|
See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). The Roman Republic was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy in 510 BC and lasted until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Roman Empire. The precise date in which the Roman Republic changed into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation, with the dates of Julius Caesar's appointment as perpetual dictator (44 BC), the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 BC), and the date which the Roman Senate granted Octavian the title "Augustus" (January 16, 27 BC), being some of the common choices. This is a distinction chiefly made by modern historians and not by the Romans of the time, however. The early Julio-Claudian emperors maintained that the res publica still existed under the protection of their extraordinary powers and would eventually return to its republican form. Location
The structure of republican Rome
Ethnicity Like much of early Rome, the ethnic origins of the Roman people are unclear. Existing on the border of Latium and Etruria, it is debated whether the Romans were originally an ancient Italic people from the Latin region who were influenced (some say conquered at one point) by the Etruscans, or Etruscans with Italic influence. Either way, it seems likely that the Romans were heavily influenced by both cultures, and incorporated aspects from both. Inhabitants The Roman Republic had many different classes of people who existed within the state. Each one of them had differing rights, responsibilities, and status under Roman law. Full citizens of Rome were invariably free, property owning, men. The citizens of Rome and their families were divided into two orders or classes, known as the Patricians and Plebeians. These two social classes were hereditary, based on one's ancestry. In the early Republic, patricians monopolized all political offices and probably most of the wealth, but there are signs of wealthy and influential plebeians in the later republican records. Likewise, many patrician families lost both wealth and political influence in the later Republic. By the 2nd century BC the distinction was primarily only a religious one, as many of the priesthoods were reserved only for patricians. The rights of Roman women varied widely throughout the history of the Republic. However, they were never accorded all the rights of citizens; they were not allowed to vote, or stand for public office, although they did have the right to own property. Roman society also contained large numbers of slaves, who had no rights whatsoever under the law. They were considered property and could be treated however their owner wished. The killing of a slave was a matter of property rather than a crime against a human being. Despite this, a freed slave, a freedman, was granted a form of full Roman citizenship, although neither they nor their descendants for three generations, could stand for any public office. Roman citizenship was also used as a tool of foreign policy and control. Colonies and political allies would be granted a "minor" form of Roman citizenship, there being several graduated levels of citizenship and legal rights (the Latin Right was one of them). The promise of improved standing within the Roman "sphere of influence", and the rivalry for standing with one's neighbours, kept the focus of many of Rome's neighbours and allies centered on the status quo of Roman culture, rather than trying to subvert or overthrow Rome's influence. Government Roman republican government was a complex system, which seems to have had several redundancies within it, and was based on custom and tradition, as much as it was on law. Assemblies and Magistrates The basis of republican government, at least in theory, was the division of responsibilities between various assemblies, whose members (or blocks of members) would vote on issues placed before their assembly. These assemblies included the Curiate Assembly, the Centuriate Assembly, the Tribal Assembly, the Plebeian Assembly, and the Roman Senate. Membership in such assemblies was limited by such factors as class, order, family, and income. Several of these assemblies had specific and specialized functions, such as the Curiate Assembly which conferred Imperium on the Roman magistrates. However, two of these assemblies dominated the political life of the Republic: the Plebeian Assembly, and the Roman Senate. Within the various assemblies, there were a number of magistratus - magistrates, who performed specialized functions. The Romans observed two principles for their magistrates: annuality, the observation of a one-year term, and collegiality, the holding of the same office by at least two men at the same time. The supreme office of Consul, for instance, was always held by two men together, each of whom exercised a power of mutual veto over any actions by the other consul. If the entire Roman army took the field, it was always under the command of the two consuls who alternated days of command. Many offices were held by more than two men; in the late Republic there were 8 praetors a year and 20 quaestors. The office of dictator was an exception to annuality and collegiality, and the offices of Censors to annuality. In