Comparative Essay

Ancient Greece (500 BCE – 200 CE) and Imperial Rome (500 BCE – 476 CE) had many similarities and differences, especially in their political structures. The Romans had dictators while the Greeks had tyrants and both civilizations were entangled within class tension between the rich and the poor. Most of the poleis of Greece were small monarchies until Athens invented democracy while Rome, which was once also a monarchy, was replaced with an aristocratic republic. Dictators and tyrants both wielded absolute power. Tyrants gained power through irregular means while dictators were appointed by Roman officials when they were faced with civil or military crises. Dictatorship lasted six months, and the main point of it was for strong leadership during difficult times, whereas tyranny was often looked upon as cruel and harsh by the lower classes in Greece. There was nobody to appoint a tyrant, and the he ruled as long as he lived. Tyranny was lost because the people did not like how unstable and it caused fear. Dictatorship lasted until Both the Greeks and the Romans faced class tensions. In Rome, Patricians were the upperclassmen and the plebians were the commoners. Patricians often took land from plebians in order to increase their profits. In Greece, the rich landlords were able to force farmers to become tenants. This often caused an uprising in Greece. In Greece, many poleis each became their own monarchy. Rome also began as a small city state itself and was also once a monarchy, but soon became an aristocratic republic after the last Etruscan king was removed from his position. The Romans created constitutional compromises to ease class tensions while the Greek had Solon, who also created a compromise between the aristocrats and the slaves to ease the class tension. The Roman Republic had three branches: consuls, senate, and a council of people. The Athenians created democracy, and so Athens, one of Greece’s important poleis, was ruled by democracy.