The Ancient City

The Ancient City Pompeii “How democratic was Pompeian politics?” In order to answer the above question, it is first necessary to consider the exact meaning of the term “democracy”. Whilst it is difficult to give an exact definition of the word, it is certainly possible to create a list of the implications of democratic government for a society and its citizens. Perhaps the most obvious of these implications, certainly when considered from a modern standpoint, …

…dictatorship, which would have resulted in an entirely autocratic system of government, or alternatively the reverse situation might have arisen with the arrival of anarchy. Since Pompeii was never entirely run by one individual autocrat or dictator, and never descended into complete anarchy, it must be true to say that in Pompeian politics there was always some small element of democracy, even if such democracy bares hardly any resemblance to today’s ideas of democracy.