Greek and Roman essay essays

Greek and Roman essay essays As the Greek and Roman empires arose vastly throughout Europe, new ideas that would change the way the Europe and the world would handle things were spread across the globe. Changes in governmental policies, art, and philosophy influenced European culture, inducing future cultures to model their ideas and policies after the Greeks and Romans. The expansion of these empires encouraged cultural diffusion, blending the culture of the two empires into the land it conquered. Ancient Greece passed on a new form of government and governmental policies to European culture. The most important of these governmental policies is democracy. Democracy gave an equal vote to every man, under certain circumstances, on issues concerning the welfare of Grecian city-states. These circumstances limited the number of men that were able to participate in debates, leaving mainly wealthy landowners to run the government. The citizens that made up the democracy would settle issues such as choosing most government officials from the citizenry through a lottery and developed the idea of placing limits on the officials term. This original form of government has had a lost lasting affect on the European world, providing a basis for the governments of future civilizations to come. The Ancient Romans also passed on a form of governmental policies to European culture, but these policies differed from that of Ancient Greece. Although the power was not entirely in the hands of the citizens of Rome, they still had some power and decision making rights that would help shape the government. As in the Grecian democracy, male citizens participated in the Assembly, which could pass laws, elect magistrates, and declare war. No free discussion took place at Roman assemblies, and citizens could only approve or reject proposals presented by a magistrate, rather then present their own. Although this was a limited form of a government run by the people, it was ...