times of military emergency a single dictator was chosen for a term of 6 months to have sole command of the Roman state. On a regular, but not annual basis two censors were elected: every five years for a term of 18 months. Evolution of Republican government During the early and middle Republic, the Roman Senate, highest in prestige and being composed of the aristocratic, rich, and politically influential (towards the end of the Republic, it was exclusively composed of ex-magistrates), was predominant in the state. During the latter years of the Republic, a division developed within the Senate with two factions arising: the Optimates and the Populares. The Optimates held to the traditional forms of Roman government, while the Populares were those who used the fact that the Plebeian Assembly was the only body capable of passing binding laws (plebiscites) on the Republic, to pursue political influence outside the Senate. Since the Senate controlled the finances of the state, this led to conflicts between the Senate and the Plebeian Assembly. Many ambitious politicians used these conflicts to further their political career, advancing themselves as champions either of "Roman tradition", or of "The People". Military The Roman legion formed the backbone of Roman military power. Rome used its legions to expand its borders to eventually dominate most of Europe and the area around the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman legion exhibited high levels of discipline, training and professionalism. It was a standardized, military machine, in which the heroics and bravery of individuals were secondary to the function of the army as a whole. Equipment, tactics, organization, and military law were uniformly implemented. Procedures for everything from training and marching to camp building were laid out specifically, tasks allocated, and each unit and man knew his role and responsibilities within the army as a whole. The early republic had no standing army. Instead, legions would be conscripted as needed (the term Legion comes from the Latin term Legio - "muster" or "levy"), put into the field to fight the war for which they had been created, and would then disband back to their civilian lives, which for most meant farming. Troops would be levied from Rome and its surrounding colonies, each which would be responsible for providing a particular number of soldiers. Such conscripts were theoretically taken only from those men who were property/land holders wealthy enough to equip themselves, although in time of dire military need this requirement was overlooked. This made the Roman Legion less expensive to the state, and ensured that the Legions were fighting to preserve their own property and way of life as much as trying to protect their country. In the later republic (107 BC), Gaius Marius would institute the Marian reforms which would completely alter the form of the Legion. This was done for two reasons. One was that the old class that had formerly provided soldiers had been destroyed in war. The other reason was that he saw trained soldiers as far more valuable than short term conscripts. Not only were the structure and tactics of the Roman military updated, but it was transformed into a standing army, composed mostly of lower-class "career soldiers", who would enlist for a period of 20 years, and be rewarded (traditionally, but not legally guaranteed) with a "land grant" provided by the state, but distributed by the general, at the end of their term of service. This had the subtle, but important, effect of refocusing the loyalty of the legionary who now fought as much for his General and his "pension" as for the country. Each time Rome conquered new lands, the territory would be sectioned off into one or more provinces, under the administration of a Roman governor, chosen annually by the Senate. He would be awarded a promagisterial rank, either proconsular or propraetorial, depending on the size and importance of the province (see Roman provinces for list of governor's ranks). In the later Republic, newly acquired land was often partly used to settle the discharged veterans of the military campaign who had earned their "land grant". This not only "paid off" the army, but had the added benefit of settling Roman people, with Roman customs, bringing Roman culture to newly conquered people: a form of "cultural imperialism" as well as a military one (See: Cultural Romanization). Culture of republican Rome Greek influence on Rome It is likely that the Romans first came in contact with Greek civilization through the Greek city-states in southern Italy and in Sicily (both of which formed "Magna Graecia" - "Greater Greece"). These colonies had been established as a result of Greek expansion that took place in these two areas during the classical age of Greece, which began at approximately 479 BC. There is a remarkable commonality between the world of classical Athens and the classical world of Magna Graecia. As proof of this, one need look no further than the Greek temples in Akragas and Silinus in Sicily and the Parthenon of Athens to see that they partake of the same style of architecture at virtually the same level of architectural refinement. Thucydides documents