The Functions and History of the Roman Senate
In today's modern world representative government is the norm. Nearly all governments are ruled by their citizens via a republic or some other type of governing body. However, in the ancient world, this standard of democratic government had not yet taken hold; political control still belonged to the few elite, rich, and powerful persons and influential families. Thus, we have a contrast between governments of the ancient world and our modern day governments. In other words, the past generally denotes monarchy, empire, or absolute control. While modern government usually implies republic, voting, or democratic control.
However, an analysis of Roman government reveals that it does not exactly fit purely into either mold of government. It was a mixture of many elements, democratic, monarchial, and aristocratic. The purpose of this report will be to provide a general overview of the structure, power, and function of one component of the Roman government- that is, the Roman Senate. Also, this paper will serve to provide a historical context for the Senate, including both the origins and demise of this governmental body and will discuss the issues of class conflict as it related to the Senate's power and jurisdiction.
There were three main components of the Roman Republic. The first of which represents the monarchial element surviving from when Rome had a king (this will be discussed in greater length and detail below). Two magistrates or consuls had ultimate civil and military authority. The two consuls held their office for one year (they were elected by Roman citizens) and then after their term had expired, entered the Senate for life. Each consul could veto the actio...
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...system present in Republican Rome, one cannot say that its contributions to our modern ideas of democracy were insignificant. Quite to the contrary, examples of the Roman Senate's influence can be found right here in our own government. For example the upper house in our legislative branch is called the 'senate', our republic was also established by a constitution (as was the Roman's), the president (our modern 'consuls') is also advised by and is subject to our own senate, and America's founding fathers drew extensively on Roman theories and models of government when deciding how to establish our present system. The ancient Roman Senate's connection to the modern world is obvious, and its modern day significance is as well. The influence of the Roman Senate is just one example of how the ancient Roman's society has affected nearly all spheres of modern life.
The Roman Republic can be seen as a template for how the United States Government was formed, and still to this day consists of. The First influence that the Romans had on our government was their idea for a republic. They, our country as well, wanted their people to have a vote on who would represent them in government. The U.S. representative type of government was influenced by this. Today we vote for the people representing us in our Senate, House of Representatives, and our President. One of the main influences that the Ancient Romans had on the U.S. Government was the idea of the division of power. Today we have executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The Ancient Romans had a very similar set-up. In Rome when organizing a government, there were many different styles between monarchies, the Senate that was the aristocracy, and the voice of democracy in the people. These acted as their different branches of government. As the U.S Government has an executive branch which consists of our President and Vice President, the Romans had counsels which acted as executive leaders for a year, and controlled the military (“The Roman Republic”). The Ancient Romans also obtained a Senate, similar to our government. In Rome, it was 300 members of the wealthy and self-serving. Today, there are career senators, and elite men in society. This is the legislative branch of our government that has been derived from the Ancient Romans. Also within the legislative branch of the Romans, they had numerous assemblies like that of the U.S. Government’s House of Representatives, based on where each member lives. Our judicial branch was based off of the Roman’s Praeto...
Rome's Republican era began after the overthrow of the last Roman King Tarquin Superbus by Lucius Brutus in 509 BC(1), the Senate was ruled the by the people of Rome. The Roman Republic was governed by a largely complex constitution, which established many checks and balances, so no man could have complete control. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the patricians and the other prominent Romans who were not from the nobility. Early in Rome’s history, the patricians controlled the republic, over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a the republic which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance. This is similar to the creation of the American system of government. Starting with the over throw of t...
The Roman Republic was a political system which was stamped and swayed, but it was not by parties and programmes which we are so familiar with which is a modern and parliamentary variety. And it was not swayed even by the powerful opposition between Senate and People, Optimates and Populares, nobiles and novi homines. The main locomotive force of politics was the strife for power, wealth and glory. (ref: Syme, Ronald 1960 The Roman Revolution, Oxford University Press) [1]
The Roman Republic, was a government, governed by an intricate constitution, which was based on the idea of separation of powers. The Roman Republic, began in 509 B.C, after the end of the Roman Monarchy and lasted for over 450 years. The constitution of the Roman Republic was highly influenced by the struggle of power between the rich families, the patricians, and other Romans who were not from famous or rich families, the plebeians. Their government was divided into three main sections, very much like the Legislative Branch, Executive, Branch, and Judicial Branch. Nowadays, the Senate and assembly resemble the Legislative Branch. In the Roman Republic, the Senate was the most powerful group. The Senate passed all laws and collected taxes. The second part of this branch, was the assembly, and the assembly was elected by the Romans from the plebeian class. The assembly elected consuls, tribunes (representatives from the plebeian class), and made laws. All members of the Senate were part of the patrician class and at the head of the Senate were two consuls. The Consuls controlled the Roman army and in order to become a consul, you had to be elected by a majority of all the citizens in Rome. The consuls, are like our president and the Executive Branch. Although the method of separation of powers came from the Roman Republic, that is not all that came from the Roman Republic that became part of the United States...
Philosopher B: After the fall of the Roman Republic in 27BC, the fundamental power shifted from the Senate to Augustus, the Emperor. However, Augustus knew that to keep the favour of the Roman people, he needed to keep up the façade of the Senate holding political power. Despite this, the Senate held no actual political power, although individuals still sought membership of the senate for dignitas and social status. During the reigns of the first Emperors, legislative, judicial, and electoral powers were all transferred from the Roman assemblies to the Senate. However, since the Senate was filled with individuals whom Augustus approved of, it acted only as a vehicle through which the Emperor exercised his autocratic powers.
