What Are The Similarities Between Ancient Greece And Rome

The economy and politics of Greece were extremely complex. Most importantly Greek commercial expansion through new trade markets around the Mediterranean with the non-Greek world made it possible for more men to purchase land and power. At the same time the concept of a polis (city) and demos (common people) and the idea of discussion of public choices and possible outcomes with collective concern were born in the city-state. Two of the most well-known to us today are Athens and Sparta, but there were many more. The mountainous terrain as well as a deeply entrenched sense of independence probably allowed the system to remain more of a loose confederation than a central republic, like that of Rome.

The Roman and Greek political systems have influenced the government all across the globe today, and have even introduced political words such as democracy, monarchy, and tyranny. However, Rome was influenced by the Greek, they introduced a republic view seen today then the democracy of Greek city-states. During the time of these two civilizations, they held many overlapping similarities, and other times showing the vast difference between the related civilizations such as the location of each city-state, how much power a women had, and the separation of the groups in each political system.

What made the Greek city-state a new form of political and social organization was that there was no longer a king in power of the people. The Greek city-state came during the Archaic Age which was led on by the Greek Dark Age. Although the king no longer had any power within the government, there still remained a king. The new government that was formed was called the polis. The polis allowed for the people to feel they had more of a say of what was going on in the government. Instead of the king creating all of the laws, there was a group of people who made the laws. These people were not royal, they were common citizens who were interesting in creating laws and justice.

There are many Greek myths that were altered or redirected to serve the state of Rome. For instance, Roman culture borrowed elements of government, religion, and lifestyle. Etruscans were also an important conduit of Greek influence on Early Rome. In addition, Roman myth is heavily patriarchal, befitting a society where the male head of the household had the power of life and death over everyone. The Romans also, culturally inferior to the Greeks adopted Greek literature and mythology by just changing names and adapting the concepts to fit their ideas and values. In addition, many gods are believed to have taken part in the founding of Rome. All of the gods were consulted and honored to make sure that the actions of the state met with divine

Ancient civilizations are perhaps one of the most fascinating topics one could research, and of the numerous civilizations that have sprung up over the years, perhaps none are more fascinating than that of Ancient Greece and Rome. Greece and Rome emerged from Europe, in around the same place. They are both similar and different, and are some of the greatest civilizations that have ever existed.

Just as civilization took a few thousand years to develop into a well functioning society, so did the evolution of polis in Ancient Greece. From the 8th century to the 4th century, Greece was changing their style of politics, which was greatly influenced by its landscape and human knowledge. The polis was very small in population. This small size city-state gave individuals a sense of belonging, which in offset, its citizens were intimately involved in the political and cultural community. This evolution of change in Greece eventually led to a positive outcome.

Greek democracy was a complex and new idea to the world. While not operating like the democracies we see in the world today it is credited with having introduced the idea to the world and showed that it could work to create a nation that can experience great wealth, generate innovative art and architecture, and enjoy relative peace for long periods of time. It wasn’t to last however and I’ll investigate here some of causes that led to its collapse.

did not participate they were marked with red paint and had to suffer punishment for their

(1) The physical environment and Mediterranean climate has greatly shaped the social and political background of ancient Greece. The Greek people surrounded the Aegean Sea and dwelled in its multiple islands. Mountains were also a dominant presence in Greece’s mainland environment. The Greek people inhabited isolated plains and valleys throughout the mountains that allowed them to dwell in separate communities. The rugged landscape and the lack of large rivers made transportation difficult. The inability to easily travel between city-states made it hard to unite Greece under a single government. All of these different factors contributed to Greek individualism. Due to travel over land being so difficult, Greeks turned to trade by sea which

Ancient cultures left their stamp in history through their conquest, economic development, scientific advance and arts, being Greek and Rome remarkable cultures that excel in the universal history by the power exerted over their neighbors and contenders. I must point out that (The Cultural Connection between Rome and Conquered Greece ) “although Rome conquered the land of Greece, many scholars throughout history, such as the Roman poet Horace, have noted that the culture of Greece appears to have conquered Rome by integrating itself into Roman culture.” The biggest Greek influence over Rome comes tie to the arts, specifically to the sculpture and architecture, and in this case I will analyze the similarities and difference between two iconic buildings in both

When the Greeks die they have to have a proper burial. They put a coin on the eye or in the mouth of the dead person. If they did not have a proper burial the person would appear to someone in their dream and tell them where their body was and to give them a proper burial. Charon will only pick up people who have the coin to take them across Lethe. They then go through the veil of mourning to the Plain of Judgement. If they have been good they get to go through the Palace of Hades to

The Greek and Roman are country are located in the Mediterranean. Rome assimilated into the Greek way of life but besides this, there were still existed major differences between ancient Rome and ancient Greek especially the Athens. The history of the ancient Romans and ancient Greek can be compared and contrasted using the economic, social and political aspects of the two countries.

Unlike the unified Rome, Greece was never a single nation, but simply a collection of coexisting city-states. There was a lot of discord and strife between city-states and Greece was virtually always wracked by conflict between the different cities. Individual identity was of utmost importance to the Greeks and became a defining mark of Hellenism. A unified identity did not exist because unlike Rome where, for example, you were Roman from Ephesus, if you were from Athens, you were Athenian, not a Greek. Due to constant tension and civil war, many cities experienced a high turnover in systems of government. While individualism caused strife between city-states, it also gave rise to what many regard as the greatest thing to ever come from the Greek world: democracy. The practice of direct democracy was started in Athens but spread to neighboring city-state who used Athenian government as a model to build their own unique version

Throughout the thousand years’ history of the little corner of Europe called “Greece” developed many social experiments in governance. Within any given era, the political landscape ebbed and flowed to give birth and death to numerous forms of government. When we speak of ancient Greece, it is important to remember that we are not talking about a single unified country. Instead, we are considering the hundreds of small “city-states” (many no bigger than small towns) what often operated independently of one another and only occasionally got powerful enough to “matter” to historians or their present day neighbors.

With one cursory overview of Ancient Greece and its diverse topography, it only stands to reason that ruling the related multitude of distinct poleis scattered throughout its territories, might require different forms of governments, as well. In fact, befitting of such a landscape, Greece employed a variety of unique ruling structures within its collective borders. The principal five forms, to be further examined here within, were monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, tyranny, and democracy. (Brand, n.d.)