Greek and Roman Civilizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Greek and Roman Civilizations - Essay Example Socially, Greece in the archaic period of civilization was constituted by various independent states by the name polis or in other words city states. The Athens polis was the biggest and it covered approximately 2,500 km squared while other polis were smaller and would only cover about 250 km squared. The society of Greece was formed up by slaves and free people. Slaves were owned by the group of free people. They usually worked as laborers and servants and had no rights legally. These slaves would sometimes be war prisoners or would originate from foreign traders of slaves. Slaves usually lived very closely to their owners, but just a few of them were skilled as craftsmen or even paid. As the society of Greece continued to develop, the free men became divided into two Metics and Citizens. Citizens would be born of parents from Athens and these formed the most powerful group of people. They would perform roles in the Government of polis. They would undergo a compulsory service in the army of Greece and later become government officials as well as play part in the service of jury. Metics, on the other hand, would be of foreign birth but migrate to Athens. These would either practice craft or take part in trade. Metics would pay taxes and at given times would be called up to take part in army service. They would never achieve full rights as those accorded to the citizens. They would also not own land or houses and even worse would not speak in courts of law on any given matter. Note that the social classes would only apply to men while women would be part of the class that their partners formed. (Rips, 2008 pp957, 958) A major defining as well as long-term Greek char acteristics was the political system. Democracy as a form of rule was a bit a complex issue in Greece and the system of politics of Greece was highly linked to the rationalism belief of Greeks. The basis of the political sys