The Roman Republic had an upstanding infrastructure, a stable social system, and a balanced constitution that solidified Rome’s greatness. Regardless of its achievements, however, the Roman Republic owes much of its success to classical Greek cultures. These cultures, in conjunction with the fundamental values of Roman society, certified Rome as one of the most significant powers the world has ever seen.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire was the first example in history on the collapse of a constitutional system which was caused by the internal decay in political, military, economics, and sociological issues. The government was becoming corrupt with bribery. Commanders of the Roman army turned their own army inward towards their own Constitutional systems, fueled by their own ruthless ambition. This paper will talk about how the violence and internal turmoil in 133B.C.-27 B.C. was what provoked the economic stagnation in the city of Rome and to the end of the Republic and the many corrupt politicians and generals who only thought of nothing more than personal gains and glory. The senate lost control of the Roman military and the reason they rose against the senate was because the senate were no longer able to help manage the social problems or the military and administrative problems of the empire. The economics of the Roman Empire soon hit rock bottom due to the high taxation to support the army. Gold was also eroding since Rome was no longer bringing new resources through the expansion. Emperors then tried to mint coins out of silver and copper instead and the end result was inflation and dramatic rises in
The Ancient Greeks were the first to put the power of a nation in the hands of the average citizen, they created the idea of the democratic government, practiced as a direct democracy. Voting, political assembly, and official citizenship are all concepts that can be traced back to Classical Grecian ideas .The Romans developed the concept of the representative democracy .This was best exemplified by the Roman Senate. The upper house of the US Congress is the Senate in ode to this ancient ideal. Although American Democracy is defined as a Representative Democracy, that is to say citizens elect those who make decisions, they owe a great deal to Greek ideas and concepts.
After Rome established itself, they were determined to never again be ruled by a monarch. The Roman setup a new government called a republic. Romans thought a republic would keep any individuals from gaining too much power. Later Romans looked back with enormous pride on the achievements of the early republic. Between 509 B.C. and 133 B.C., Rome adapted the government to fit the need of the people it served. It also developed the military power to not only conqueror not only Italy, but also the entire Mediterranean world. In the early republic power was controlled by the patricians, the land holding upper class. Senators, who served for life, interpreted laws and issued decrees. In the event of a war the senate might elect a dictator who ruled for only six months in time of emergency.
Over the span of five-hundred years, the Roman Republic grew to be the most dominant force in the early Western world. As the Republic continued to grow around the year 47 B.C it began to go through some changes with the rise of Julius Caesar and the degeneration of the first triumvirate. Caesar sought to bring Rome to an even greater glory but many in the Senate believed that he had abused his power, viewing his rule more as a dictatorship. The Senate desired that Rome continued to run as a republic. Though Rome continued to be glorified, the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus finally converted Rome to an Empire after many years of civil war. Examining a few selections from a few ancient authors, insight is provided as to how the republic fell and what the result was because of this.
Mouritsen field of study was ancient history at King’s college in London, this was a very interesting topic to him. The author purpose in writing this book was to better understand the political system in the late roman republic. He believes that the populus Romans held absolute power when it came to electing officials for legislation. Mouritsen had a question about the voting structure at the time, that allowed roman citizens to choose the next tribune. The question was based on the size of the crowds that would attend public meeting and vote. Also, if that size influenced how the system worked. Also, the location as to which this meeting was held. He had questioned how long it would take a vote to happened and compared writings from other historians to come up with estimates. Lastly how roman is run and the challenges it faces brought out by the rich
The senate was a collective of the state’s best people, by tradition chosen from the aristocracy. Their role was to advise the elected magistrates. In practice, they came to be the collective of former magistrates. Their authority lay in their advice became like orders to serving magistrates. Their authority lay in their prestige and their experience. The roman senate was basically the governing body of men in Rome. It consisted of few hundred members, all who had to have property or money.
This new Republican government, which was administered by the consuls, was not the easiest to transform. Because of the expansion in Italy, the government began to initiate political institutions. These institutions enforced laws and provided authority which were very similar to imperium. “The Romans had a clear concept of executive authority, embodied in their word imperium, or “the right to command” (Spielvogel 117). Since the Romans were very sensible in their actions, they made and implemented them only as needed. The most essential positions held were the few elected magistrates and the two consuls who were “chosen annually, administered the government and led the Roman army into battle” (Spielvogel 117). If the consul was otherwise occupied, either a dictator or praetor would assume responsibility for the time being.
The government of Ancient Rome, the Roman Republic, has influenced American government. The Roman Republic influenced the laws, republican form of government, branches of government, and balance of power. However, the Republic was different from American government. For instance, the Romans had two leaders as consuls of the empire. What was taken from Rome to America, was the idea of a ruling senate that controlled what laws were passed. Consuls had supreme power in both civil and military matters. In the city of Rome, the consuls were the head of the Roman government. They would be the head of the senate and the assemblies. The republic was a large democratic system structured under the rule that no one could hold too much power. Also, people's assemblies were elected by the people to represent the lower classes of Rome. The military was controlled by elected officials. Their terms only lasted for one year! However, it was not a perfect democracy. The Romans did not have a sense of human rights. The city held m...
In the past, different civilizations have been ruled by different forms of government. The U.S. Democratic Republic, the Roman Republic, and the Athenian Democracy have similar and different functions of how they run their government.