Greek and Roman Civilization
A study of the history of these two civilizations provides a foundation of how neighboring countries and regions even in ancient times took advantage of political unrest to establish their dominance and authority. Political power and economic prosperity were the key factors in defining the growth of cultures and social structures that made way for new historical events. It is interesting to note that the Middle Western countries of Persia and Macedonia made a distinctive impression on the development of these civilizations with specific focus on the Greek civilization. The invasion of Alexander was a historical milestone that redefined geographic boundaries and power structures at that time and this marked a new era in the development of Greek and Egyptian civilization.
Compare and contrast between Greek and Roman civilization
The Greek civilization
The Greek civilization entered a new phase of development and growth in the Dark Ages that marked the beginning of a new civilization. The developments at this stage were phenomenal in introducing a new culture and political legacy that formed the foundation of the new age political system. The Greek adopted many cultural aspects and political ideas from the Phoenicians who inspired the Greeks into new forms of traditions and commercial activity. The growing contact with the Phoenicians led to the growing trade practices through sea route. The Greeks built merchant ships to promote trade activities and this resulted in increased commercial activity in the civilization. The growing affluence of the social sectors led to emergence of political institutions and establishments to support the economic growth and social development. The whole civilization was divided into distinct polis that represented separate communities having its own principles of governance. The Dark Age was followed by the Archaic Age when the Greek civilization witnessed the mushrooming of colonial structure that extended from the Black Sea to the Western Mediterranean coast. The colonial expansion led to an increasing contact with the Egyptian and Phoenician cultures that influenced development in the sector of trade and commerce. The political system in Greece evolved to adapt to an increasing democratic system. The Dark Ages were defined by aristocratic monopoly on military prowess that leveraged its political and social control within the community. However, with the emergence of Hoplites (foot soldiers armed with spears) the military power was passed on to the people that formed the origin for the establishment of a democratic political order that ensured increased participation of common man in the governance of states. The development of the Greek civilization was founded on the growth of three distinct communities Athens, Sparta and Miletus.
Athens was primarily an agricultural community in the Dark Age. Over time the community strengthened its economic activities to gain a stronghold on trade and commerce. This was largely accountable to the efforts of Solon, one of the aristocrats from Athens who introduced large scale reforms that paved the way for the emergence and growth of trading practices and a political system that reflected democratic ideals. The increasing affluence of the people within the community was instrumental in developing the economy and by 500 BCE Athens was the prime exporter of olive oils, wines and pottery.
Sparta was on the other hand lacking development in terms of trade and commerce. The community was depended on the neighboring Messenia that was wealthy in terms of agricultural resources. Sparta had conquered this region and used its wealth and agricultural resources to sustain its economy. The people of Messenia were forced to work as slaves or helots to Sparta and this led to revolts within the Messenia community who wanted to break free of the Spartan rule. Sparta managed to quell such efforts and hence focused its energies on building their warrior community to deal with such situations. The result was visible in the growth of Spartan community as a primarily warrior community where the males were trained from early years in warfare tactics. Individuals who were incapable of becoming a soldier lost their rights to become a Spartan citizen. The Spartan males were not allowed to live with their families till the age of thirty and this was one of the major reasons behind the low population growth rate in Sparta. The Miletus community was significant in their contribution to philosophic thinking and formulating rational theories to explain the working of the physical universe in which they live.
The Peloponessian war had an adverse impact on the social and economic development of the Greek civilization. The economy of Athens suffered a severe setback. Sparta had initially emerged as a powerful force from this war but the rest of Greece communities aligned to fight Sparta in the Corinthian war that led Sparta to align with the Persians. The conflicts and ongoing warfare between the communities had a negative impact on the economic development of the civilization. Trade was affected and this led to increasing social degeneration and increase in criminal activities within the societies. The negative impact was evident in the field of cultural development too since troubled social systems did not encourage creativity and innovation in thought patterns. The thinking of the philosophers underlined a sense of criticism and cynicism in view of the social degeneration.
The growth of three Hellenistic kingdoms after the death of Alexander was another significant era in the history of Greek civilization. The Macedonians took advantage of the growing conflicts and wars between the Greek states to establish their empire. The Macedonian empire launched an attack on the neighboring states of Persia, Egypt and the Middle East. This mission led by Alexander resulted in the fragmentation of the conquered states into three distinct Hellenistic states that included Seleucid Asia, Antigonid Macedonia and Greece, and Ptolemaic Egypt. Initially the terms between these states were favorable and based on healthy trade and commerce that contributed to economic prosperity and development of social structure. However, over time these relations witnessed troubled times and gradual weakening of the Hellenistic powers.
The Roman civilization
The Romans were naturally a militant society because they constantly had to defend themselves from the invaders. Romans were descendents of early Indo-European settlers. Rome served as the most preferred port for the trading ships because of its geographical location gave it the strategic and commercial advantages. The trading ships were stopping at Rome and were not going further and they were getting protections by Rome from the see attackers.
