Roman Empire vs. Roman Rebublic Essay - 900 Words

Though the roman empire and the roman republic vary in their political structures they are quite common in the structures of their social hierarchy and reasoning for their downfalls. The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire highly differ in their political structures. The republic: created in 509 BCE. was a form of representative democracy. It consisted of 2 consuls of which were appointed by the senate and then voted on. These consuls were the head officers and the were appointed for one year. The senate was one of two legislative bodies comprised of 300 senators and 10 tribunes who were all patricians. The other body was knows as the tribal assembly and was made up of plebeians who met in a forum to vote on things such as consuls.†¦show more content†¦In the roman empire the structure of a family was the basis for the structure of government. It was thought that a family was a state within a state. The dominant male or paterfamilias have control over the family just as the paterfamilias of the state (state magistrates): had the power of the state. But while men are at the top of this hierarchy slaves are at the bottom. Slaves could be acquired as prisoners of war or could be traded. The rich owned the most slaves and often the best. Slaves were used for cooks, valets, waiters, cleaners, farmers, assistants or artisans. Because the empire grew out of the traditions of the republic, both social structures of the republic and the empire were based on wealth but you will also notice that in both societys there are few rich compared to the many poor or slaves in which they are similar. Finally the roman republic and the roman empire were similar in their downfall and collapse. In the roman republic landed aristocrats took over state owned land and bought out small peasant owners to develop large estates (latifundia). Because the number of small farmers decreased the number of men available for the military decreased as well. This then led to the army recr uiting poor that hadnt owned property. When they decided to take advantage of this military system a civil war broke out... 35 years later Caesar was stood as dictator of Rome. He ruled for three years but was quickly