Monthly Archives: April 2024

The Government, Laws, and Culture of Ancient Athens

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Draco of Athens.

In ancient Greece, Athens was the leading city-state. Although Sparta’s military was arguably the strongest, Athens had been developing all aspects of civilization. Athens had a unique government, laws, and entertainment. However, the people of Athens would soon be tested when the great Persian Empire attempted to invade the Greek mainland. 

In 621 BC, a man named Draco established a new justice system for the city of Athens. Before Draco, the families of murder victims or other violent crimes took it upon themselves to punish the perpetrator. Draco understood that families would still want to enact vengeance upon the person who harmed their loved one, but wished to create an unified justice and trial system. To attempt to satisfy the families, particularly harsh and heinous punishments were implemented. Later in 594 BC, Solon reformed Draco’s laws and lessened the severity of punishments. He also canceled all public or private debts, freed debt slaves in Athens, and changed the criteria for political participation from ancestry to wealth. Before Solon, only individuals born into certain families had a say in the government, but it was changed so the rich or property owners also had representation. 

The government of Athens consisted of the Assembly, the Council of Five Hundred, the courts, and the magistrates. All male citizens were members of the Assembly. However the Council of Five Hundred and the courts were made up of random men chosen from the citizen body. The magistrates were the highest authority in Athens and were either elected or chosen officials. A common punishment issued by the Athenian people was ostracism. This was the practice of exiling a citizen for 10 years if 6,000 or more citizens wrote his name on a pottery shard. There did not have to be concrete evidence that this person committed any sort of crime, but if 6,000 Athenians wanted him gone, he would be banished.

Athens, like many others of its day, was a slave society. The enslaved were former POWs, criminals, victims of slave raids, or debt slaves, before Solon’s reforms. Because slaves usually did all the manual labor, labor of any sort was looked down upon in society. To labor with one’s hands was to degrade oneself to the level of a slave. Therefore, it was not acceptable for a citizen to labor. Similarly, trade and commerce were also held in contempt. Merchants were seen as untrustworthy liars and were generally scolded by the populus. 

A career in the military was praised and encouraged in Athens, though not forced like in Sparta. Athens’ military might was especially impressive in regards to their navy. During the Persian Wars, the Athenian navy bested the Persian navy on numerous occasions, establishing themselves as the preeminent naval power of their time. 

Athens was an influential civilization in many ways. From becoming the first democracy to expanding navy warfare, it’s hard to deny the city’s historical reputation. Although at one point being the leading Greek city-state, long wars with Persia and Sparta would soon weaken Athens, ending their golden age.

Julius Caesar: Toward the Empire

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The Death of Julius Caesar - altARP
Assassination of Julius Caesar.

By 70 BC, Rome was gravitating toward an Empire instead of a Republic like how they had been traditionally for hundreds of years. Many influential Romans still wanted to preserve the Republic, including Sulla who implemented various reforms around 50-60 BC. After Sulla’s death, three prominent Roman men gained immense power. They were Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar and are known as the First Triumvirate.

Both Crassus and Popmpey became consuls, at that time one of the highest positions in Rome. The First Triumvirate started to get rid of Sulla’s laws and tried to undermine the power of the Senate and consolidate power in favor of an imperial system. Eventually, Caesar also took the office of consul, but more importantly he got large military commands. Crassus died in 53 BC, now leaving only Pompey and Julius Caesar in a power struggle for the most influential man in all of Rome. While Pompey was back home in Rome, Caesar continued to win countless military victories in Gaul and northern Europe, but key senators decided to support Pompey over Caesar, believing Caesar to be power hungry. 

The Senate boldly commanded that Julius Caesar disarm his army. Obviously, he refused as he had control of the most numerous soldiers. Caesar led his legions of men in a march on Rome. After a brief civil war between Caesar and Pompey and his supporters, Julius Caesar was victorious. Throughout a three-to-four-year period, he consolidated power, becoming dictator in 48 BC and dictator for life in 44 BC. In fear, the Senate honored Caesar and was promptly filled completely with his supporters. Not a brutal dictator, Julius Caesar was fair, had mercy on his enemies, and was generally beloved by the people. Some of his accomplishments include: creating a new calendar, granting citizenship to many people, and establishing colonies for veterans. 