In very early stage the Romans gave many interchangeable rights like intermarriages and legal migration between cities to Latin. Because of the liberal attitude of Rome there were less conflicts and it gave them a better chance of expansion within Italy. In contrary the Greece was very suspicious and jealous and because of that attitude the fights and divisions were common among Greece cities. As a system in the early stages the Rome was a monarchy and at later stages it was ruled by cruel rulers. At some point of time during 500 B.C.E the Romans revolted and that ended the kinship and brought the republic. The early Roman republic was full of fights and war and at later stags it started the policies of accommodation where the defeated people were asked to serve in army and thus giving them continued share in political and military success. In early stage of the republic system the aristocratic people called patricians were dominant but it consisted of 2 percent of the total population. The other 98 percent of the population called plebeians were deprived lot without any much privilege, less rights and say in the system and had to always work during war. This situation continued for a long time. During early 500 BCE the plebeians revolted and the system started to change. The plebeians were gradually given political and other rights. By the end of 287 B.C.E the plebeians got the final victory and were given right to elect their representative in general assemblies. But these families of plebeians started getting elected generation after generations and it became dynasty for them. By the end of 1st Century B.C.E even the even the patricians were feeling excluded from the system. This gave the rise of individual political agenda.
The cultural and intellectual growth of Rome happened very slowly. The writing was used very scarcely. The teaching and education system was family affair and the system of teaching was more of passing on the knowledge of trade and practices from father to the son. Agricultural and war was the main occupation for the majority of the population. Artisans, and trade development was minor. Till 289 B.C.E there was no standard coinage of its own from the Romans. The religions that assumed the character during the republican age of Romans continued for a longer time in the Roman history. During the late republican era in Roman history the influence of conquering Greece and Asia was very high. It poured huge wealth in Roman society and thus created various sections in the society based on wealth and as a consequence huge economic and social gaps among the people. The slavery system was prevalent the huge land holding and running the agricultural activities through the use of slaves was prevalent. Slavery was very much in the trade, household and artisans activities. Rome was one of the largest known economies in the history that was dependent entirely on slavery. Slavery was most accepted and taken-for-granted by Romans. The small farmers were not capable of competing with the large landlords have sold their farms to large landlords and went to the cities. The slavery based large scale farming has never brought the transition of farming activities to industrialism in the ancient Rome. The slaves were doing all the hard work and the farm activities so involvement of technology never happened. Lack of large scale manufacturing resulted in large number of unemployment and dissatisfaction among the people. But the 1st century B.C.E almost a third of Romes population were dependent on grain freely distributed by the state.
Impact of Greek civilization on Western civilization
The political ideas promoted by Greek civilization have special significance in the modern Western civilization. The growing emphasis of open trade system conceptualized by the Greeks has provided the western civilization with a new model of economic growth and development. The present growth of trade relations and social development is based on historical practices that have proved the significance of trade and commerce in building an affluent and powerful society.
One of the major contributions made by Greek civilization is the concept of democracy. The origin of democracy is traced to the ancient Greek civilization and many leaders were involved in promoting the democratic form of governance during this period. Pericles strengthened the concept of democratic governance by providing the masses with the right to elect their representatives to the official positions. Most of the constitutional practices prevalent in the present Western civilization had their origins in the ancient Greek history. This refers to voting rights of masses to elect their representatives to the governing board, rights of the citizens to vote for or against the decision of the governing body, proposal committees, and composition of modern judiciary system. The ancient practices promoted in the city of Athens implemented positive changes in the establishment of a proper jury system that enabled the masses to have their appeals heard in various levels of judiciary system.
It is significant to note that the Greek civilization contributed to the rich cultural development in the region and science. The historical growth of the civilization was a culminating point in the emergence and growth of modern mathematical, astronomical and scientific theories. Moreover, the philosophical views framed in the historical era still hold a significant place in the modern studies of culture and society.
Impact of Roman civilization on Western civilization
There were many aspects of the Roman civilization that were influenced by the Greek culture and this is evident in the development of arts and religious practices in Rome in the ancient times. The sports and entertainment pursuits such as gladiators and chariot races in the ancient Roman civilization have evolved today into car racing and athletic events that are widely popular today. However, one of the biggest influences of the ancient Roman civilization on the modern Western civilization has been on the religious views and ideals held by Christianity. The catholic beliefs promoted by the Romans have made a deep impact on Christianity and its followers all over the world. It was the source of spread of the religion to various parts of the world and imbibed a sense of oneness among all its followers. This has been the biggest impact of the ancient Roman civilization on the present day western civilization. The birth and spread of Christianity is the foundation stone for the development of Western civilization.
Another distinct area of influence of the ancient Roman civilization is visible in the modern day architecture that dominates the western civilization and growth. The use of the arch, dome and the motifs used by the Roman architects has been an integral part of the western architecture. The buildings designed by the western architects were greatly influenced by the Roman architecture that dominated the growth of the ancient civilization.
The ancient Roman civilization had a definite impact on the current evolution of the Western civilization. The roots of the legal system and parliamentary system are traced back to the Roman Senate that mirrored the present day corruption, greediness and double standards held by the parliamentarians today. The civilization was far removed from democratic concepts and theories unlike their Greek counterparts and this can be concluded as one of the major causes of its downfall.
Cultural heritage and historical practices have no doubt paved the way for current practices and trends. The study of ancient civilizations provides an interesting insight into the way the past culture and political economic system have influenced the growth of modern society. Human beings have applied innovation in the ancient practices and applied past knowledge bases to design and invent new methods and applications that define the present activities and trends. This paper illustrates the fact that the roots of the current socio-economic development and practices lies in the past.
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