At the time of the Roman conquest of Agrigento, the systems of government in cities of Greek and Latin origin had fundamental differences.
Ancient Greece, Athens specifically, is the cradle where the first seeds of
democracy
were sown, which gave all citizens with the right to vote the opportunity to participate actively in the political life of the city. All male adults who had completed military training had the right to vote, excluding foreign residents and slaves; therefore, it was necessary that cities have places for political debate by all these people, who were called upon to express themselves on matters of government over where they lived.
After taking into consideration the opinions and needs of the ekklesia (i.e. the citizens’ assembly), there was then a governing body specifically called to deliberate in an official way, the Boule, or council of great thinkers. In ancient Rome, on the other hand, there was a senate, made up of the city’s most illustrious citizens, who entered by birth or special merit.
Obviously the forms of government characteristic of the Greek motherland first, and then Roman, were imported and spread to Agrigento, where archaeological finds confirm that democracy and
oligarchy
followed one another in the city.
