07-30-2007, 07:17 AM
The Greeks and the Romans had quite different concepts of citizenship. The Spartans (and Athenians too) were very restrictive to expand the number of citizens or give some lesser rights to other Greeks or foreigners. Maybe it was a habit in the other Greek poleis also.
The most powerful weapon of the Romans was the expansion of citizenship or at least some minor forms of it. That made the emotional ties very strong and was the only way to expansion. I don't think that allies of a Greek state would have behaved like the Roman allies in the second Punic war. In the end the Roman allies fought against Rome to be more loved by Rome and get more rights, not to be independend.
The most powerful weapon of the Romans was the expansion of citizenship or at least some minor forms of it. That made the emotional ties very strong and was the only way to expansion. I don't think that allies of a Greek state would have behaved like the Roman allies in the second Punic war. In the end the Roman allies fought against Rome to be more loved by Rome and get more rights, not to be independend.
Wolfgang Zeiler
