Class Conflict In The Roman Government

The Roman republic and the United States have both similarities and differences. The roman republic and the United States have both a strong government that are composed of many branches. The roman republic "government was headed by the Roman senate and two elected officials called consuls". "The aristocracy (patricians) wielded more power than the bulk of the population, the commoners (plebeians), leading to ongoing tension between social classes". The plebeians had more power than any other branch.

The fall of the Roman Republic was caused by the expansion of Rome, and it’s class tension, the ruling of Julius Caesar, and all things that followed Julius Caesar’s

In western ancient world, there were kings who tried to bring the world come together ideologically, culturally and politically. This caused lots of cultural exchange between people and help them understand and respect each other’s ways of life. On the other hand, politically, it created a lot of major wars. It took a large amount of resources and decades to end these wars. As a result of these wars, most kingdoms suffered from both economical and political problems. Therefore, it is fair to say that Greek/Hellenistic civilization could be characterized as being a period of intellectual and cultural achievement but political failure.

The Greek democratic and Roman republic governments each had their own positive and negative aspects making them similar, yet exclusively different. Both have had tremendous influences on governments in our modern world. Rome was a republic where the leaders were chosen through voting, while Greece practiced a more direct democracy in which the citizens participated in the crucial decision-making within the government. This paper will attempt to diagnose the fundamental similarities of each government coupled with the not so obvious differences. Based on the evidence from each type of government, it is clear that each were similar and different in numerous ways, in particular the way each government

Greece influenced roman societies and modern day societies politically as explained in documents 1, 2, 4, and 6. Greece was the first ancient civilization to have a democracy. The basic rule for roman society law system was displayed in the twelve tables. (Doc 2) Many western civilizations adapted this law system as well as other ideas from the roman 12 tables which influenced western societies immensely. The document explains a quote that we still use in modern society which is “every man is innocent until proven guilty.” Octavian Augustus states that after he dies “the foundations which I have laid for its future government will stand firm and stable” the Greeks invented an idea of a ruling senate which today is known as democracy. (Doc 4)

Finally the roman republic and the roman empire were similar in their downfall and collapse. In the roman republic landed aristocrats took over state owned land and bought out small peasant owners to develop large estates (latifundia). Because the number of small farmers decreased the number of men available for the military decreased as well. This then led to the army recruiting poor that hadn't owned property. When they decided to take advantage of this military system a civil war broke out... 35 years later Caesar was stood as dictator of Rome. He ruled for three years but was quickly

Just like today and in many other empires all over, the Roman Empire had class systems and they were the Patricians and Plebeians. Patrician class was the upper-class and consisted of nobility and wealthy land owners. Opposite of the patricians were the plebeians, the social group that consisted of everyone else in Rome. This group ranged from the tradesman all the way to the very poor. Later these groups would transform into the other social classes known as the populares and the optimates. The Populares were a mixture of plebeians and patricians who favored the common people and were for the extension of citizenship to all people of the empire, the elimination

The Roman Republic operated as two different society classes such as Patricians and Plebeians. Patricians were rich landowners and they had slaves that run their homes, that is how wealthy these people really were. The Plebeians were common townspeople who didn’t have a lot of money, they worked to pay the bills, taxes, and pay for food for their families. Patricians were part of the aristocratic class and the Plebeians were known as the Roman citizens, which they were not Patricians. The word Patrician comes from the word ‘Patres’ which means plural father, which is a term to designate the first members or class, which is the Senate. Now the term Plebeian means, ‘of the common people’, so this means that the Plebeians were just the common townspeople and the Patricians were the more wealthy and were higher up in the class of people. Marriage between the two class was forbidden. If a man was a Patrician he could hold or take the place in the highest part of the Republic which is known as the consul. At the beginning of the Republic, the Patricians had

Subsequently, the system was corrupted because weak or vulnerable individuals were associating with men in power; in exchange of support, and loyalty, for the sake of protection, which broke the Democracy. Socrates said, “Democracy elevates men to positions of authority not because of their wisdom or their fitness to govern, but because of their ability to sway the masses with empty rhetoric. In Democracy, it is not truth that matters; it is public relations.” That is exactly what it was happening in the Roman Republic.

Rome was a highly hierarchical and class-conscious society; yet, since its power extended for centuries, the distinction between different classes varied in time. In the Roman kingdom and the early Roman Republic, the most important division in Roman society was between the Patricians and the Plebeians. The struggle for power between these two classes resulted in the development of the Roman system of government (McManus, 1997).

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).

At the top were the Patricians which were your large landowners, politicians, and rich people. In the middle there were the Plebeians who were the less wealthy landholders (crafts people, merchants, and small farmers). Then at the bottom were your slaves. The U.S. has a similar social structure except for slaves of course. We have our upper class, middle class, and lower class. The Patricians would be our upper class, the Plebeians would be our middle, and the slaves would be our lower class.

However, after a long struggle the patricians finally codified and published the law which covered many legal issues, including property ownership, guardianship, inheritance, procedure for trials, and punishments for various crimes (p. 131). There were two elected officials with in the plebeians, the Licinius and Sextius tribunes; the wealthy plebeians finally gained the opportunity to provide elected political leadership for the senate. They also gained such cosmetic privileges as wearing the purple-bordered toga (p. 131). However, access to the highest political offices was still difficult for any plebeian, who often had to get the support of patrician families if he wanted a political career (p. 132). Unfortunately, since the patricians were already established, the political power had been expanded only slightly and still resided largely in a group of wealthy families, some of whom happened to be plebeian (p.132). Roman politics operated by a patron-client system, were free men would promise their votes to a certain electoral for help with legal

Much like today, during the Ancient Roman era, there were also major issues between social classes. The plebeians were often viewed as “common people” while the patricians were seen as the aristocratic, powerful wealthy class. Therefore, the patricians became the upper ruling class of people which seems very strange considering

ntroduction The Roman Republic was made up of the patricians and the plebeian classes and they were different in that they did not share equal rights even though both had rights unlike the slaves, and treated one another differently both economically and politically. The patricians were the rich and powerful landowners or the upper class, aristocrats or noblemen and on the other side, they were another class called the plebeian or the commoners or free Romans. These also were equally rich and poor, and common people