Download File

Athens and Rome were run in a different way. The cities were not ruled by single
leaders. Instead, many citizens participated in running the government. In Athens, this
form of government lasted 170 years. In Rome, it lasted 480 years. The effects of these
two civilizations are still felt today.
Location
The Athenians built their city on the southern coast of modern-day Greece. There was a
lot of silver near the city. This made them very rich. They used the silver to pay for wood
from Italy. They used the wood to build boats and take control over the seas.
Rome was founded on the western side of what is now Italy. Romans built their city on
seven hills by the Tiber River. Rome was not directly on the seashore. It was 18 miles
inland.
Athens and Greece
Around 800 BCE, small, competing city-states were forming in the mountains of
southern Greece. Each contained about 500 to 5,000 male citizens. Overall, there might
have been 2 million or 3 million Greeks. The city-states shared a common language and
religion.
Athens was one of the strongest city-states. Power over the government of Athens was
shared among the people. Rich men could vote to choose leaders. Women, children,
slaves, and foreigners had no vote, however.
Around 500 BCE, Athens won a war against the Persian Empire. The Athenians then
enjoyed a golden age for about 150 years. During this time, participation in government
was at its highest.
Athenian scientists, philosophers, and playwrights came up with bold new ideas.
These would later spread across Europe.
Yet the Greek city-states could not live peacefully with each other. Athens was defeated
by another city-state called Sparta in 404 BCE. All of the Greeks were weakened by the
fighting. In the mid-300s BCE, Macedonia conquered the Greek cities.
Meanwhile, the Romans were growing stronger. Unlike the Greeks, they were not split
into different city-states. Between 215 and 146 BCE, they gradually conquered the
Greek cities in Italy. They absorbed Greek thinking into their own.
Rome and empire
In 509 BCE, Roman landowners overthrew their king. They set up a new kind of
government called a republic. In a republic, the government is run by leaders who
represent the people.
Rome started to grow. It had conquered Greece, Egypt, and the Middle East by 133
BCE.
The republican form of government, however, had some drawbacks. It caused fighting
among Rome's military leaders. The leaders competed for power, each with his own
army.
Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) emerged as the winner. He declared himself ruler for life,
ending the republic. Two years later, he was stabbed to death. The killers hoped to
bring back the republic. Instead, Caesar’s adopted son Augustus took power and ruled
for 45 years.
Rome reached its height in the first 200 years of the Common Era. The years between
27 BCE and 180 CE became known as the “Pax Romana,” or "Roman Peace." Roman
leaders controlled about 130 million people. Rome's lands stretched across an area of
about 1.5 million square miles.
The Romans came up with many new ideas. They were master builders, creating roads
and aqueducts for carrying water. They also came up with new systems of law.
They adopted many Greek ideas and helped to spread them across the world. Even the
Roman gods were based on Greek gods.
The rise of Christianity and the fall of Rome
In a far-off corner of the Roman Empire, a new religion was born: Christianity.
Jesus grew up in Judea, which is now part of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Christians believe him to be the son of God.
Judea was under Roman rule. The Romans allowed Jesus to be killed in the early 30s
CE. They believed he was calling for other Jews to rise up against the Romans.
Christianity soon spread in Judea and beyond. At first, Rome tried to stop people from
becoming Christians. By the 200s CE, though, Rome had become the center of the
Christian Church.
Little by little, however, the Roman Empire started to come apart. Some historians say
that Rome finally "fell" in 476.
Connections and legacies
The actions of the Athens and Rome can still be felt around the world today. Both
societies came up with many new ideas. Perhaps the most important was the idea of
people ruling themselves rather than being controlled by a single leader.
This idea later reappeared in Europe and the young United States. It has helped to
shape the world's modern governments.