The Roman Republic

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The Roman Republic
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Early Roman History

• The history told by the Romans themselves is more
  myth than history. However, some facts are clear
• We know through archaeology that the tribes later
  known as Latins entered Italy around 1000 BC.
  They settled in the area of central Italy that
  came to be known as Latium.

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Early Roman History

• The earliest evidence of habitation at the site
  of Rome itself dates back to the 8th Century BC
  around the year 750. Archaeologists have found
  the remains of small huts and agricultural
  settlements.

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Aeneas

• The Romans, in order to invent roots for
  themselves, created a story about one of the
  Trojan princes Aeneas.
• The Romans said that Aeneas, son of the goddess
  Venus (Aphrodite) had escaped the destruction of
  Troy, carrying his father and son with him, and
  the statues of the Trojan gods.

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Aeneas

• Because the gods didnt want the Trojan race to
  die out completely, they charged Aeneas with
  finding a new homeland and establishing a new
  nation in which the Trojans would re-emerge.

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Aeneas

• After many adventures in the Mediterranean,
  Aeneas finally landed in Italy, where he united
  his followers with the natives and established
  the tribe of the Latins.

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Romulus and Remus

• After a few centuries and several kings descended
  from Aeneas, two twins were born named Romulus
  and Remus.
• Their mother was a Vestal Virgin, and claimed
  that their father was the god Mars (Ares).

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Romulus and Remus

• She was executed and the twins were thrown into
  the Tiber river in a basket however, they washed
  ashore and were nurtured by a she-wolf (lupa).
• When they grew up, they discovered their royal
  heritage and decided to found a city of their own.

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Romulus and Remus

• Romulus became the founder of the city Roma,
  situated on a bend in the Tiber River in central
  Italy.
• The traditional founding date is April 21, 753 BC.

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Divine Descent

• Note that in their own mythological history, the
  Romans were descended from two different gods
• Venus, mother of Aeneas
• Mars, father of Romulus

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Roman Kings

• After its foundation, Rome was ruled by kings for
  244 years there were seven kings in all, and
  they were attributed with the creation of various
  customs and offices of the Roman state.
• However we have seen that most of these stories
  are mere legends.

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Roman Kings

• Finally, the Romans tired of their kings, and a
  conspiracy was formed by two nobles Lucius
  Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus
  to overthrow them.
• The last king of Rome was banished in 510 BC, and
  the government was radically reorganized.

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Battle of Lake Regillus

• After the last Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius
  Superbus, was expelled in 510 BC, he went to the
  Etruria for help, starting a long series of wars
  to re-establish Etruscan power on the Roman
  throne.
• In 496 BC, the Romans fought a decisive battle at
  Lake Regillus, where they defeated the Etruscans
  according to legend, with the help of Castor
  Pollux.

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Organization of the Republic

• The original government of Rome was a monarchy,
  but the new form of government, established in
  509 BC, was simply referred to as a res publica
  public business or public matters.
• From this we get the word Republic, a rather
  vague term for a state not run by a monarch, in
  which the people have some impact on the
  government.

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Organization of the Republic

• Note that a Republic is not necessarily the same
  thing as a democracy, which is literally rule by
  the people Rome was not a pure democracy like
  that found in 5th Century BC Athens, where every
  decision was made by the vote of the entire male
  population.

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Organization of the Republic

• Many aspects of Roman society were left unchanged
  from the days of the kings. The Romans retained
• the Senate
• the distinction between social classes

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The Senate

• The Senate, according to legend, was appointed by
  Romulus, the first king, as an advisory body.
• They had no official power under the kings other
  than to give advice however, the kings
  customarily took this advice.

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The Senate

• The word Senatus comes from senex it was
  literally a council of elders.
• It was called this because Romulus appointed the
  paterfamilias of each of the first 100 families
  that settled in Rome to the Senate.

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The Senate

• Originally, the Senate had elected the king (yes,
  kings were elected!)
• When the kings were expelled, the Senate lost
  much of its power and was overshadowed by the new
  government officials.

