Rome had a superior system of citizenship to Athens. In general, the significance of being a citizen is that it allows someone to vote on laws, become an active part of their government, and manage their own land. A citizen would be free to speak their mind and express their opinions. If one was a citizen of Athens, they would be expected to participate in the government, go to assemblies, vote on laws, have an education, and have been in military training for two years. One would be expected to help make Athens a better place for its people. However, a citizen of Rome would be expected to bear healthy children for the Roman army and become the best citizen they could. In Rome, someone was not expected to participate in the government but …show more content…
Firstly, Rome was generous when granting its citizenship. In Document A it says that Rome was one of the first city-states to give citizenship to females. In many city-states, only adult men could be granted citizenship. Both free native-born females and female children could become citizens of Rome, although they had fewer rights than men. Rome gave women more equality and rights and allowed them to own their own property. This was very forward-thinking at that time and was an example for other city-states to …show more content…
In Document D it says that Athens created a law to prevent its citizens from gathering too much power and influence: “Each citizen wrote the name of the man who in his opinion had the greatest power to destroy the democracy, and the man who got the largest number of ostraka was forced to go into exile from his native land for the period of ten years”. Athens wanted to prevent its citizens from changing anything in their city-state, so they exiled people who could make a difference. No matter who you were, even if you were trying to do good things for Athens, you could be exiled for ten years and die attempting to find another place to
From 218-202 BCE, Hannibal attacked Rome in the Second Punic War, winning nearly every battle he fought; Hannibal was triumphant throughout most of the war. However, Rome was still able to win the Second Punic War due to its ingenious plan, semi-citizenship. During the war Rome lost many soldiers, but bounced back stronger than ever and won the war against Carthage and Hannibal. Rome was able to recover extremely quickly as a result of its semi-citizenship. Susan Wise Bauer writes, “(Rome) granted citizenship without the right to vote.” This was essentially taxation without representation; it allowed Rome to use all of Italy’s troops, resources, money, and food, without having to manage or even visit the territory that they rule.
A way that Rome met the common good is to protect rights. Well, there are three classes in Rome: Patricians, Plebians, and slaves. Patricians were the rich and they made all of the laws and they had lots of rights but Patricians
They were allowed to travel within the empire & were allowed to do business as well. In addition, those who served on the military for allied nations and countries were also given a limited citizenship. In document A, it is seen that only the slaves and freed slaves could never be citizens, while all others could. It is also seen that the Athenians would only allow the native-born adult Athenian males were allowed to be citizens, while all others would never attain citizenship. While in contrast, the Romans allowed the native-born males and females to be citizens. Even children and sons of freed slaves could be citizens too if they showed they could meet the
The Greek city-state of Athens governed itself through a direct democracy, a system of government in which all citizens participate in government through casting a vote (DeLorenzo, 2000). Participation in Athenian democracy was mandatory for all citizens, punishable by monetary fines and physical public humiliation. Athens was unique among Greek city-states because it had one of the largest democracies in terms of population. Responsibilities of citizens in Athens included
In Greece, male citizens were given more opportunities to exercise than just women. Women were treated as though they were children. Greek male citizens also had different opportunities based on the class of citizenship. Higher class citizens received the fertile land, close to the city with high levels of protection while lesser landowners received less productive plots further from the city with little protection. In the ancient Greek society, job opportunities were based off of the class a citizen is a part of. All male citizens of both Greece and Rome are allowed to participate in government. They are automatically able to serve on a council known as Ecclesia in Greek or Centuriate Assembly in Rome. Other male citizens may have a higher position in the government, but at minimum, all male citizens are a part of these specific groups. Both governments felt like citizens are more effected by the laws the government makes than non-citizens, so they gave the power to the people that are most effected by the decisions. So “the reward of citizenship only meant that an individual lived under the “rule of law” and had a vested interest in his government.” Romans actually viewed participation in government as an honor and reward that they are given the opportunity to be allowed to be
Government in Athens was revolutionary for western civilization because it brought power to the people instead of just a select few like earlier civilizations in the West. Democracy, as said in The Funeral Oration of Pericles, “power is in the hands not of the minority, but of the whole people.” (Sparta vs. Athens, p. 6). This government provided more freedom for citizens of Athens. It allowed them to settle private disputes, put people in power that would represent their groups outside the Polis, and make decisions that would better their nation.
