Roman History set
Roman Historiography
Periodization of Roman History
- Characterized by the form of government that ruled
Kingdom - 753-509 BCE
- Monarch
Republic: 509-31 BCE
- Early, mid and late
- Oligarchy government- Called Respublika.
Empire: 31- 476 CE
Romes was not founded by one single man but was established slowly and gradually by surrounding communities.
- Romes was founded around a heavily populated area.
Etruscans
- Etruscans were not part of a unified state - part of city states- Indo-European.
By the time Rome was developed Etruscans were highly developed and some cities were developed and powerful. - they had a common lang, funerary ritual, king, similar taste in arch.
- Not much is known about their origins - they Flourished from the 9th to the 1st cen BCE. (replaced the Villanovan culture)
- 8th cen BCE - Greek colonies were established in southern Italy- trade routes with Etruscan cities.
- Climate and terrain favoured agriculture
To the south of Rome was Greek influence - several Greek outpost and cities.
Greek colonies found in Italy- were important for trade- Trading with Etruscans and Rome
- It is believed that for a period of time the Etruscans dominated Rome.- It is debated if it was domination, occupation or strong influence.
- Archeology tells us about the influence due to the Architecture as well as Burrials - Etruscan style and burial items (Greek as well)
- Indo-European lang - origin of later langs such as Latin, Greek and others.
- Etruscan lang is not fully understood.
- Etruscan cities were organized into leagues- important so that smaller communities were able to protect themselves from danger.
- Relationship between Etruscan and Greeks were sometimes bad- Naval conflict- mainly a relationship of trade.
Starting from early 5th cen (possible earlier) Etruscan cities came into conflict with Rome (which was growing as a major power) Etruscans civilization and political entity stopped existing.
Rome was located on the Tiber River in Latium, just off of the Tyrrhenian sea (Med) which gave them direct access to the sea for trade.
The communities around them had a common lang and religious practice- similar to Latin
- Worked as an influence for Rome as well as Greek and Etruscan cities.
Legends of Romes foundation
- Myths of foundation were important for international diplomacy
- States founded their myths in Trojan/ Greek origin.
- Many States used Greek Myth to create a common legacy. -
- Local Roman Legend: Rome was founded on 21 April, 753 by Romulus.
- Greek Version: Rome was founded by Trojan Aeneas after Trojan War (After 1184 BCE)
- However, there was local legend says that the name of Rome was named after a ancestor of Aeneas. Romas.
- The myth of Romulus was formulated later to justify some of Romes later ideas. 12 generations of decedents. The gap was useful to put people in the right place.
Story on Romulus and Remus
- Romulus was the son of a god and was conceived through an act of violence. The god Mars (Aries) was important unlike its Greek counterpart (Mars was beloved) Personification of the honour of Rome.
- 2 founders- Romulus and Remus - twin - connects to the Rome republic and there always being 2 officials at the head of state.
- Romulus kills Remus - over the transgressing of the boundary of Rome. - Furror - boundary (sacred space - inside safety vs. outside violence)
- After the killing of Remus - Romulus established the basic institution of the city. He wanted to expand the population- he open an asylum for refuges. Romulus welcomed anyone was willing to move there. - shows the Roman aspect of granting citizenship to anyone who wanted to come in.
- Greeks never did this - Greeks were proud of there ethnic connections (Athenians needed to have Athenian parents) Rome did not have the same strong ethnic connection and were willing to welcome foreigners.
- Everyone who came to Rome were men - Romulus organized a mass obduction of the women nearby. - this created issues and war.
- Ends with the Alliance between Rome and nearby cities - right to intermarriage and trade rights.
The story is more than a fun legend - accounted for several roman aspects.
The king after Romulus were elected. - Romans did not want their kings to be tyrant like but elected. - the next 3 kings were Etruscan
Cloaca Maxima - sewage system - major impact of the hygienic condition of the city.
Tarquin the Proud - last king, built the Capitoline temple -
Late 6th en BCE - Rex (king) shows that there was a king
- Rex Sacrorum, Regina- - king of the sacred rights
Regina - used for religious uses - in royal palace
All demonstrating a monarchy.
Early Roman society
- Roman society was patriarchal (oldest males had control of everyone in the household)
- Established families males were politically active
- Patris meaning father - wealthy elder males - members of the senate were also called patris.
- mos maiorum- “ The way of the ancestors”
- 2 orders in literary sources - Patrician(Ancestors of the Patris) and plebeian
- Livy, from the founding of the city 1.8 -shows linkage between 2 names.
