government was a large complex constitution, which was secure by many checks and balances, so that no man could have complete control.
That was a form of direct democracy. Rome also had an established religion for the people to follow that was supported by the government. Rome’s Rule of Law that they came up with, created a organized
Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.
First of all, it is important to know the definition of democracy and its aspects. According to Peter Joyce (2005), the democratic government was initiated in the Greek city state of Athens in the fifth century B.C., so as a consequence, the word ‘democracy’ derived from two Greek words, demos (meaning ‘people’) and kratos (meaning ‘power’) , which means ‘government by the people’. Secondly, Giovanni Sartori (1997), a Political Science Researcher states that ‘democracy’ is an abbreviation that means Liberal Democracy. He distinguishes three aspects: democracy as a principle of legitimacy (power not derives