the substantial political and military contacts that the Greek city-states of Sicily had with the Sparta and Athens during the Peloponesian War, and how the Syracusans allied with Sparta were able to defeat the military forces of Athens as they laid siege to Syracuse. This, inasmuch as trading, as well as the mere day to day interaction between peoples of different cultures, provided opportunities for the Romans to gain exposure to Greek culture, literature, architecture, political and philosophical ideas, religious beliefs and traditions. There was a great sharing of ideas and culture among the peoples of the Mediterranean Sea while Rome was developing into the dominant power in the area. The Latin alphabet was certainly influenced by the Greek alphabet, and the Latin language itself contains many words of Greek origin. Latin literature was also influenced by the Greeks as well. Early Latin plays were sometimes translations of Greek plays, and different types poetry often were modelled after their counterparts, such as Vergil's Aeneid off of the Homeric Epics. It was not uncommon for wealthy Romans to send their sons to Greece for the purpose of study, most notably in Athens. This Roman passion of Hellenic culture would increase over time. Greek and Latin became the lingua franca of the eastern half of the Meditteranean area. Religion See also: Roman religion According to the German historian Georg Wissowa the Romans distinguished two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the de novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see List of Di Indigetes). The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually in response to a specific crisis or need. The Romans worshipped a number of gods, among which the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were pre-eminent. Later this triad was supplanted by the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Religious ceremonies on behalf of the state were delegated to a strict system of priestly offices under the governance of the College of Pontiffs, with at its head the Pontifex maximus was the most important. Flamens took care of the cults of various gods, while augurs were trusted with taking the auspices. The rex sacrorum, or "sacrificial king" took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings. From the earliest days of the Republic, foreign gods were imported, especially from Greece, which had a great cultural influence on the Romans. In addition, the Romans connected some of their indigenous deities with Greek gods and goddesses. Legends Few sources of Rome have survived which were written before the last decades of the Republic, and none of those is complete. By that time, the Romans retold a lengthy and complex sequence of stories about their own history, which were clearly intended as models of Roman character, good and bad, and examples for living Romans. Unfortunately, there is little evidence for early Roman history aside from this cycle, and strong reasons to believe that many of the stories did not actually happen as they are told. Many of them are borrowed from pre-existing Greek stories; some of them are plainly family stories in praise of great Roman families; some of them are aetiologies of Roman institutions which were not invented in Rome, but were common to a much larger area. Overthrow of the kings Livy's version of the establishment of the Republic states that the last of the Kings of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus ("Tarquin the proud") had a thoroughly unpleasant son, Sextus Tarquinius, who raped a Roman noblewoman named Lucretia. Lucretia compelled her family to take action by gathering her kinsmen, telling them what happened, and then killing herself. They were compelled to avenge her, and led an uprising that expelled the royal house, the Tarquins, out of Rome into refuge in Etruria. Lucretia's widowed husband Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus and her brother Lucius Junius Brutus were elected as the first two consuls of the new Republic (Marcus Junius Brutus who later assassinated Gaius Julius Caesar claimed descent from this first Brutus). History The origins and early history of Rome are very uncertain. While there are quite specific accounts of Rome's origins and early history, these tend to be of a more mythological nature, and do not stand up as objective history when subjected to modern analysis. There even have been archeological findings in the city of Rome that predate the mythological founding date; on the other hand, the traces of actual settlement do not go back as far as that date. However, Roman origin myths probably do contain aspects of the truth, and were responsible for shaping the Romans' views of themselves. Founding of Rome The tradition supplies several different dates for the founding of Rome, of which the most well-known is that given by the Roman historian and chronographer M. Terentius Varro: 753 BC, but this depends on the extremely doubtful traditional chronology of the Roman kings. There are some archaeological finds older than Varro's date; but the earliest traces of continuous settlement are usually dated to the early 600's BC. According to Roman mythology, after the end