Populism In Ancient Greece

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
– Plato

The question at hand is whether there were any similarities that led to the fall of Ancient Greek and Roman democracies. This essay will discuss how wars and territorial expansion led to a rise in populism, which brought political chaos, and how it is the fundamental cause of the decline of democracy in Ancient Greece and Rome.

The first forms of democracy started in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. In Ancient Greece, democracy and politics were more related to the Athenian city-state – because Sparta was more of a military dictatorship – than any other city-state in the region. As for Rome, the brief period between
The plebeians funded wars which created discrepancies between the Patrician class and the Plebeians. This allowed the Patricians to dominate the state’s resources, such as land, which started to deteriorate the economy of the Republic. To counter these movements, reformers such as the Gracchus brothers and Gaius Marius turned to populist ideals to gain a strong plebeian holding. In trying to do so, the reformers disobeyed many of the constitution’s preexisting laws which brought political instability: Tiberius Gracchus tried to illegally obtain another year as tribune, resulting in the first “daggers in the forum,” Gaius Gracchus tried to start a plebeian reform, which failed, and Gaius Marius and Sulla created a clash between the populares and optimares, creating conflict within Rome. These attempts at populist reforms seemingly started a trend within politicians to undermine the authority of the Roman constitution. Sulla was elected dictator for two consecutive terms – Roman law only allowed for a single term in case of national emergency - and Julius Caesar declared himself dictator-for-life and crossed the Rubicon into Rome with his troops, which were both illegal. All of these attempts at populist reforms created confusion amongst the Roman public, whom now viewed dictatorships more pleasurable than the current Republic mess. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Octavion took over, marking the end of the Roman
It is important to note, however, that in Ancient Greece, the fall was associated more with the populist reforms itself, and that in Ancient Rome, the fall was associated more with the push for populism, rather than the reforms itself. Another rather interesting fact was that the increase in democracy in Greece actually led to the demise of the democracy itself. However, in all, populism was a common factor that brought the collapse of the democracies in Ancient Greece and Ancient