Electoral process in Ancient Rome
Elections of magistrates formed part of Republican political life. Different offices were elected in different assemblies: consuls and praetors, for example, in the centuriate comitia. Procedures changed over time and cannot be traced to a single system directly borrowed from Greece.
Kinship, patronage, reputation and personal favours influenced support. The lex Gabinia of 139 BCE introduced secret ballots for magistrate elections. This made direct control of votes harder, but did not eliminate the influence of wealth or patrons. Laws against electoral bribery (leges de ambitu) restricted unlawful ways of attracting support; their provisions and penalties changed.
A candidate declared an intention to stand to the magistrate conducting the election. That official checked eligibility under the requirements for the particular office, including citizenship, age and previous service.
"Julius Caesar" by Pelaggio PalaggioCandidates wore a specially whitened toga, the toga candida, from which “candidate” derives. Its colour marked the contender’s status, not proof of a “clear conscience”. Campaigning included visits to the forum, conversations with citizens and requests for support. A nomenclator helped recognise people and recall their names.
Auspices preceded an assembly. The presiding magistrate was responsible for taking them; augurs possessed specialist knowledge of religious rules. Unfavourable signs or procedural defects could justify postponement.
In the centuriate assembly, the first vote, cast by the centuria praerogativa, was influential. In late Republican procedure it was selected by lot from the appropriate first-class centuries. Its choice influenced subsequent groups, but this does not mean that every group’s order was random or that others were legally required to vote identically.
Coin with the image of a voting citizenVoting took place in enclosed spaces, the saepta, with passages leading to ballot submission. These were not trap-like mazes from which citizens were forbidden to leave. Voters received tablets and submitted them for counting; passages organised movement and helped limit pressure on voters.
Caesar planned the monumental Saepta Julia, but Agrippa completed it in 29 BCE. Electoral structures and procedures also existed outside Rome, under local regulations.
Cities elected municipal officers, including duumvirs and aediles. Charters established age, property qualifications, nomination procedures and the counting of votes by curiae. It is incorrect to assume that every free adult could hold every office or that all cities voted and inaugurated magistrates in the same months.
Women could publicly endorse candidates, as Pompeian inscriptions show, but campaigning did not imply the right to vote or hold magistracies.
During the election campaign, propaganda inscriptions were applied to the walls of houses covered with white plaster and red paint. The candidate's name was written in large letters at the very beginning, an appeal to the voter was written under it, and the names of deputies were indicated in small print below. The inscriptions remained after the election for the entire duration of the elected officials' tenure and were covered with a new layer of plaster during the next election campaign. The content of the campaign signs varied. Some of them described highly moral qualities of candidates, information about professional activity or noble origin. Less common are candidate commitments or programs. Archaeologists also found inscriptions that contained abuse against candidates, or caricatures of candidates, and some similar inscriptions showed attempts, apparently, by supporters of the candidate to erase negative statements. In addition, neutral inscriptions were found that simply encourage people to come to the polls. As an example, you can give the following labels: "Neighbors, wake up and vote for Ampliatus. May you get sick if you destroy it out of envy! ""Please, Loreius, choose Ceius Secundus as your duumvir and he will choose you" "If an honest life is good for people, then Lucretius Fronton is completely worthy of honor"
Campaign bowls. They were filled with food and distributed on the street before the election to the poor. Inscriptions inside the bowls contained calls to vote for a particular candidate. On the left is a bowl calling for voting for Cato the Younger in the election of tribunes of the people (63 BC); on the right,for Catiline in the election of consuls (66 BC).Related topics
Literature and sources
Beard M. SPQR: The History of Ancient Rome / Mary Beard; Translated from English – 2nd ed. - Moscow: Alpina non-fiction,2018. - 696c. Vedeneev Yu. A. I. V. Zaitsev, V. E. Korablin, V. V. Lugovoy, V. V. Tylkin. - Kaluga: Kaluga Regional Fund for the revival of historical, cultural and spiritual traditions "Symbol",2002. - 692 p.: ill. Giro P. Private and public life of the Romans / St. Petersburg,"Alethea",1995. - 582s. Kuzishchin V. I. Istoriya Drevnoi Grekii [The History of Ancient Greece]. Sergeenko M. E. Zhizn drevnego Rima [Life of ancient Rome] / St. Petersburg: Publishing and Trading House "Summer Garden"; Neva Magazine,2000,368 p.
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