M15 Assignment: Portfolio Reflection

Christopher Gardiner
History 134
December 18 2016

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Ancient civilizations have shaped the world as it is known today immensely. They have
shaped a limitless amount of things that affect how each of the people in the world interact daily.
One of the most important of these things, however, is politics and bureaucracy. The peoples of
the ancient world created various political systems that sometimes were ruthless and violated
various human rights, but other times were fair and attempted to treat all members of society
equally. As a historian of the ancient world, knowledge of these political and bureaucratic
systems is vital to learning how to be responsible and to contribute to the betterment of society.
Using the knowledge of these ancient political establishments I can see what people have done
right in terms of political decisions and learn from that, and I can also learn to not overlook the
same mistakes some of the more ruthless political systems have accomplished.
A good example of a political establishment that I can learn both good and bad from is
the ancient Roman Republic. Though there were some things that are not very ethical by modern
standards, for example the separation of peoples by wealth via plebeian and patrician classes,
they were one of the few ancient political establishments that modern political establishments
can still learn from today. Ideas such as a senate of government officials presiding over important
governmental matters is something that is very apparent in many political establishments of
today including the United States.1 The idea of a consul, an elected official that had certain
powers over government including military power that was only in power for a certain period of
time, is also reflected in most political establishments of today. Ideas such as a praetor, which
was basically a judge, and a Queastor, which was basically a treasurer, are a must in politics of
today due to the ever changing laws and economy.2 Though the ways that many of these things
are undertaken are significantly different to how they were done in ancient Roman Republican
times, some of the elements have still held on into modern day and without these elements

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lasting into modern day the political aspects of society might be more ruthless. Thus, having
knowledge of political establishments such as the Roman Republic and what they have done
right for society is important to understanding the politics of today and continuing the betterment
of society.

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Another example of one of the better political establishments of the ancient world would
be ancient Greece. Though there are bad examples of political establishments in ancient Greece
such as Sparta, Athens sheds light on what might be the very first democratic political system.
The people of the time saw it as unfair that the aristocrats controlled both the land and the
government. The aristocrats enslaved all of the people that owed them debt, and to solve this
issue a statesman known as Draco volunteered to write a series of laws to alleviate this issue. The
laws were considered too severe and is where the term Draconian comes from. As a result, a
lawgiver Solon was asked to revise these laws. These laws made the political powers of all
citizens equal and helped create a democratic political system in Athens through tyrant rule.3
Though these laws were kept in power under tyrants, for the most part the values that they
established influenced the modern political systems of today greatly and things such as the
Democratic Republic of the United States or more harsh things such as the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea would not exist in the same form for their own respective purposes.
Understanding what the democracy that the people of Athens helped create is can help an ancient
historian differentiate the democracy of North Korea and the democracy of the United States
more effectively and can help an ancient historian achieve the betterment of a true democratic
society.
These are all examples of the more tame political systems of the ancient world. Though
most of the practices of the more darker political societies of the ancient world such as slavery
have been mostly abolished, there is still some truth to be learned from them. Political
establishments such as the Persian Empire, which was fairly ruthless in its beginnings with rulers
such as Xerxes, fell into a general peace with Cyrus the Great. Cyrus was one of the very few
who decided to grant religious freedom to all the peoples of his empire. He is also famous for

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letting the people of Israel leave to go back to their homeland, and for the general absence of
slavery in his empire during his rule. Cyrus the Great also did not rule completely alone, and let
satraps, essentially governors, rule regions of his empire for him. Even though the military
prowess of this empire might be looked down upon today in a society where there is now very
few wars of significance, his ideas of religious freedom and abolishing slavery were unheard of
at the time, and has influenced the politics of today in making ideas such as slavery completely
out of the question.4 Knowing of benevolent rulers such as Cyrus the great can help an ancient
historian contribute to society by remembering the various things people like him did right and to
second guess the things people like him may have done wrong.
Through all of these societies and many others I have been influenced for the betterment
of society. Modern politics is shaped immensely by the actions of rulers and political systems of
the past. From the actions of political systems such as Ancient Greece to the more archaic actions
of systems such as the Persian empire, modern politics have been shaped by these ancient
societies and many more. In a way, all political establishments have directly or indirectly
influenced each other. I do not think there is a more important thing to understand out of all of
the possible influences the ancient world has given modern society. Without an ethical political
system to frame a society with, history can simply repeat itself in the way that it has with some
political bodies of both today and in the past. Not having knowledge of some technologies or
sciences the ancient world has discovered may be somewhat detrimental, but modern society at
least could work around such an issue. Without the knowledge of all of the good that the ancient
world has managed to progress in terms of politics, modern society might be stuck with
dictatorial policies and more people than there are today could be oppressed as a result. That is

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why knowing these things about the politics of the ancient world is important to me. They shed
some light on how modern society has gotten to the point it is at.

Endnotes
1. The Classics Pages: Antony Kamms The Romans: 2.3 State Assemblies. N.p., n.d.
Web.

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2. The Classics Pages: Antony Kamms The Romans: 2.1 State Officials. N.p., n.d. Web.
3. Athens - Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web.
4. Achaemenid Empire - Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web.

Works Cited
Achaemenid Empire - Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.
I used this article to describe the political aspects of the society of Persia at the time Cyrus the
Great was in power.

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Athens - Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.
I used this article to describe the Democratic system that Athens created during the time of
Ancient Greece.
The Classics Pages: Antony Kamms The Romans: 2.1 State Officials. N.p., n.d. Web. 19
Dec. 2016.
I used this article to describe the various Roman political officials at the time of Republican
Rome.
The Classics Pages: Antony Kamms The Romans: 2.3 State Assemblies. N.p., n.d. Web. 19
Dec. 2016.
I used this article to describe the Senate of the time of Republican Rome.