Citizenship in Athens and Rome

Athens was a small city state.

There were about 300,000 people in Athens - including slaves

Participation was important. They used terms like "useless" and "beasts" to describe people who did not participate.

Athens used a system called democracy where all citizens voted on the laws.

Rome was a huge empire with about 45,000,000 living in it

Roman citizens were judged on how they interacted with their neighbors

Rome used a system called a republic where elected officials voted on laws

Athens: Men, whose parents were citizens after they had completed an education and served in the military.

Rome: Men, women and children if their parents were married and lived in certain parts of the empire.

NO! Both Athens and Rome had slaves. Who were these slaves?

Most slaves in Rome were foreigners who had been conquered in war.

In Athens most slaves were those conquered in war or sold by pirates

ostracism - citizens could kick out those people that were dangerous to the country

election by lot - system used by Athenians to ensure that all citizens were represented and participated in the government

Athens is famous for using its slaves to hold a rope dipped in paint to round up people for assembly. Not going to assembly would result in literally having a mark against you!

Rome was huge. They took a census every 5 years. In this census they ranked people based on their wealth, physical and moral fitness, marital status and administrative competence.

A citizens standing was always changing between different levels of citizenship

Rome also (perhaps idealized) allowed many foreigners who they conquered to become citizens.

There were many more citizens in Rome.

Athens wanted you to participate in making laws. In Rome that was strictly for the Senate.

Rome may have let you become a citizen, but your ability to impact the government was tiny.

Even with their elections by lot and Assembly meeting 40x per year, it still was tough for Athens to get over 15% of people to show up for meetings.