Ancient Greece vs. Ancient Rome Both Greek and Roman civilizations were very influential and innovative. This lead to the mass expansion and century lasting of the societies. Even though these empires influenced each other and many other cultures greatly, they both have similar ,as well as different aspects in society, geography, religion, etc... For instance, both civilizations were polytheistic meaning they worshiped more than one god. On the other hand, both Greece and Rome developed in very different locations which affected them in many ways.
No individual source of power had ever dominated Greece and come to centralize it. There were two city states, Athens and Sparta, that had dominated greater power in Greece, but both places did not have the same source of power, mainly because their locations had limited them to dominate complete supremacy. Athens had access to the seas and therefore had dominated sea fare with the strongest military fleet while Sparta had become the dominant military land-power, since they had been a militaristic society. Other than geographical power, political power also differentiated between the polis. Each had a very strong sense of individualism, and even when they had bonded for a short period of time, such as during the Persian invasion, they had quickly divided once again.
The Greeks were a collection of around 1,500 city states as the Persians were under the rule of one king. These city states were always ruled by richest citizens or monarchies, henceforth called tyrants for the way of coming to power. The only thing these cities had in common was that they followed the same religion and spoke the same language. The Persians were ruled under one king but the satraps ruled the empire’s 23 provinces. And to prevent treason, the King created a system of imperial spies which were his “eyes and ears”.
Greek and Persian Cultures in the Sixth Century BC In the sixth century BC, two massive cultures lay on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea(Herodotus li). The Greeks, known as the Hellenes, were spread through much of lower Europe(Herodotus 210), while the Persian empire occupied modern day Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and the surrounding areas(Herodotus 225, The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, 41). Although these great peoples dwelt on the shore of the same sea, they differed in everything from government, military, religion, and education, to morality and social structures. These two cultures have made it in to the history books, novels, television programs, and movies as some of the greatest cultures of all time. The Greeks and the Persians both possessed amazing societies.
While democracy is viewed as a positive concept in modern day Europe, in ancient Greece it was constantly debated and opposed by many, including oligarchs and philosophers. While democracy was criticized by a number of wealthy Athenians, it is fair to say that it was regarded by the democrats themselves as the rule of law, and was linked to both public and political liberty or eleutheria. According to the Athenian democrats, the source of constitutional power rested in the hands of all the citizens. Ideas were expressed directly through the Assembly, which consisted of all male citizens over 18 years of age and who were willing to attend the sessions held about every 10 days. There was no system of representation calling for long campaigns and expensive elections.
Hellenic Athens and Sparta The barbaric stereotypes people think of when referring to the Spartan society makes the Athenian civilization seem to correspond to our modern society. However, the savage imagery we conceive of the Spartans prevents the exploration of their civility. Even though they did have an extremely militaristic state of mind, they also had an incredibly well organized government system. Politically, socially, and culturally, the two Hellenic city-states of Greece had many differences, but simultaneously were very similar. In the eighth century B.C.E., Hellenic Athens was an oligarchic government.
Although Spartan women were not active in the military, they were educated and enjoyed more status and freedom than other Greek women. Because Spartan men were professional soldiers, all manual labor was done by a slave class, the Helots. Despite their military prowess, the Spartans’ dominance was short-lived: In 371 B.C., they were defeated by Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra, and their empire went into a long period of decline. The Spartan Military Unlike such Greek city-states as Athens, a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, Sparta was centered on a warrior culture. Male Spartan citizens were allowed only one occupation: solider.
The Ancient Olympics began with only a few running events, but eventually expanded into much more. The Olympic Games were a series of athletic competition held for representatives of various city-states of Ancient GReec held in honor of Zeus. The exact origins of the Games are shrouded in myth and legend but records indicate that they began in 776 BCE in Olympia in Greece (Origin 2). The Greeks that came to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia shared the same religious beliefs and spoke the same language. The athletes were all male citizens of the city-states from every corner of the Greek world, coming from as far away as Iberia (Spain) in the west and the Black Sea (Turkey) in the east ( McParland 4).
Athenian Democracy Athenian democracy is original democracy a democracy which is by the people for the people but who classifies as the people, everyone within the Athenian border? No ‘the people’ are a select elite called ‘citizens’ the citizens of Athens are those who have been born an Athenian or if you are in Athens long enough to appear to be an Athenian. Others who do not classify for the citizenship are left to take what the state throws at them whether it be slave labour or enlistment. Athenian democracy compared to today is extremely different, we have no racial, political discrimination, and all who are citizens of a democratic country and are of age may politicly partake in voting and any other job in politics they have the requirements for, whereas in Athenian democracy only the elite could partake in political discussions and be valued by the political community. In reality Athenian democracy is a complete mockery of itself by not abiding by the ‘guidelines of democracy.’(i.e.
It grew through conquest to cover a huge region that roughly is consisted of today's Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, many parts of Greece, Egypt, Syria, much of what is now Pakistan, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Central Asia, Libya, and northern parts of Arabia. The empire eventually became the largest empire of the ancient world. The Persian Empire was the largest empire ever known in the fertile crescent. The Persian culture included Zoroasrianism, which was an ancient Persian religion. Originally Zoroastians worshiped only one god, unlike neighbouring cities that worshiped many.