Concept of Citizenship and Government
Without a doubt, the importance of ancient citizenship cannot be minimized under any pretext. In the historical context, it forms the favorable prerequisites for further examination of a chosen state. As a result, its significance is worth taking into consideration. Specifically, the terms of citizenship and government occupied one of the leading places in the aspect of the Western civilization. Moreover, they had an apparent influence on the following development of the presented communities. Thus, this article is aimed at analyzing the particular features of Roman citizenship and elucidating the distinguishing characteristics between Roman Empire, Athenian Amphictyony, and the Assyrian Empire’s conceptions.
Conventionally, the model of Roman citizenship may be treated as a privileged political status that defines a social role of an individual. As a rule, the population inherited the number of duties dedicated to the aspect of law, privacy, and governance (Wasson, 2016). The whole community was divided into special classes: a Roman citizen, a Roman woman, slaves, and a freedman. Each group manifested the appropriate rights concerning their societal positions. Besides, the embedded rights varied in scale due to the origin and contribution of a personality to the state. The rights to vote, stand for civil and public office or make legal contracts were distributed proportionally. As a result, the embedded system served as a powerful instrumental tool, which appeared to be rather effective. Furthermore, it maintained a delicate Republican and Empire’s balance and regulated the well-being of the nation.
Calculate the cost of essay
Nevertheless, Roman citizenship differed from the Greek or Assyrian model noticeably. The ancient principles of equality under the law or participation in the governmental activity were transmitted into the Roman world from the Athenian society. On the contrary, the issue of slavery formed a major distinction between the leading civilizations. For instance, the slaves were allowed to take part in the political and cultural life of Rome (Howarth, 2006, p. 49). They created a unique sector of society and could profit from the citizenship, accumulating wealth and power. Instead, the groups of slaves did not have any rights in Greek or Assyrian Empires as they pertained to the category of under-class representatives.
To conclude, it is essential to highlight that the Roman model of citizenship and government was based on the vital interests concerning the diverse groups of population. The precise attention was paid to the inquiry of origin, nationality, and personal devotion to the commune life. All in all, the regimes in Ancient Greece and Assyrian empire turned out to demonstrate less democratic values. It can be admitted that these countries were distinguished by more severe system of regulation.