Democracy: The Roman Republic And Athenian Democracy

A long time ago, approximately over 2400 years, the Ancient Greek Polis developed the first democracy. This was the first time this particular political system was established and organized. Not long after, the Roman Republic formed their version of a democracy to rival Greece. Both societies used democracy as a way to band their people together, and become stronger republics. There are many similarities and differences between the political systems of Rome and Greece. Both systems had in place the city-state model, but they were each coordinated to depict the topography of each nation. Greece is a mountainous peninsula on a coastline that includes multiple islands (Backman 124). The Roman Republic is a centrally located plain that
Rome’s party system was separated into two groups: patricians and plebeians. Whereas the Athenian democracy does not have any particular parties in place, even though there is a hierarchy that is the lifeblood of the nation. Two other subjects to be dissected in this argument is the role of women, and the political accountability within each democracy. The Roman Republic at least allowed women a chance to have a say, or they gave them loopholes to be able to exploit. But as for Greece, women had no political influence whatsoever. The best they could do was to become the wife of a citizen. A last similarity is the ability to change the political power in office if the citizens deem the current leader unfit to rule. If the government official was not pleasing the citizens, each country had a system in place to put a new official in charge relatively quickly. However, the biggest similarity is that these political methods were founded to give common law and justice to the people. The Greek Polis and the Roman Republic have made a huge contribution to the current political systems that are in place today; there were flaws, and there were strengths, but no matter what, it was a
There were a few different classifications of women in the Roman Republic. Women over the age of 15 who had descended from Rome’s original tribes were considered citizens (Backman 195). Women were not permitted to vote or hold political offices, however, women of the upper classes could influence their husbands on politics. Another way around the system for women was by arranged marriage. They could use this and then potentially put one of their children in a politically influential position (Backman 196). As for Greece, the role of women in society was nonexistent. They had zero impact on any political issues or movements within the poleis. Women in Greece did not posses any rights as citizens (Backman 136). The highest regard any woman could attain was being the wife of a citizen. The role of women in Greece and in Rome is the biggest difference between the two. The purpose for not allowing women to be involved in Greece had to be so they could spend all their time caring for the children and making sure everything went smoothly at home. In Rome, the women had a little more of a voice, or at least a way to try and get into the system and try and make some changes instead of just standing