Rome And Greece

Rome and Greece

The Roman Republic and the Ancient Greek world were two civilizations that shared a great deal of social and cultural aspects. Yet, at the same time they had many differences. Some of the more important aspects of the two civilizations culture were the importance of woman within the society and the role they played. Another is the concept of slavery and how slaves were perceived by citizens. Also, how each civilization controlled and set up their military systems, and finally the most important was how each civilization set up their political systems.

In the personal aspect of Roman culture, the male father figure dominated the family. He had complete control over almost every aspect of his family, except his wife. He did have some what of authority over his wife, but his wife was protected by her fatherÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs family. A husband was not allowed to divorce his wife unless she committed some sort of severe offense. The wife of the family had authority over raising the children and over matters concerning the household, for example food preparation and storage areas. Though some woman had privileges in their households, woman with in the Roman society held little to no privileges outside the home. Woman were allowed to own property and engaged in contracts, but to do so they were required to have some sort of male legal guardian acting on their behalf.

Greek woman were relatively different from Roman woman. Greek woman had no privileges or rights. Women were not allowed hold any sort of office, vote, or debate. Greek woman were considered to be almost invisible beings within the Greek society. Women had no choice of their husband and were married off between the ages of 12 to 18. All the woman of Ancient Greece were taken care of by some sort of male guardian; husband, father, male cousin of some sort. Woman were allowed only to social interact with their male relatives or husbands. Like the Roman woman woman of Ancient Greece spent all of their time bearing/raising children, cooking food, and managing affairs with the household. The only time woman could be seen in public was to participate in state religion.

Slavery is another comparable aspect of Roman and Ancient Greek civilizations. Slaves in the Rome Republic were considered to be more like house servants then slaves and were usually prisoners of war. Roman slaves would cook and serve food, wash clothes, clean the home and engaged in many other tasks. Slaves in Roman society were able to work their way to a position of a freedman, if granted by their owner. Slaves were freed frequently in Roman society. Also if the Roman slaves had children those children would be become slaves. Slave labor though was exploited to the benefit of the aristocratic family. Slave rebellion also occurred due to harsh treatment of the slaves.

Most of the Greek slaves were not of Greek heritage. Like the RomanÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs the Greeks saw foreigners as inferior beings and fit only to be their slaves. Chattel slavery was the practice of Greeks enslaving prisoners of war or people captured from pirating. The slaves of Greece were similar to that of Romans in that they fulfilled the same duties as the Roman slaves in the household. Greece slaves however, participated in a great deal of other tasks. Slaves duties ranged from tending to the wealthy classes farms, working in mines, become even being prisoner attendants. Greeks, also like the Romans, were sometimes granted freedom to their slaves. The Greek slaves also rebelled against their captors. In Sparta the threat of a slave rebellion was a constant issue, a problem that the Romans shared.

In a military aspect Greek and Romans were quite different. At first the Greeks were extremely unorganized and lacked formation. Then they formed hoplites, which were heavily armed foot soldiers that carried a round shield and a spear. These hoplites would then be placed in groups called a Phalanx. In order for the Phalanx to maintain effectiveness and control, the hoplites of each Phalanx had to be at all times in peak physical condition and be in-sync with the each together. The Phalanx strategy was focused around the idea of quick violent attacks that either killed or force the enemy to retreat. This type of formation was used until the Romans created their legions.

The Romans on the other hand an extremely complex and ordered military system. They had a specific process in which to recruited soldiers. According to Polybius, consuls would announce at an assembly that all Roman men of military must report for service. Of the 14 tribunes, 4 were split into 4 groups the other ten are spilt evenly among them. Next the leaders of each group would take turns picking soldiers. The first leader gets the first pick and so on. At each round the leaders picked soldiers of similar physique and age to evenly distribute the strength among the legions. They would continue this until the each legion reached a total of about 4,200 men. This system of distributing soldiers allowed each legion to be equal in strength so no legion was weak and could not fulfill their respective deputies. Next, each soldier was provided with specific armor and weaponry according to their age and years of service. This was more or less like a pecking order, the younger the soldier received less weaponry and protection.

The final aspect of both Roman and Greek civilizations is their political systems. RomeÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs political system was comparable to that of Ancient