State system of republican Rome

The term "republic", which traditionally characterizes the state-political organization of Rome in the IV–I centuries BC, does not have a qualitative meaning in the historical basis (res publicae — general affairs). The Romans saw the sense of organizing power in their state as ensuring civil rights and guaranteeing the special, privileged freedoms of a full-fledged citizen of the polis. The main danger to civil freedom was seen in the individual and executive power (decorating past tsars with many vices in their legendary history). Only the people as a whole have supreme power, entrusting certain parts of this power to different institutions and individuals. This principle became the foundation of the classical Roman Republic. S. P. Q. R. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "Senatus Populusque Romanus" ("The Senate and people of Rome"), which was depicted on the standards of the Roman legions and was used in both Republican and imperial times.

A private alliance and a legal emergency board show different ways around the ordinary magistracies; they are compared in Triumvirate.

Republican authority was distributed among magistrates, the Senate and citizen assemblies. Roman citizenship combined private-law capacities with political rights, but these varied with sex, age and status. Freed people could become citizens while retaining restrictions; female citizens neither voted nor held ordinary political magistracies.

The position of paterfamilias concerned independence in private law, not an exclusive qualification for political participation. An adult son under paternal authority could vote and hold office. Family dependence should therefore not be equated with a complete lack of citizen rights.

Voting was organised by curiae, centuries or tribes. Tradition attributed property classes and 193 centuries to Servius Tullius. The system later changed; the reconstruction of reforms and total number of centuries remains disputed. Property groups had unequal voting weight, and participation required personal attendance at Rome.

Assemblies elected magistrates and accepted or rejected proposals. The Senate influenced finances, foreign policy and the allocation of commands. Citizens participated extensively, but political rights were not equal for everyone living under Roman rule.

Ordinary magistracies emphasised collegiality and limited terms. Consuls and praetors held imperium; other officials undertook financial, urban and administrative duties. Most offices were annual, but censors were elected less frequently and had distinctive terms. Dictatorship was an extraordinary office, not a normal stage in a political career.

Plebeian tribunes protected plebeians, convened their assembly and could intervene against other officials. The Senate was not an elected parliament in the modern sense: membership followed political careers and revision of the senatorial list.

Conquests increased aristocratic wealth and influence, but effects on farmers and urban populations differed by region. Major conflicts included Tiberius Gracchus’ activity in 133 BCE and Gaius Gracchus’ in 123–122, the Social War and the civil wars of the first century BCE.

Marius’ recruitment of poor citizens in 107 BCE was significant, but did not instantly create a fully professional standing army. Longer service and soldiers’ dependence on commanders developed gradually. Major slave rebellions included the Sicilian wars of 135–132 and 104–100 BCE and Spartacus’ revolt of 73–71 BCE.

Related topics

• Roman Republic
• Rome
• Lucius Cornelius Sulla
• Gaius Julius Caesar
• Slave Revolt in Sicily
• The Rise of Spartacus
• The Gracchi Brothers