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Differences and similarities between democracy today and in ancient Greece
Differences and similarities between democracy today and in ancient Greece
Spread of christianity roman empire
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As stated by Marilynn Hitchens “the word classic is most often used in world history when referring to certain civilizations that thrived from 500 B.C. to 800 A.D.” this is when religious and philosophical thought was creating powerful civilizations. Hitchens also states that due to this “classism can be understood as defining and long-lasting civilizational patterns shaped by belief systems.” The thought of religion and philosophies follows the idea of classicism and belief systems and these religions have been preserved and continued throughout history in many civilizations such as Greece, Rome, Imperial China, and India. The Greek civilization is remembered and known for its democracy. Greeks democracy was founded on the idea of polis which …show more content…
This belief was known as humanism. The idea of humanism affected everyday life in Greece from war to arts. If you had the ability to buy your supplies to fight in the war then you were right there in the phalanx from small farm owners to large traders which became one of Greece’s only form of security. Even the gods of Greece had human traits some were good and some were bad. The main philosophy of greece was that it did not matter what class you were if you work for it you could go from rags to riches. I believe that Greeks idea of democracy was rather a step toward a better future. The greek democracy was setup of three different branches just like the American government currently is. The democracy was used by many civilization but it all started in Greece when Cleisthenes introduced a system he called demokratia. This soon became what we call American democracy. This demokratia would abolish the distinctions between the aristocrats who had been controlling the political decision making. The middle class along with the working class were the exact reason this democracy was established. In the 4th century there were around 100,000 citizens in athens but only men above the age of 18 were …show more content…
While Greece democracy lead to freedom, Roman law lead to justice. Rome was a republic which had a senate thats interest were mainly towards landowners. It was common for lawmakers or judges to announce a law that they were enforcing. That way the laws they created were because of the people's needs. The Roman set up special courts to deal with foreign and Roman law, this became known as coalescing of Roman and foreign law. The idea that justice is superior to the laws of a particular country became known as Universal Law, which was an extremely high law that all people must answer to. As this was all going on, in another area of Rome the Jews were producing a concept of God’s law. Jews believed in a pact between God and the Jewish people, to obey the law, this was called the ten commandments. The Jews believed that God’s message was to forgive. The Jews used the framework of Roman law so therefore the church was headed by the Pope and administered by Bishops and Priest. In early Rome Christianity was quite punishable. As a matter of fact it was banned and feeding Christians to lions was often seen as entertainment. Christianity was spread throughout Rome by St. Paul. In 313 A.D. Constantine made Christianity legal throughout the empire, and the Christian capitol was built in
Greece and Rome’s governments included many democratic aspects that continue to be used in modern
Ancient Greece today is most known for the culture: the gods, the dramas, how people lived. What most people do not realize is that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of different civilizations spread throughout Greece that all had different forms of government. The three main ones were Athens, Sparta, and Miletus. Each was very different from the other. The most powerful out of all three was Sparta: a military based society. The Spartan government had a strong foundation that was all torn down by one bad leader.
It is evident that religions and their place in society have a profound effect on the growth, development, and accomplishments of a civilization. The theocracies that preceded and followed the Greeks certainly had a profound historical impact, but the tradition that would most greatly affect the development of the western mind was that of the Hellenistic world. The birth of democracy and a Golden Age of western scientific and cultural development occurred in the civilization that furthest separated its religion from its government.
Originally the Romans and the Greeks worshiped a lot of gods linked to the forces of nature. To be influenced by other people, they introduce new goods. The religious freedom is a particular side of the freedom of expression, representing the free and intellectual individual will of binding and choosing or not a religion. The particular aspect consists in that religion is not limited by its transposition in faith, but gives rise to practices ensuring the free exercise of religion. One of the most extremely felt, dominant and a significant force in civilization is religion. Religious thinking inspires human action and religious groups to put in order their shared religious expressions. The ancient Greek and Roman culture had an intensely rooted spiritual background and all the citizens were intensely spiritual. The gods and goddesses who they believed in have stories about them. The stories have helped everyone to learn on how things were created and to learn about the two cultures. Religious expressions let people to liberally express his or her knowledge through re...
Herodotus believed that freedom from tyranny, democracy, had a positive effect on Greek cultural identity because tyranny’s are inevitably and fundamentally weak. Tyranny weakens the city state by corruption in high offices with in the city state and suppressed new ideas and growth with in the city state. Herodotus’ opposition to tyranny is deduced from the fact that no Greek state lasted long in tyranny. As for democracy having a positive effect on Greek cultural identity, Herodotus praises the democratic system, because he sees equality as a good thing each man is able to achieve for himself while strengthening the city state. If the people are prospering and achieving then the city state prospers and grows. Democracy allowed for people to have a voice and effect change. Through democracy Greeks were able to control their own destiny, and their own success.