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Patricians and Plebeians

• The two social classes had always been
• the Patricii, those families whose ancestors had
  been the first 100 members of the Senate, and
• the Plebs, which was the class of common people
  who could not trace their ancestry to Senators.

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Patricians and Plebeians

• It doesnt seem like a big difference but the
  Patricians had spent the 244 years under the
  kings using their political power to get very,
  very wealthy.
• Patricians were eligible for priesthoods (which
  made a lot of money and were prestigious) because
  the gods obviously favored them!

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Patricians and Plebeians

• Furthermore, the election process was biased so
  that the Patricians would always win therefore
  the wealthy always passed laws to their own
  advantage and rarely passed laws that benefitted
  the poor.
• Because plebeians and Patricians could not
  intermarry, the Patricians became a hereditary
  upper class.

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Consuls

• As for the political power of the kings, the
  Romans wanted to be sure that no single
  individual could gain absolute power again.
• Because of this the highest office of the Roman
  state was the consulship, an elected office.
• There were two consules at a time, and their term
  lasted only one year.

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Consuls

• Powers of the consules
• military command in wartime
• overall executive power at first the full legal
  powers of the king gradually certain
  responsibilities were given to new officials
• acted as chairmen of the Senate
• each consul had veto power over the other (Latin
  veto, vetare- to forbid)

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Consuls

• The first two consuls were Lucius Junius Brutus
  and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, the two men who
  had led the uprising against the kings.
• Although we would have called the year of their
  consulship 509 BC, the Romans themselves did not
  assign a number to the year rather, they used
  the names of that years two consuls.

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Secession of the Plebs

• The expulsion of the kings had done nothing to
  redress social inequality between the classes of
  patricians and plebeians therefore, realizing
  that they were totally unrepresented in the new
  form of government, the plebs seceded in 494 BC,
  a mere 15 years after the establishment of the
  Republic.

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Secession of the Plebs

• An embassy was sent to negotiate with the plebs,
  whose military and economic support was crucial
  to the state.
• They agreed to come back and to perform military
  service, if they could be represented in the
  government.
• In 471 BC, the Council of the Plebs was
  established, which allowed the lower classes to
  propose and vote on laws.

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Tribunes

• The Tribunes were created as a compromise with
  the plebs the office of Tribune gave the
  plebeian class the ability to take a serious role
  in their own government.
• The Latin word tribunus derives from tribus,
  tribe the Tribune was established to protect the
  right of the large family groups or tribes that
  made up the plebs.

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Tribunes

• Powers of the tribuni
• sacrosanctitas Tribunes were not allowed to be
  physically harmed in any way while in office
  (Eng. sacrosanct)
• extended 1 mile outside Rome
• enforced by the pledge of the plebeians to kill
  anyone who harmed a Tribune
• ius auxiliandi the right to pardon any plebeian
  from punishment by any magistrate

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Tribunes

• Powers of the tribuni
• President of the Council of the Plebs able to
  call meetings and propose legislation
• ability to convene the Senate and propose
  legislation before it
• ability to veto ANY Roman magistrate on ANY issue
  (except, later, governors of provinces)

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The Twelve Tables

• In 451 BC, after yet another secession of the
  plebs, the Romans suspended the Republican
  government and appointed a council of ten men to
  rule for one year who would compile and publish
  the body of Roman law, which had previously been
  unpublished.
• These laws were published on 12 bronze tablets in
  450 BC.

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Lex Canuleia

• Another great advance for the plebs came with the
  Lex Canuleia in 445 BC, which made it legal for
  the first time for plebeians to marry into the
  nobility.

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Event
Date
Fall of Troy
1184 BC
Latins arrive in Italy
1000
Foundation of Rome April 21
753
Expulsion of Kings
510
Establishment of the Republic
509
Battle of Lake Regillus
496
Secession of the Plebs
494
Council of the Plebs established
471
Twelve Tables published
450
Lex Canuleia intermarriage between classes
445