of the Trojan war, the Trojan prince Aeneas sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and founded the city of Lavinium. His son Iulus later founded the city of Alba Longa, and from Alba Longa's royal family came the twins Romulus and Remus (supposedly sons of the god Mars by Rhea Silvia), who went on to found the city of Rome on April 21, 753 BC. Thus the Romans traced their origins back to the Helladic world. Monarchy (Sixth century BC) In the beginning, Rome had kings. The tradition portrays these kings more as culture heroes than as historical figures, each of them being credited with devising some aspect of Roman culture; for example, Numa Pompilius devised Roman religion, and Ancus Martius the arts of war. It also gives most of them reigns of about forty years, which probably owes more to numerology than to history. Other details have been seen as origin stories of various Roman noble houses. There is, however, general agreement that Rome did have a series of monarchs (some of whom were of Etruscan origin; the influence of the Etruscans can still be seen on early Roman art and architecture) and that these kings were displaced by the Roman aristocracy sometime around 500-450 BC.. Establishment of the Republic The traditional date of the revolution against the kings is 509 BC; for the story see Overthrow of the kings above. This is again open to doubt; the arrangement of the consular fasti which support this date squeezes six consuls into the first year of the Republic, and has long stretches without any consuls at all. It is possible that, as a matter of national pride, Roman historians altered the chronology of the early republic to make it appear that Rome freed itself before Cleisthenes brought freedom to Athens. It is also suspected that later powerful families "inserted" consular ancestors into the list to support the political position of their families, pushing the founding date of the republic back in time. The early consuls took over the roles of the king with the exception of his high priesthood in the worship of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at the sacred temple on the Capitoline Hill. For that duty the Romans elected a Rex sacrorum - a "king of holy things". It is interesting to note that the Roman Rex Sacrorum was forbidden membership in the Senate; one could not be a Senator and a Rex Sacrorum at the same time. Republican Rome distanced even this vestigial "king" from any possibility of power. Until the end of the Republic, the accusation that a powerful man wanted to make himself "Rex" - "King" remained a career-shaking charge (Julius Caesar's assassins claimed that they were preserving Rome from the re-establishment of a monarchy). Conflict of the Orders The relationship between the plebeians and the patricians sometimes came under such strain that the plebeians would secede from the city, taking their families and movable possessions, and set up camp on a hill outside the walls. Their refusal to cooperate any longer with the patricians led to social changes. Only about 15 years after the establishment of the Republic in 494 BC, plebeians seceded and chose two leaders to whom they gave the title Tribunes. The plebeians took an oath that they would hold their leaders 'sacrosanct' - 'untouchable' during their terms of office, and that a united plebs would kill anyone who harmed a tribune. The second secession in 471 BC led to further legal definition of their rights and duties and increased the number of tribunes to 10. The final secession ended in 287 BC and the resulting Lex Hortensia gave the vote of the Concilium Plebis or "Council of the Plebeians" the force of law. It is important to note that this force of law was binding for both patricians and plebeians, and in fact made the Council of the Plebeians a leading body for approving Roman laws. Roman expansion into Italy (340 to 268 BC) Throughout the 4th century BC the Romans fought a series of wars with their neighbors, most notably the Sabines and the Samnites, who were their main rivals on the Italian mainland. Eventually, Rome came to dominate the Latin League, a coalition of city-states in the area of Latium, eventually dissolving the league and placing the territory under hegemonic control at the end of the Latin War. During this era, Rome, and others of the Latin League, clashed with foreign powers as well, and not always successfully. In 390 BC the Gauls from Gallia Cisalpina (modern Po Valley) under the leadership of Brennus, defeated the Roman legions and sacked Rome itself, requiring a huge ransom to avoid completely destroying the city (A Roman senator protested that the weights used to measure the ransom of gold were inaccurate. In response, Brennus threw his sword onto the weights and uttered the famous words: "Vae Victis" - "Woe to the vanquished"). In 283 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus arrived to aid the Greek colony of Tarentum against the Romans. Pyrrhus was widely considered the greatest military leader since Alexander the Great, but even after winning three battles he was unable to defeat the Roman Republic, taking great losses as he did so. Pyrrhus is said to have uttered the phrase: "Another such victory and I