Christianity took hold on the ancient world because it provided immortality. “...the message that was preached here promised… immortality, a future life which would be liberation from sickness and from disease and from poverty, and individual isolation,” (Document B). “You shall love the Lord, your God with all
Between the years of 508 BCE and 322 CE, Greece flourished under democracy. However, some question if the flourishing of Athens is due to the democracy that was in place as opposed to other factors relevant in building a successful community. This investigation will examine the effectiveness of Athenian democracy in Greek society. Relevance of Athenian democracy can be seen in foundation of many democracies found worldwide. In this investigation the right to vote, protection of minorities, use of social class, the structure of democracy and how Greek democracy has influenced the world will be addressed. The place investigated will be Greece, specifically the capitol Athens. The effectiveness of Athenian democracy can be seen in social structure, protection of minorities, and right to vote, as well as its structure and influence of other countries around the world.
For much of human history, the people lived under the rule of kings and other rulers that used to have absolute power.The Greco-Roman laws were based on reason, they gave their citizens more of an opportunity to make the laws. While Judeo-Christian laws were based on religion. They believed in one god, that all humans were equal, and that everyone should have morals. Both of them believe in gods.They also both have their own laws and believe that they are correct in what they are doing.
In Ancient Greece people valued democracy, wealth, entertainment, knowledge, and many other things however what is also important is what the Ancient Greeks clearly did not value. Of the many things, people, are possibly one of the most undervalued commodity in Greece include women, and slaves. There are also many other things that the Greeks did not seem to value one of which was anti-corruption measures. The Greeks seem to put most of their time and effort into society in many different ways from Gymnastics to plays even their houses are purpose built for social events. These values or more importantly the lack of value regarding slaves, women, and most importantly good government quite possibly assisted in the downfall of their civilization.
In conclusion one could say we may live in a very different and much more complex global world, but the reality is without the ancient Greeks we wouldn’t have the government structure that we currently enjoy today. The truth and reality is that by the time Aristotle even came into play in history there had already been a large amount of Greek democracies already in existence. The foundations that the Ancient Greeks laid and more importantly the political foundation that the Athenians created had an everlasting imprint on how the democratic structure has taken shape in European countries as well as in the United States.
The foundation of Ancient Greek and American society are the same, freedom. Ancient Greece introduced the world to a new way of ruling. As democracy gained popularity in the area it was proven to be one of the most successful ways to create a strong nation while still preserving the lives and creativity of it’s people. It was so successful, that it was adopted by America when our country was formed and is
“The polis itself became a major economic factor in terms of public employment on juries or in large public building projects, like Acropolis, or the famous Athenian navy ( Augustana university, n.d.)” Democracy provided significant benefits in an economically sense as office holders, jurymen members and administrative council of 500 as people where paid for their time served (Cartledge, 2011). “Power to the people, all the people, especially the poor majority, remained the guiding principle of Athenian democracy (Cartledge, 2011).” This government also paid the citizens to attend assembly, this enabled the poor to be able to attend the assembly (Blackwell, 2003). Democracy also contributed to a stronger army and navy” it was evident that the Athenian army and navy were more powerful because their men believed they were fighting for their own democracy and for their own freedom” ( Augustana university, n.d.). Athens this evidence clearly establishes that democracy gave many Athenian citizens employment and it also lead to victory in the wars. This system of government was a revolutionary idea, overall it provided a just government and formed a system were the whole citizen body can actively participate in the political system. This lead to the economic and political success of the democratic system in Athens that has since developed
Both Athens and Sparta had some positive and negative aspects in their systems. Modern day democracy still supports and adopt some aspects of political system of both Athens and Sparta.
Raaflaub, Kurt A., and Josiah Ober. Origins of democracy in ancient Greece. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
The government structure reflected the Athenians’ belief that individual contribution is crucial for sustaining a productive society. In the Classical Era, which was from 490-323 BCE, democracy was implemented and resulted in the power over the state lying in each citizen’s hands. Every vote affected the decisions that were made for the community, and every person had a say. The democratic system increased the individual’s involvement and interest in state affairs, therefore making each citizen more aware of what was happening in his community. As Thucydides said in Pericles’ eulogy, “Here each individual is interested not only in his own affairs but in the affairs of the state as well: even those who are mostly occupied with their own business are extremely well-informed on general politics.” By being well informed, the Athenians made better choices for their polis and cared more about what was going on in their city.