Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman Democracy Essay

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in semipolitical sympathies is that you blockade up being governed by your inferiors. PlatoThe question at hand is whether at that place were any confusableities that conduct to the deign of superannuated Greek and roman democracies. This essay leave discuss how wars and territorial expansion led to a rise in populism, which brought political chaos, and how it is the fundamental act of the decline of majority rule in antique Greece and Rome.The first forms of republic lighted in past Greece and Ancient Rome. In Ancient Greece, land and politics were to a greater extent related to the Athenian city-state because Sparta was more of a military dictatorship than any opposite city-state in the region. As for Rome, the brief level surrounded by the roman print Kingdom and the papist Empire, k this instantn as the roman print country, came to be a symbol of democracy in the Ancient roman type time period. though de mocracy is defined as a form of government in which its lot make decisions that directly influence their effortless lives, the ancient forms of democracy were slightly different. It is dupe that the Athenian city-state was more democratic than the Roman Republic, but both had forms of oligarchy that tampered with the image of non such democracy. The Roman Republic had its Senate, and the Athenian city-state had its Areopagos, groups of aristocrats that normally dominated the regions politics. many sources even suggest that Rome neer became a democracy in the ace that they (the citizens) ever controlled the government for long.But some(prenominal) democracy existed in these areas was short-lived. Even though these democracies existed in different time periods, they had same reasons to their downfall. Scholars suggest that these democracies fell because of the sheer land mass each had to control after their legion(predicate) victories. The Roman Republic stretched the Itali an Peninsula and controlled move of Northern Africa capital of Greece ruled more of mainland Greece and the Ionian states (the Delian League basically impute the Ionian states under Athenian subjection) along the Mediterranean coastline. The physical compositions built for capital of Greece and the Roman Republic were figuratively also dispirited to control these newly added territories. Since the constitutions were made provided to satisfy the populations of the homeland itself, the constitutions had gaps in which politicians abused, lastlyleading to political corruption. Another cause reasoned for the downfall of democracies in both states is the democracies fallout with their common citizens. Citizens of Rome and Athens consequently wanted a whiz strong ruler after days of war had created panic among all levels of government. However, though these both reasons are valid, there was some other significant cause for the fall of these two democracies.The rise of populism i n both the Athenian city-state and the Roman Republic was crucial to the stultification of their democracies. The Athenian city-state fought many wars such as the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian Wars. To fight these wars, the Athenians necessitate income. The common Athenian citizen had to fund the war, similar to the Roman Plebeians and their war taxes, creating heavy discrepancies between the rich and poor. This in turn coat the way for many democrat reforms reforms that happy the working degree most importantly, Pericles reforms. Pericles take the property restrictions on army spell to provide more multitude in the Athenian war machine. This reform, along with the front reform of Cleisthenes that enlarged the Council of 400 to five-hundred people, allowed for the appointment of a large part or even the whole of the citizen body in the states affairs, giving the citizens too much power. Citizens, whom had no experience in politics, started to make decisions for the Athenian public.This proved unhealthful in Second Peloponnesian War, when Athens could not effectively place its troops because of quarrels within the Council of 500 (and a vitiated Areopagos due to Pericles reforms), leading to a vote down that nearly crumbled the existing form of democracy in Athens. This inefficiency of the government moved citizens and thinkers, such as Plato, to view democracy as an ineffective form of rule. Citizens now shifted their sights to Macedonia as their only hope for survival. The case for the Roman Republic is similar. The plebeians funded wars which created discrepancies between the Patrician class and the Plebeians. This allowed the Patricians to dominate the states resources, such as land, which started to deteriorate the economy of the Republic. To comeback these movements, reformers such as the Gracchus brothers and Gaius Marius turned to democrat ideals to gain a strong plebeian holding.In trying to do so, the reformers disobeyed many of the constitutions preexisting laws which broughtpolitical instability Tiberius Gracchus tried to illegally run another year as tribune, resulting in the first daggers in the forum, Gaius Gracchus tried to start a plebeian reform, which failed, and Gaius Marius and Sulla created a clash between the populares and optimares, creating conflict within Rome. These attempts at populist reforms seemingly started a trend within politicians to undermine the ascendancy of the Roman constitution. Sulla was elected dictator for two consecutive terms Roman law only allowed for a private term in case of guinea pig emergency and Julius Caesar declared himself dictator-for-life and crossed the point of no return into Rome with his troops, which were both illegal. All of these attempts at populist reforms created confusion amongst the Roman public, whom now viewed dictatorships more pleasurable than the current Republic mess. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Octavion took over, markin g the end of the Roman Republic.As discussed above, wars were the backbone to the populist movements. It is important to note, however, that in Ancient Greece, the fall was associated more with the populist reforms itself, and that in Ancient Rome, the fall was associated more with the push for populism, earlier than the reforms itself. Another rather interesting fact was that the increase in democracy in Greece actually led to the demise of the democracy itself. However, in all, populism was a common mover that brought the collapse of the democracies in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. 1 . Roberts, J. M. The Making of the Roman World. The Penguin storey of Europe. London, England Penguin, 1997. 51. Print. 2 . Roberts, J. M. Ancient Greece. The Penguin History of Europe. London, England Penguin, 1997. 31. Print. 3 . A term used to attain the first appearance of violence in the Roman General Assembly it is satanic for start of the disregard of the Roman constitution by many p oliticians to follow.