shall be lost" coining the term "Pyrrhic victory". Pyrrhus withdrew to fight wars in Sicily and Greece, giving the Romans international military prestige, and bringing them to the attention of the Hellenistic superpowers of the East. Through its colonies, and allied city-states, Rome had a vast amount of manpower to draw upon, which it used as a recruitment pool for its Legions. This gave it the ability to simply raise legion after legion, continuing to fight where other nations may simply have capitulated. Rome also demonstrated an unwillingness to be, or to stay, beaten. This characteristic determinism was shown in such later engagements such as First Punic War where the Roman military, faced with a 70% loss of its fleet in storms, managed to rebuild the entire fleet in a mere two months. Another unique characteristic of the Republic was its treatment of conquered people. Those conquered by Rome were brought under the "protection" of Rome; they were granted a form of citizenship, and had specific rights under Roman law. They were also held to certain obligations as well, most notably the requirement to provide troops for the Legions. This had a two-fold effect. First, Rome had a large pool of manpower to draw its Legions from (the entire Latin League). This allowed it to simply field army after army, refusing to be defeated. Second, by having several levels of citizenship and rights under Roman law, the attention of conquered people was focused on improving their rights within the Roman law, and in competing with rival client-states for status within the Roman sphere of influence, rather than trying to rid themselves of Roman dominance. This policy of "divide and rule" made conquered people willing participants in their own submission to Roman law. By 268 BC the Romans dominated most of Italy through a network of allies, conquered city-states, colonies, and strategic garrisons. At that time Rome started to look beyond Italy, towards the islands and the rich trade of the Mediterranean Sea. Punic Wars Macedonian and Seleucid wars Acquisition of Asia
Political instability Increasing instability and violence marked the final years of the Republic. This trend, initiated by the Gracchi in the second century BCE, and Sulla’s proscriptions in the late 80’s, ended centuries of relatively peaceful governance. This kind of violent and sensationalist politics only sought to inflame tensions within Roman society, namely the poor and the disenfranchised. However, despite potential for revolution within the lower ranks, revolution itself only threatened twice before the final collapse, during the Social War and the Catiline conspiracy. Other political problems stemmed from the domination of the consulship by Gnaeus Pompey and Julius Caesar. Economic factors The expansion of the Roman Empire brought about “the development of a money based economy,” which altered the old system based on land ownership. This had many effects, including the weakening of the landed nobilis’s position in favour of the wealthy Knights, and finally contributed to the “steadily declining state of public morale in Rome.” Out of this depressed situation Catiline led a rabble of economically wounded nobles and veterans on the political platform of debt cancellation. However, Cicero through luck, “patient care, sober judgment and exceptional intelligence,” thwarted the attempted revolution and checked the threat of civil war, all without the use of arms. Cicero, now heralded as the ‘Saviour of Rome,’ reached the pinnacle of his fame,” and cemented his role as a defender of the Republic. However, the manner in which the Senate dealt with the crisis demonstrated the Senate’s reactionary tendencies to secure its own interests first. This move away from a policy of compromise to self-interested reaction was a key shift in Roman politics which would in the long term contribute to the final collapse of the Republic. Economic and political strife Rome's military and diplomatic successes around the Mediterranean resulted in unforeseen economic and political pressures on the state. While factional strife had always been part of Roman political life, the stakes were now far higher; a corrupt provincial governor could acquire unbelievable wealth; a successful military commander needed only the support of his legions to rule vast territories. Starting with the Punic Wars, the Roman economy began to change, concentrating wealth in the hands of a few powerful clans and causing political tension within Rome. Much of the newly conquered territories were seized by rich and powerful families. Additionally, as only men who could provide their own arms were eligible to serve in the Legions, the majority of Roman troops came from the middle class land holders who theoretically would be fighting to defend their own lands. With military campaigns now lasting years rather than just a few months, soldiers could not return to work their farms. With their holdings lying fallow, their families quickly fell into debt, and their lands were lost to creditors- typically wealthy landholders who consolidated these properties into vast latifundia. Formerly middle-class soldiers would return from years of campaigning to find themselves landless, unable