- Paterfamilias had absolute authority over all members of the household
- All women were under the manus (authority) of man (father, husband, etc.)
Important system of Clientela
- Wealthy families/ males and client rendered mutual services and aid (legal and financial)
- Extended far into imperial times - local pops and the Roman army
Roman religion
- Also a competent of Roman religious practice - performative and ritualistic
- Pontifex Maximus - oversaw Vestal virgins and other state members
- Religion and politics are never separated.
Domestic History of the early Roman republic
Basic elements of the Constitutional Order’
- Poomerium : the sacred boundary of the city
- Do us area within the Pomerium (home)
- Only certain officials could hold power in domus and Militia
- Militia: the world outside - the area of military service.
Res publication
Magistrates of the republic
- Collegiality- all the regular officials came in pairs - never just one official - to limit power.
- Popular elections - through peoples assemblies
- Only one annual term in office - can move offices
- An official can not be prosecuted while in office.
- Can not spend multiple years in office- must spend a few years off.
- Cursus Honorum - Offices were held in a certain order- 3 year pattern in order to get to the higher offices.
- Order- Quaestor,Aediles (optional), Praetor, Consul(highest), Censor(optional)
- Age requirement- must be at least 40 to be a consul
- The magistrates had powers - Imperium (power of inflicting capital punishment inside the pomerium and to command an army.) (to consult the will of the gods) (Auspicia- observation of birds- they provide messages/will of the gods)
Dictator
- No negative connotation for the Roman’s - officials that were appointed by the consult or the senate. During crisis for the Roman in time of military defeat- were one head was needed to lead instead of 2 consults.
- Was in power for a max of 6 months- or when crisis was resulted.
- His power was greater than the consult
- 24 lictors carrying fasces( bundles of rods and an axe?)
- ^ consults each had 12 regularly.
- Dictator had a helper called “Master of the horses”
Censors
- Established in the mid- 5th cen
- Optional step
- Came without power of command
- Selected among ex-consults
- Elected every5 years - in power for 18 months
- Responsible for the census & lustratio
- Census was important because it classed the citizens- army was citizen based - people had to join army and was responsible for buying/ making their armour.
- Leto senates: review of the roll of senators- able to remove a magistrate on moral ground.
Consuls
- The two chief magistrates of the state
- Magistrates with the power of Command- lead the Roma army when at war.
- Had the right and duty to take the auspicia ( bird/god communication) before and after war
- Eponymous magistrate - gave name to the year. “This happened under the consulship of x and y”
- Accompanied by lictors each
- Elected by Domitian centuriata.
- If a consul stepped down or died - a consul sophectus(replacemement)
Praetors
- Magistrates Cum imperio
- Dealt with civic affairs when consuls were out dealing with wars.
- Run business in Rome was consuls were away.
- Presided over proceedings in civil law
Aediles - not mandatory
- Magistrates without power of comand
Plebeian Aedifies - same duties - 1 couple was Plebeian and one Curule
- In charge of putting up public games for the cities
- ^using own money - gives visibility to the person putting them on - important for getting elected
- Oversaw the market place
- Superintended roads and buildings
- Policing
- Lectern by concilium plebis
Military tribunes with consular power
444- 367 BCE boards of 3,4 or 6 officers irregularly invested with the power of consuls
- Military tribunes - normally a junior officers
- Officials were elected for a one year term
- This became problematic when Rome was fighting over seas war - the consuls were the ones fighting over seas- if during war when the term was up they were supposed to go back to rome and the army was supposed to wait for another officer.
- The government decided that the im perium of a consul or a praetor could be extended by the senate if the magistrate was away from the city on military duty to grant continuity in the conduct of military operations.
Questors
- Magistrates sine imperio
- Originally 2, then 4 , then added more (20)
- Financial magistrates
- Two controlled the treasury
- Elected by comitia tributa
Other offices
- Minor posts that young aristocrats could take before running for office
- Vigintivirate :
- Interrex- Official appointed - to serve during the election of the new king (or if both consuls die)- in this case the senate appoints one of them to take control and help during the elections - temp office to guarantee the smooth transition of office
Tribunes of the Plebs
- Officials (minor) that were reps of the plebs (2 by the late republic)
- Elected by the assembly of the plebs
- Office that had great power inside the pomerium
- Had the right to summon both the assemblies of the people and the senate
- They also could submit law proposals to the council of the plebs
- Power to veto the act of any magistrate (added later)
- "sacrosanct" : untouchable through religious sanctions - could not be harmed.
