Athens tried letting citizens vote (democracy), Rome built a republic and then a vast empire — and modern courts, senates, and laws still borrow their designs. Classical Greece and Rome are the blueprints much of the West was built from.
Ideas that outlived their empires
Ancient Athens developed an early direct democracy, where citizens voted on laws themselves (though 'citizen' excluded women, enslaved people, and foreigners). Rome built a republic — citizens elected representatives, like senators, to govern for them. Rome later became an empire, spreading its law, roads, language, and engineering across three continents.
Direct democracy: citizens vote on the law. Republic: citizens elect representatives who vote on the law.
- In Athens, an assembly of citizens votes on a war directly.
- In Rome, citizens elect senators who then decide.
- Label each system.
What you should see: Athens = direct democracy (citizens decide themselves); Rome = a republic (elected representatives decide). Modern democracies mostly follow Rome's model.