There were some former Senators that resented Julius Caesar and even some of his associates and supporters that thought he had gained too much power. So in 44 BC, they assassinated Caesar who was  stabbed and was famously killed by his close friend Brutus. After Caesar’s death, the biggest question in Rome was the problem of the power gap that was left open. Two men would emerge into yet another power struggle: Marc Antony, a close associate of Julius Caesar and who was furious at the men responsible for killing him, and Octavian, a young ambitious man who was named heir to the throne by the Senate. 

The First Roman Emperors and the Golden Age of Latin Literature

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Map of Roman Expansion in the First Century BC.

In 76 BC, Pompey (106-48 BC), who had served under Sulla, sought a command in Spain against Sertorius, but the Senate refused. So Pompey disobeyed the Senate’s orders to disband his legions until he got control in Spain. Eventually, Pompey won a victory in Spain in 71 BC, and cleared the Mediterranean of pirates in 66 BC. For this, he was rewarded with a campaign against Mithridates. Crassus (155-53 BC), who was the richest man in Rome, and suppressed Spartacus’s slave revolt, joined Pompey as one of two consuls in 70 BC. 

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) served as quaestor in Spain and threw support to Pompey in 67 BC. The consuls elected in 65 BC were condemned for electoral bribery after Catiline, who had served under Sulla, tried to start an uprising against the consuls after he lost an election. Caesar was rewarded with a command in Gaul after helping defeat Catiline. Pompey married Caesar’s daughter and in return Pompey’s soldiers were given a land grant. 

Julius Caesar.

Backed by the Senate, Pompey later had Crassus killed while Caesar was in Gaul, and started a civil war against his former ally Caesar. Caesar won the conflict, declared himself dictator for life in 48 BC, and filled the Senate with his supporters. Although most Senators were loyal, the old Senate members still resented him and in 44 BC Julius Caesar was assassinated.

After Julius Caesar’s reign, Marc Antony was one of the only surviving associates of Caesar, and declared that Caesar’s decrees would be respected. Antony got much of Caesar’s wealth, and the Senate, which was warned by Cicero, was concerned about Antony’s power. Octavian was given the task of defeating Antony. He was successful and marched on Rome to declare himself consul. In 43 BC, Octavian declared himself “Caesar Augustus”. 

In 43 BC, the traditional process of lawmaking was disbanded, and the empire was divided up into three sections, each controlled by Augustus, Antony, and Lepidus. Augustus also killed members of the Senate who had conspired against Julius Caesar. Antony then married Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, and tried to move the capital of the empire to Alexandria, an act which caused Augustus and Lepidus to worry about him trying to take over the empire. At the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Augustus defeated Antony and Cleopatra, who fled to Egypt and both commitied suicide. 

The Battle of Actium.

By 29 BC Caesar Augustus was back in Rome and spent the wealth he got from Egypt on Roman building plans. In 27 BC he told the Senate that Rome was safe and tried to give up his power. However, the Senate instead made him consul and gave him the power to override governors and exercise vetos. Caesar Augustus implemented many new reforms such as encouraging marriage, discouraging childlessness, and making marriage mandatory for men and women of a certain age. He also installed new shrines to the gods to make people more religious. 

During the first century BC, known as the Golden Age of Latin Literature, many of the greatest Roman writers composed their work. Horace (65-8 BC) was a playwright who wrote mostly satire. His most famous work was Odes, a short lyrical poem that was a great success. Virgil (born 70 BC) created two books about country life and how to have a well-maintained farm. Virgil is best known for the Aeneid, which was about the legend of Aeneas and the Trojan War. Livy (born 59 BC) wrote the entire history of Rome over 142 books. Ovid (43 BC-17 AD) wrote romantic novels and was banished to Romania by Caesar Augustus because of his writings. 

Bust of the Roman Poet Virgil.

At the same time Rome’s greatest writers were doing their work, Rome changed from a republic into a dictatorship ruled by Caesars and continued to conquer land until their peak in 117 AD.