CCOT Classical Greece and Rome Essay
In the classical period of Greece and Rome, Greece had a direct democracy in where the people elected leaders to represent them. Rome had a republic in where the people had a lot less say in who led them. However in both Rome and Greece the people felt they had a strong connection to their government and they felt as though they were in control. In terms of interaction with other cultures, Greece and Rome both had a part in Christianity.
They actually had a Greco- Roman religion that had influences from both cultures in it varying with slight differences.During the agricultural stage of society both Greece and Rome were forced to conquer in different directions. Rome pushed to the Middle East to acquire grain and Greece pushed south into Africa also to acquire grain.
This was the main contact with other cultures besides trade. Greece and Rome had two different types of government. Rome had a republic, whereas Greece had a direct democracy. The republic of Rome was a type of government where the people were involved in their government but were left out of much more than in a democracy. The people were informed by the government of what was going on and the people had their say.However that did not mean that the government had to listen.
They had a senate and at the head of the republic sat two consuls that were elected by the senate. The senate was comprised mostly of wealth Aristocrats who held most of the offices in the government. They would meet in assemblies and gatherings to appoint a magistrate or other official and the public would not have a lot of input. However in Greece they had a direct democracy. The Greeks actually came up with the idea of democracy. In this democracy the people would all come together and they would hold a meeting. They would meet every ten days to make decisions for themselves.They would elect a temporary judge or other official of some sort to help in the process and then they would come before the assembly (the people) to be assessed.
The people had almost all of the power in the government. A similarity between the two political structures would be that the people always had active citizenship. No matter what kind of government they had the people always felt informed and that they at least knew what was happening in their government and he decisions that were being made. Every citizen played a part in the government but in each society that role was either more or less.The Greeks and the romans had most of their interactions with others through either trade or war or even religion. They both shared a religion and it was Greco-Roman. They both believed in the same set of gods under different names which made them both polytheistic. They had similar things in common with the likes of China and India.
The reason they knew about this religion was because at the time that Greece and Rome were beginning to spread their beliefs others that they conquered gave them parts of theirs. Thus they were both influenced by the rest of the world.A difference in their interactions with other cultures was the places that they chose to conquer. They were both on the hunt for grains.
So Rome decided to push to the Middle East to find grain in. They not only conquered nut they traded things such as olive oil, wine, and products of silver. This allowed for the trade of goods as well as knowledge. However, Greece decided to push south down towards North Africa. They cultivated so much of the soil there that the soil actually became less fertile during other centuries to come. Therefore they were both influenced differently depending on where they decided to trade and conquer.Another political similarity was that both Greece and Rome focused heavily on the military.
Greece and Rome both had very strong military forces that were used to gain territories for their government. Athens and Sparta were enemies and they had to build their armies up to defend against one another. The government offered jobs as soldiers to its citizens. Athens and Greece both had land in different parts of the areas surrounding them and this was all thanks to the government and the decisions that were made by it to create a strong militaristic force to further expand the reign of either Greece or Rome.A similarity between Greece and Rome and their interactions with other cultures also involved China and India.
Greco-Roman culture was similar to china and India because they frequently traded back and forth. Rome and Greece would often trade animal skins and other products and in return china and India would offer something artistic in design. This influence was not great but certain artistic techniques were picked up. This was beneficial because both Greece and Rome were heavily in the artistic scene, whether that be in art, poetry, or even philosophy. Unlike Greece Rome had created an empire.Greece had city -states. This means that Greece was split into different section.
All of them having their own local government and society. They still were a part of Greece but were slightly more independent. Rome had an empire meaning that all of Rome was united into one large force. They all worked as a whole and conquered and they all had the same laws. That was all ruled under one governing body that enforced the same policies. Greece still functioned as a whole but they had a greater sense of independence than Rome did as each city state was its own while still being a part of the Greek democratic system.