- They had to remain in Rome during their term in office
Assemblies of the Roman people
- They elected the officials, passed law proposals (voted), acted as a court of law(judged accusation of criminal behaviour)
- Decided on declarations of war
- Lack initiative (not allowed to meet whenever)
- Lacked power of deliberation and modification
- Voted by unit (majority won within the units)
Centuriate Assembly
- Comitia Centuriata
- Voted magistrates com imperio (consul and pritor)
- Decided on war declarations - judged capital cases
- Organized by 193 centuries
- Originally fighting units - but organized in political units
- Citizens were organized in the centuries by their wealth - classes were given a different amount of centuries. (fighting and voting units) -
Distribution of centuries
- Census - distribution of citizens into classes based on wealth
- 5 classes divided unevenly into 193 centuries
- 98 centuries: first class & cavalry
- Those below property requirements were grouped in one sentury
- For each class, half were seniores (40+) and half iuniores (under 40)
- Each century case one vote (by the time the voting reach the second class the majority was reached)
- The vote stopped once the majority was reached
- The wealthiest people were represented in the army more - the system was proportionate in the political and military.
Tribal Assembly
- Tribes were geographical in Rome
○ City of Rome was divided into 4 districts and outside the city was its own 10. later it would increase to 35 tribes (despite the expansion of Rome)
○ When people would join Rome they were assigned a tribe(through the census). - must live in Rome to vote.
○ Judged non-capital cases.
Council of the plebs
- Created in the context of the order(?)
- Could only be summoned by the plebeian tribunes (only made up of plebeians)
- Voted on proposals submitted by the plebeian tribunes.
- Voting units: tribes
- Given the force of law in 287 BCE (became binding for all roman people and not just the plebs)
Curiate Assembly
- Based on Curiae
- Civil assembly of the Kingdom
- Division based on descent/kinship
- Didn’t get rid of it obsolete things but kept them around just in case.
The Senate
- The major political power
- Did not have legislative power - could not pass laws
○ The body that discussed the laws
○ Considered moral authority and held decision-making power
○ Originally a council of elders
○ 318 BCE the censors drew up the list of senators from ex-magistrates
○ Could only convene when summoned by a magistrate
○ Had deliberative power - (no one went against them)
○ Peoples assemblies voted.
○ Resolutions: decrees of the senate (not laws but opinions) (rarely gone against)
○ Auctoritas Patrum ( from Patres)
Struggle of the order
- Distinction between Patricians and plebeians
- Patricians - from patres (Romulus advisors relatives) wealthy men.
- All others were plebeians (plebs)
- Patricians had the sole right to auspicia (talking to the gods through the birds)
- The plebs wanted public participation as well
- By the mid-fifth cen BCE, Patricians had the absolute monopoly of public offices(including religious ones)
Aims of the plebs
- Political: ending the patrician monopoly of magistracies and priesthoods
- Many Roman people were poor and fell into slavery/ forced work(pressed by debts) called (nexum)
- Farmers who would go to war and then come back would fall into poverty. Issues with hunger (reports of famine)
- Issues with land distribution- the land that Rome acquired during its expansion became public land. The Roman people also asked for written laws to protect the Roman people from the magistrates.
Issues arose by the 5th cen -
- The Plebs of Rome retreated from Rome into the adventine hill
- The "sucession" - the patricians gave them the right to have an assembly and representive.
- A demand of the plebs were for written laws - this brought about the creation of the XII table of Rome.
- These laws are still around in fragments - in other literary sources.
- Sets the law that regulated the most important concerns of an agricultural society.
- Middle of 5th cent- the government action was suspended and these laws were written
- Decemviri established these laws - appeared in place of the consuls in 451 and 450 BCE.
Prorogation
Romes Early conflicts
505-504 BCE: War against Lars Porsenna and Tarquinius Superbus
499-496 BCE: Battle of Lake Regillus against the Latins and Tarquinius Superbus
493 BCE: Cassian Treaty with the Latin League
490-489 BCE: War against the Volsci (Coriolanus)
483-474, 406-396 BCE: Wars against Veii (Camillus)
437-435: Capture of Fidenae
458 BCE: War against Aequi (Cincinnatus)
390 BCE: Sack of Rome; Gauls’ incursion (Camillus)
350/49: Second Gauls’ incursion