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Where did the Greeks or the Romans find the idea of a "Republic"? What was the source of the idea? Did the idea come from philosophers, or citizens, etc.?

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The Greeks had a Democracy, not a Republic. Similar, yet different. – Luke Aug 30 '12 at 22:12
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There are three questions here which could be asked separately. – Sardathrion Aug 31 '12 at 6:58
@Luke - I would disagree. Strictly speaking, Democracy is not opposed to Republic in the latter's broader definition. You can have a Republic that is either Demorcatically goverened (direct democracy) or a representative one. The main ideas (populous owning the state as opposed to the ruler doing so, and having elections) exist in both cases. – DVK Sep 1 '12 at 22:00
Yes, they share ideas, but are still two different types of government. The Romans had a Republic, the Greeks a Democracy. – Luke Sep 2 '12 at 0:58
@Luke lol, do you know that in Greek there is not word "republic"? Greeks call all republican governments "demokratia". Anyway the ancient Greeks had very broad kinds of government ranging from olagarchic republic to direct democracy. The Romans with no doubt borrowed the idea from Greeks. – Anixx Nov 11 '12 at 19:48
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During the early days of the Republic, the franchise was only limited to members of certain families (aka: Patricians). This made their "Republic" very hard to discern from your typical ancient big-city Oligarchy, except that the size of their voting body was a bit bigger than is typical (in the three digits rather than two).

The fact that the franchise was so limited explains why successful generals could make a plausible claim to hold popular support rather than the elected assemblies, which is partly why the Republic eventually acquired Emperors and just became another empire.

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This noway answer my question. – BROY Aug 31 '12 at 4:02
Well, obviously I disagree, or I wouldn't have bothered writing it. The point here is that what they called a "Republic" was really just a slight tweak on the age-old Oligarchial system other big cities were run on, not some huge new innovation in government. – T.E.D.♦ Aug 31 '12 at 14:16
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@T.E.D. - I think what he was aiming to ask was, the idea of a Republic as a concept (e.g. that the country is not the property of the ruler/monarch; and elected leaders) did NOT exist in earlier societies and came into existence as an idea (whether properly implemented or not) around Greek/Roman era. How did that idea originate? – DVK Sep 1 '12 at 21:56
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It is a mistake to consider Roman state after the revolution a form of government sufficiently different from the previous regime. In fact Roman state under rex also was called "res publica". – Anixx Nov 11 '12 at 19:52
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In ancient world many peoples employed the idea of collective government. In most tribes there was a tribe's council which usually elected the military commander (whom we would call "king" or "prince"). Sometimes a tribe was divided into several genses which had their own leadership so in the tribal council only the leadership of the genses participated.

This basic organization can be seen among Germanic, Slavic, Semitic and other peoples as well. You also can see it in Iliad.

Even more the most ancient Indo-European word for king, o̯rēgs (from which Roman rex originated) meant somebody who gives straight direction, the word director being a cognate. So the king in ancient IE society was a public position rather than a hereditary title.

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I've seen some anthropologists categorize the size of societies by their governmental structures: In general the larger it is, the more hierarchal and stratified. – T.E.D.♦ Nov 12 '12 at 14:11

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