Ancient Greece and Rome Governance

• Ancient Greece and Rome developed brilliant civilizations, influencing the world's development.

Governance

• Different Greek city-states had various forms of governance.
• Athens was known for democracy, while Sparta practiced timarchy.
• Roman governance succeeded Greek governance, developing into the Roman Republic and Empire.
• Later political systems like democracy and monarchy were influenced by it.

Influence of Ancient Greek Governance

• Athens introduced democracy as early as 500 BC.
• Citizens could directly vote on issues using direct democracy.
• Democratic organizations were set up, including the Citizens' Assembly and the Council of Five Hundred.
• The Citizens' Assembly was the supreme legislative body.
• The Basic Law in Hong Kong states the fundamental rights and duties of Hong Kong residents, including equality before the law, the right to vote and stand for election, and freedoms of religion, marriage, assembly, demonstration, and publication.
• Hong Kong residents have a duty to obey the laws.
• Athenian democracy was the rule of the majority of the citizens, not the few
• Representatives and officers in Athens were chosen via lot to ensure fair opportunity for all citizens to participate in politics and to prevent the government from being controlled by nobles.
• This representative system was the origin of parliamentary democracy.
• The English word "democracy" comes from the Greek words "demo" (people) and "kratos" (rule), meaning "the rule of people".
• The Citizens' Assembly comprised all male citizens.
• The Council of Five Hundred was made up of 50 representatives from each of the ten districts selected by lot, forming 500 members.
• The Citizens' Assembly met approximately 40 times every year.
• All citizens could speak at the Assembly and seek legislation or legal action.
• The duties of the Citizens assembly were to pass laws and decide important city-state policies (declaring war, making peace, supply of food).
• The Council of Five Hundred met everyday
• There were ten committees, that had duties in turns
• They had a one year term of service
• The Council of Five Hundred set the agenda for the Citizens' Assembly and manage the daily affairs of the city-state.
• Civil rights for Athenian citizens include freedom and independence, land use rights, the right to receive financial aid and self-defense, military service, to worship and protect the guardian god, and to participate in public celebrations.
• Duties of Athenian citizens include protection of own properties and crops, to protect the city-state from invasions, obey the laws and government and to respect the gods.

Timarchy in Sparta

• In Sparta citizens had the right to participate in political activities.
• Sparta adopted timarchy which meant the city state was controlled by a few nobles
• Sparta had two kings from two families
• In times of war, one king would fight, while the other managed internal affairs.
• However, the two kings were only nominal rulers.
• Real power was in the hands of the Gerousia (council of elders) and the five ephors.
• The Gerousia was formed by the two kings and 28 elders (nobles over 60 years old)
• The Gerousia had veto power over the decisions made by the Citizen's Assembly
• The Gerousia held the highest power, and controlled the military, financial, and judicial affairs of Sparta.
• The five ephors were elected from the Spartan citizens for a one-year term.
• The ephors had the power to supervise the kings and other officials.
• Spartan citizens had little power, as it was mainly in the hands of the nobles, due to the timarchy political system.

Ancient Greek Ways of Voting

• The study of election in English "psephology," derived from the Greek word "psephos," meaning "little stones" as the earliest form of voting in Athens involved throwing a little stone into a pottery container.
• Methods evolved to raising hands or throwing bronze pieces into a pottery container.
• Athenian law included ostracism where citizens used a piece of clay shard to vote against corrupt officials in the Citizens' Assembly.
• If a person was thought to pose threats to democracy, citizens would write that person's name on a clay shard and put it in the ballot box and that person would be exiled for 10 years if they received the highest votes.
• Sparta voted by shouting and the candidate that received the loudest shout would would be considered as elected.

Influence of Ancient Roman Governance

• The Romans developed the republican system from the Greek foundation of democracy.
• The English word "republic" comes from the Latin "res publica," meaning "public affairs of the citizens."
• In the Roman Republic the executive, legislative, and judicial power belonged to the consuls, the Senate, and the Assembly, respectively.
• This represented the concept of the balance of power.
• The US President and Roman consuls are both elected and have term limits.
• The US Congress has similar functions to the Roman Senate and Assembly.
• Roman Republic adopted bicameralism where partricians controlled the Senate and the plebians elected the Assembly.
• This system is used in countries all over the world, with the upper house being the Senate and House of Representatives being the lower house
• SPQR appears on the emblem of modern Rome, government documents, statues and sewer covers.
• SPQR is the abbreviation of the official name of the Roman Republic in Latin (Senatus Populusque Romanus).
• The phrase means "The Senate and the Roman citizens" and is still considered the symbol of Rome.

Political System of the Roman Empire

• Roman Empire was ruled by an Emperor
• Emperor had supreme power
• There were no more elected consuls
• The Senate lost power, becoming an advisory organization for the Emperor
• Governors were appointed by the Emperor to rule the provinces
• The Governors were responsible directly to the Emperor
• The English word "province" originally came from the Latin "provincia" which meant assign, but later used to describe assigning the rule of the place to a governor.
• The influence of Rome was still felt in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire.
• Many European rulers claimed to be successors of the Roman Empire such as Charlemagne of the Kingdom of the Franks and the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, which started in AD 10th century and lasted 800 years also called themselves Kaiser from the title of the Roman Emperors (Caesar)