Around 500 BCE, in the Greek and Italian Peninsula of the Mediterranean Sea a new idea began to take shape. This idea was today’s early form of citizen rights. These ideas became known as the social contract theory of citizenship, individuals do their part and the nation or state does its part. In the city state of Athens the emphasis was more on the citizen’s responsibility then the government doing their part. Athenians who did not participate in voting, political debate and holding office were considered not to be citizens for not partaking in governmental affairs. Which further emphasizes my point that Athenians and their government were much more efficient and equipped to handle important issues in their city-state than the Roman Republic. …show more content…
Once an Athenian was granted citizenship they could enjoy equal rights and full political participation in their government as stated in document C. The Roman Republics citizens did not all receive the same amounts of equal right or political participation. However if we go look at document D it says that Roman citizens were ranked into district classes based on wealth, heritage, administrative competence, marital status and physical and moral fitness. These aspects were the things that determined their citizen’s political privileges, level of taxation and military service. Another statement that proves that Rome might have been more lenient with their citizenship but were able to determine what district they would have placed in due to the examples above. In conclusion Athens government and ways of life were better than Rome’s due the fact that Athenian citizens had equal rights and political participation. While In the Roman Republic their people were given citizenship more freely but did not treat their people with equal amounts of rights and political participation they deserved. Furthermore making Athens government more efficient and politically stable due to their ways of strict citizenship and equal rights throughout their