Second, Athens democracy is about how no one should be above the law. For example, if you commit a crime, then you should get the punishment for your crime. “... required to pay the penalty: He had to settle his private affairs within ten days and to depart from the city for ten years” (D#6). This shows that, the government is trying to maintain order by punishing people who commit a crime without a look at who they are. There are consequence for their actions. In conclusion, by maintaining
Did you know that more women are making it to Parliament? The number of women elected have doubled over the years. There is an astonishing 11% of women in Parliament. The Roman Republic was only kind of democratic. The reason of this being that all the male citizens of Rome could vote, they had a lot of power, but they couldn’t choose the candidates nor did their votes matter much.
The Roman Republic became one of the most powerful and ruthless Empire 's on the face of the planet and to be a citizen was very appealing. This was such an admirable and highly sought after position; that it would cause envy throughout the people of that time. There were also 'pre-requisites ' recorded in the requirements of becoming a Roman citizen and keeping that role. Roman citizenship itself was originally difficult to obtain but once won, life as a citizen was easier and more refined than the 'lowly freemen '.
The decision that were made were done so by majority ruling. This is how the democratic system in America runs today as every citizen that is of voting age is able to vote for local, state, and federal government office positions. The majority ruling decides the winning candidate because this is the most fair method as it depicts what most of the citizens desire. These meeting were organized and ran by nine members of the community who were given the title of ‘proedroi’, this is very similar to the word president that we currently use for the title of our governmental leader. These leaders were elected by the citizens and they ruled over the session for just one time and they carried out the tasks of organizing the meeting and assessing the results of voting amongst the people. The topics that were discussed and voted upon varied greatly “Specific issues discussed in the assembly included deciding military and financial magistracies, organising and maintaining food supplies, initiating legislation and political trials, deciding to send envoys, deciding whether or not to sign treaties, voting to raise or spend funds, and debating military matters. The assembly could also vote to ostracise from Athens any citizen who had become too powerful and dangerous for the polis.” When the situation would occur that a citizen would be considered for ostracization, there would be a secret ballot where members of the community would write the name of the person on a broken piece of pottery which was known as ‘ostrakon’. Overall, the most valued privilege that was granted to men in ancient Greece was freedom of
Citizenship in Ancient Rome was valuable. Citizenship was that one position with privileged political and legal status. A male citizen enjoyed a variety of privilege and protections, they could also hold property in Rome.On the other hand, Roman Women did not have a lot of privileges. Some privileges that Roman Women didn’t have for example, was voting, stand for civil, and run public office.
Ever since people can remember we’ve had citizenship in our world weather your in rome or america, we all have citizenship. In ancient Rome and ancient Athens they both had citizenship within their city-state. Many people believe that Rome had a better system than athens, here's why people think rome has better citizenship. First off in document A it shows a table with who is allowed to be a citizen and who is not.
Roman citizens are free adult men who are owners of the ground, and holders of the political rights. They take part in the common life. This ties into our world today because the 14th amendment. In the amendment it says a person has the right to life, liberty, and property without due process of law. Citizens in ancient rome did have responsibilities. They were taxed, and the men needed to complete a term of military service. Only citizens of Rome could be Roman legionnaires. This ties in to today by how now there are taxes.
Citizens are entitled to many rights and protection from the government. However, not everybody were able to become citizens in one country to enjoy the rights in one country. In Athens, citizens must be male, at least 18 years old, and born of Athenian parents. Women and slaves, the larger portion of the population, however, did not enjoy such rights as the citizens. Slaves took up a very large
The idea of roman citizenship changed the way all civilizations worked from the time it was invented all the way to present day, and presumably into the future, as it is part of the greatest Roman legacies surviving in the modern world. Citizenship was the secret to Rome's success as an empire, because the more people they brought in to the empire the more tax money the government received. "Even someone born in Syria or Gaul