All the members of this assembly were males over the age of eighteen, who made all the final decisions on war and laws about foreign policies. Another large group of members called magistrates were given the responsibility to complete the daily administrative tasks. The main directors of policy were ten aristocratic officials, elected by public vote that could be reelected. Athenians practiced ostracism for the safety of Athenian people. Ostracism was a term to vote the most disliked assembly member and who received the majority of at least 6,000 votes was exiled for 10 years. .
While Athenians were practicing the first democratic system, another city, Rome, which was founded by Romulus and Remus in 753 B.C., was growing quickly. Early Rome was under the kingdom of Etruscans, who were the wealthy aristocrats. Greeks also visited Rome during the age of colonization. This may be the fact why many historians view Roman culture as a continuation of Greek culture (Spielvogel, p.84-85). Romans were practicing monarchy since it existed. The Etruscan monarchs changed Rome from a pastoral community to an actual city. This monarchy started to get threatened by Gauls in the 4th century B.C. and then conquered by the Romans. After overthrowing the Etruscan monarchs, Romans developed the Republican government by expanding their military. This enormous change in the political structure was not easy, it took the conquest of whole Italy. Romans developed the political institutions in order to response to the problems as they arose. .
The three main elements of the Roman Republic were the magistrates, popular assembly, and the senate. These magistrates were three chief executive officers called consuls, the praetors, and the quaestors. The consuls possessed imperium to govern the Roman Republic and led the army into battle. The praetors also possessed imperium to govern Rome in the absence of the consuls. The quaestors were appointed to assist the consuls and the praetors.
