To what extent was the Roman Republic Democratic? In Roman society, the aristocrafts we know as patricians. For example, the Roman constitution has three elements.The Senate proposes laws and has the control of the treasury. For instance Although nominally allied with Rome, the League offered only tepid support to the Roman army in its campaign against the Kingdom of Macedonia. Born in Megalopolis in Arcadia, central southern Greece, around 201 B.C., Polybius was the son of Lycoris, a prominent politician of the Achaean League, which united most of the city-states of the Peloponnesian peninsula.However with the exception of the first five books, which have survived intact, Polybius's Histories have come down to us in a fragmentary state.
After reading each of these documents by the multiple historians, I have to agree with Alan Ward in the fact that Romans were not very democratic in every way. Democracy is defined as a system of government in which the whole population that practice the principles of social equality. In many ways Rome was Democratic, for instance, people had a say in government, but were not democratic when limiting who could vote. As said in Document C, “... All voting had to be conducted in Rome.
-The promise of salvation attracted many, and it highly advanced the Christian church and then Christianity slowly became the official religion. At first, persecution was done to non-believers, but as time went on it became the
Not only did the Italian city-republics differentiate themselves from their Roman predecessors in terms of how they came about, but their governments ran differently. While there were certainly elements of similarities between the two eras, there were considerable differences. To start, it is important to lay out the basic foundations of the Roman republic. The Roman republic was incredibly intricate and convoluted to the point that it would take forever to parse out the exact inner workings of each system of government. As such, just the bare bones of the Roman government are necessary to learn from. In essence, the Roman republic can be described in modern terms as a system of checks and balances. The government was predicated on the single principle that too much power should not reside in the hands of one man. No one organ of government could act completely alone. “To execute any act of government, a number of magistrates or other organs must concur” (Finer 396). Each body was divided and had specific powers delegated to it, which will be described more in detail later. The powers were not as simple as legislative, executive, and judicial as most modern people experience government today. Instead, each of the various powers of the three modern branches were even further divided into different governmental organs. The fascinating thing about the Roman republic, however, is in how it slowly morphed into what it eventually became. Instead of the American top-down approach
In the usa there are three branches. The first one is the Executive the Executive branch has the President and about 5,000,000 workers. The second branch is the Legislative the legislative branch has the Senate and the House of Representative. The last one is the Judicial, the judicial branch has the Supreme Court and the lower Courts.
Only the highly educated and wealthy class made up the Senate. The Concilium Plebis only consisted of representatives for the Plebeians, and the Comitia Centuriata represented most of the landowning class. Both the popular assemblies were given pre-discussed debates, and any disagreements with the Senate were rare. Furthermore, the Consuls, who were the most prestigious magistrates and “the military and political heads of state” were also advised by the Senate (Gwynn, 20).
Over a long course of time the Romans had many different forms of government. From oligarchies to dictatorships Rome had experience with most forms of government. With all of these happening so far in the past many questions are asked today. One of the most talked and quested forms of Roman government is the Roman Republic. The Republic of Rome is normally thought to be a democracy. But an extremely common question still arise. This questions is whether the Roman Republic was truly democratic. In a simple answer the Roman Republic was a democratic government.
Some policies and institutions of the Roman Republic were useful to help them succeed in conquering first Italy and then the Mediterranean world. Before of the institution of the republic, the romans were a monarchy since their beginning and they were basically a pastoral people. Rome suffer several changes and improvements under the control of the Etruscan kings. The Etruscan were civilization settled north of Rome in Etruria, and they once had control over almost all the Italic peninsula. The Etruscans influences in Rome were profound, they transformed Rome from a pastoral community to a city (91). The Etruscan built the street and roads that help the development of temples, markets, shops, streets, and houses. They basically brought urbanization to Rome. It is fairly to say that the Rome republic was a fusion between the elements of the Etruscan civilization and the Rome elements. The combination of the different political institutions and policies made the Romans succeed in their conquest territories.
To begin, Polybius recognizes, in fact, six defining forms of government: Monarhcy and its foil, tyranny; Aristocracy and its foil, oligarchy; and democracy and its foil, mob-rule. If one is to inquire on his favorings towards Spartan order, Polybius cites the theory concerning the natural course of these governments. Concerning this, in the text he states, “Monarchy first
Carthage was run as an aristocracy, where the privileged and wealthy elite held most of the power. Like Rome, however, it had two chief magistrates and a senate. The two magistrates (called suffetes) had replaced the monarchy system that had been in place before. They collaborated with the senate on civil matters. The senate made decisions about war, peace terms, military support, and punishment of failed leaders. Additionally, the "hundred" council of elders was formed out of members of the senate. The council "convened to assess the military performance of commanders on completion of their campaign" and "was responsible for deciding the fate of generals and admirals who failed in a campaign" (Cartwright, 2016).
Historians have been baffled with deciding how democratic the Roman Republic was. With the resources provided, the Roman Republic was a republican territory. The Romans had three parts of the government; Elected Magistrates and Consuls, Senate, and Assemblies. Ordinary people could not be elected as government officials. Only men could participate in government.
Democracy is defined as a government ruled by common people. The power of the should be in the hands of the largest class which is the poorest. The political system of ancient Athens was a Democracy, which involved all of its citizens.This system was divided in three parts: the ekklesia( a sovereign governing body who wrote the laws) the boule(representatives from the Athenian tribes) and the dikasteria, (the courts in which citizens argued cases in front of selected jurors). Every men could participate in the political process, being selected by lot to fill even the highest offices and being paid for pub- lic service. Four times a month proposals were debated and decisions were made openly so and any citizen could speak to the issues of the day.
Aristides identify the extensive in size as the unique features of the Roman Empire. Not only that, the democracy, trading, great and fair equality between weak and powerful, obscure and famous, poor and rich and noble….(Strayer 149)I think the great and fair equality between upper and lower classes caught many eyes of its subject peoples. Aristides made it sound so good with the word “equality,” making people think highly of Rome. Other factors like the
Since its collapse, historians have attempted to explain the struggle for power and control over both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire that followed. To explain the complexities of the Roman Republic, the Empire, and their political complexities can be a daunting task. For nearly ten centuries Rome would rule most of the known world before the fall of the Western Empire (Byzantine) in 476 C.E. Before that fall occurred, a fundamental change would take place that would transform the original Republic into the Roman Empire. Many factors would be directly and indirectly responsible for this transition. These would
Democracy:is a system of government by the whole population or all of the eligible members of a state,typically through elected representatives. In the Roman Republic they were kind of a democratic because anyone who was in the democratic was allowed to vote. People who were picking the councilmen were able to know who be selected at the end and didn’t tell anyone until everyone was not voting anymore.If people did not live in the democracy they were automatically not able to vote nor would they still be in the democratic society. Democracy of historical of racism was a big deal back in the day because when people heard that there was a big problem
The Roman Republic was a “democratic” republic, which allowed first citizens to vote, and to choose their governors in the senate (Hence, their consuls). However, it was a nation ruled by its aristocracy, and, consequently, the entire Republic`s power was concentrated in a few individuals. Furthermore, the Senate was controlled by Patricians, which directed the government by using wealth to buy control and power over the decisions of the senate and the consuls. This situation aroused the inconformity of the people; as result, a civil war took place in the Republic (destroying it), and then the Roman Empire was born.