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The Influence Of Political Structure In Ancient Greece

Decent Essays

The advancements and the various contributions made during the times of the classical Mediterranean civilizations have many imprints and influences in today’s life and society. One way the Mediterranean civilizations impacted modern society is through architecture. Many modern nations today model their political or parliamentary structures after the styles first used and designed by the Romans and the Greeks. Even in the United States we have evidence of this, such as the structures of the Supreme Court and Lincoln Memorial. Also, influencing in an architectural way, the long-standing structures from ancient Greece and Rome like the Roman Coliseum and the Parthenon also create an economic boost for the present day countries of Italy and …show more content…

The first chief difference in political structure is that Greeks were divided in the city-state political structure as the Romans were unified under one political system through the course of its history (Except the division into the Western and Eastern Empires). The second difference between the two political structures is that the Romans had sort of a parliamentary branch of politics which was the Senate where in Greece executive decisions would be made through the usage of periodic assemblies or through autocratic-dictator type kings. The final chief difference between the two political structures is that during the Roman Empire the emperor was seen as a holy god-like figure in which this type of worship in ancient Greece was not necessarily present. Amongst the many differences between the two political structures, there were also multiple similarities. One obvious similarity between the two political structures is that politics in both civilizations could only be participated and operated by males, and females in both civilizations had no political voice. A second similarity between the two political structures is that both had a sense of democracy. In Rome, democracy could be seen as through where male citizens electing magistrates to represent their voice as in Athenian Greece the application of direct democracy was present which was used to make important and executive decisions based off the democratic concept of majority rule. A third major similarity between the two political structures is that they both did include a tyrant or some high executive position. In Rome this would include the reign of the consuls or dictators during the republic, but during the times of the Roman Empire it would be the emperors who held most power. In Greece, city-states like Sparta also had a sort of tyrant ruler and that was the

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