Athenian Democracy And Roman Republic: A Comparative Analysis

The first documented written records of government were from Athens and Rome. Rome’s form of government was a Republic while Athens was a democracy. A republic means a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. A republic is quite different from a democracy, in which every citizen is expected to play an active role in governing the state. A democracy is ruled by the people. The Athenian Democracy and Roman Republic both had strengths and weakness in how democratic the government was, this is shown in their respective voting systems,checks and balances, and social classes.

The Representative voting system in the Athenian government was more democratic, than the Roman Republic. In Athens, the first 6000 male citizens voted for their elected officials. Athen’s voting system is truly democratic because the male citizens voted on roles in the government, and sign up for roles. In Rome, all full male citizens could vote, while leaving out the other two types of citizenship that cannot vote. Only having full citizens is less democratic because the other two citizens could not vote. The Athenian Democracy and Roman Republic both have restrictions on their
In Athens, you had to be born to Athenian parents to be able to vote, and hold roles in the government. If a slave gained freedom from his owner, he still would have no chance in getting into a higher social class, while the ones born to Athenian parents would have to be there to be considered a citizen. In the Roman Republic, the lower class called the Plebeians, had no say in the government at first, while the higher class called the Patricians, had a say in the government. The Plebeians not having a say in the government in the beginning, which they made up 95% of the population and also had most of the soldiers was less democratic in the way that only the 5% had a say in the