Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mr. Wisner
M/W 2nd
7 October 2016
Today, we take for granted our citizenship in the United States. As long as we were born
here, we're a citizen. It wasn't always like this in the world. Athens and Rome both had certain
systems of citizenship they followed. Egypt, Babylonia, and ancient China people were referred
to as subjects not citizens. Power was in the hands of a pharaoh, king, or emperor. 6 century
BCE, new ideas were thought of that ordinary people play an important role in the life of the
state. While Athens emphasised on citizen responsibility more than citizen rights. Rome was
more concerned on how citizens acted with family, neighbors, and his property. Rome had an
overall better system of citizenship, because they were far more organized, they allowed more
The Roman Republic, in many ways, set the standard for the future of many countries.
The Roman system of citizenship was superior because of the stability and order of the Roman
senate. Not every Roman citizen could be a senator. It had more to do with wealth, family
standing, and competence (Doc F). This was not true in Athens, where any of Athens 40,000
citizens were welcome to attend sessions of the Athenian Assembly (Doc E). The two images in
Documents E and F fairly show the difference in atmosphere in the two bodies. In Athens, there
is a casual informality, a kid of leveling that might encourage too much power to the middling
man. In the Roman Senate, however, there is a stability of old families and old wisdom, of men
who in protecting their own interest would be protecting the interest of the whole empire.
The Roman Republic allowed more than just adult males to become citizens. Unlike
Athens women could be citizens but had limited rights, they could not vote or hold public office.
They could not defend themselves in court. A woman was under the full authority of her
husband's head of his family and had no legal say in much of anything. So, although women
might be given the title of full citizen, they did not have the rights of a full citizen. Sons of freed
slaves were allowed to be citizens. Female children and native-born male children were allowed
Rome granted more freedom than Athens. Roman women inherited property, they spoke
at public gatherings and were allowed opinions. They were educated and literate, sometimes
more than males. Plebeians went to school for free, they even accepted boy and girl slaves to be
educated. Plebeians werent stuck in their social classes, they could break out of their class
through marriage or wealth. Even some slaves were educated, they could also be freed at the age
Although Rome was not perfect, they were better than Athens. They were very
successful, stayed organized, granted citizenship not only to men, and allowed much freedom.