Why did the Romans take the idea of democracy but Chang it?

Answer 1

Democracy in its very basic form is a government directly by the people who elect officials to rule or speak for them. The Romans did not change this. They based their government on the Greek model, but adapted it to their culture. The Roman officials were still elected by the people which is a democracy, but the method of voting was different from the Greek model.

It cannot be said that the Romans took the idea of democracy and changed it. Democracy was a Greek concept. The Romans first developed their institutions before contact with the Greeks and they already had the right to vote. Their contact with the Greeks started before the Greeks developed the idea of democracy. The first instance of influence by Greek ideas on Roman institutions was probably the reforms of Servius Tullius, the 5th king (579- The census-the categorisation of citizens into graded property value groups (classis and infra classem)- and the weighting of the vote in the assembly of the soldiers in favour of the richer was probably inspired by Solon's timocratic reform of the Athenian constitution. Timocracy (rule by the census) favoured the rich. It was less exclusive than aristocratic governance because middle income people were included, but it was not democracy. Athens went to to develop democracy, Rome became an oligarchy. Roman institutions were based on the concept of citizenship which involved the idea of having rights, one of which was the right to vote. The right to vote is not necessarily equivalent to the idea of power by the people, which is what the Greeks meant by democracy. Roman officials were not necessarily supposed to represent the people. The plebeians instituted the plebeian tribune during their first revolt so that they would now have someone who would represent their interests. It came from direct action. The democratic characteristics of the republic generally stemmed from social conflict, rather that institutions inspired by Greek ideal of power by the people which in Rome was regarded as being subversive by the elites apart from some liberals.