to support their families, and ironically, unemployable because the successes of the Legions made slaves a much cheaper source of labor. By 133 BC the economic imbalance was too acute to ignore, but the wealthy patricians and old families in the Senate had a vested interest in preserving the status quo. It seemed that a land reform through the traditional channels was an unlikely prospect. Gracchi reforms (133 to 121 BC) In 133 BC, a tribune, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, tried to introduce land reform to redistribute "publicly held land" to the now landless returning soldiers. He proposed the enforcement of a Roman law, which had mostly been ignored, which limited the use of public lands. While "public lands" were technically state owned, such land was often used by wealthy landholders, many of them Senators. Under the enforcement of this law many of them would lose property. As it seemed unlikely that the Senate would agree to enforce the law, Tiberius bypassed the Senate entirely, and tried to pass his reform through the Plebeian Assembly as a plebiscite, using the legal principle of Lex Hortensia. While technically legal, this was a violation of political custom, and outraged many patricians. The Senate blocked Tiberius by bribing his fellow tribune to veto the bill. Tiberius then passed a bill to depose his colleague from office, violating the principle of collegiality. With the veto withdrawn, the land reform passed. An incensed Senate refused to fund the land commission. Tiberius used the plebeian assembly to divert funds from the income of Pergamon to fund the commission, challenging Senate control of state finances and foreign policy. When it became clear that Tiberius did not have enough time to finish his land reforms, even with political and economic backing, he announced that he would run again for the tribunate, violating annuality. This was the last straw for the patricians, who, fearing that Tiberius was setting himself up as a tyrant, responded by slaughtering Tiberius and 300 of his followers in the streets of Rome. Tiberius' younger brother Gaius Sempronius Gracchus attempted to continue political reforms using similar tactics almost ten years later. He seems to have been more of a demagogue who attempted to pass a slew of popular laws to gain popular support rather than to be a political reformer with a specific agenda like his brother. He was neither as successful, nor as popular, as his elder brother, but he managed to create many political enemies. Escalating political tensions finally exploded once again in violence on the Capitoline Hill, where Gaius Gracchus and 3,000 of his followers were killed. Whatever their intentions, the political careers of the Gracchi brothers had broken the political traditions of Rome, and introduced mob violence as a tool of Roman political life. It was a change that the Republic would not recover from. Gaius Marius (107 to 100 BC)
Social war (91 to 88 BC) With Marius' retirement, the way was cleared for the political career of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Sulla was a patrician, and a traditional political conservative, who had served under Marius as a competent officer in Numidia and Germany. However, there was political enmity between the two, as Marius had "slighted" Sulla by failing to credit him with the capture of Jugurtha. In 91 BC, a tribune and political champion of the rights of the Latin allies, Marcus Livius Drusus, attempted to pass a law granting full Roman citizenship to all the Italian allies living south of the Po River. When Drusus was murdered, many of the Italian allies, especially those among the Samnites, exploded into the rebellion of the Social war (Socius is Latin for ally). Ironically, to try and end the war, Rome offered full citizenship to any of the rebelling allies who would cease the conflict. Most of the allies ceased fighting, but several continued the rebellion. In response, Gaius Marius came out of retirement, and commanded the Roman forces in northern Italy, while Lucius Cornelius Sulla commanded the Roman legions in southern Italy, bringing the war to an end in 88 BC. Following their joint victory, Sulla stood for election as Consul, and was elected. First Mithridatic and Roman civil wars (88 to 83 BC) When Mithridates VI of Pontus overran Bithynia as the Social war ended, and slaughtered tens of thousands of Roman citizens in the Asiatic Vespers, the Senate gave Sulla the Consular command of the expeditionary force sent to extract revenge against Mithridates. Gaius Marius did not wish to return to political obscurity, and bribed the passage of a bill through the Plebeian Assembly to give himself command of Sulla's armies. When Sulla heard of this while raising his legions in southern Italy, he turned his armies on Rome itself. Sulla's legions captured the city after protracted and bloody street fighting in Rome, and Marius was forced to flee to Africa. Sulla then departed to confront Mithridates and his allies. Marius returned to Rome with Lucius Cornelius Cinna and captured the city with his legions. Marius appointed himself Consul for a 7th time and proceeded to butcher Sulla's supporters. However, only a few weeks later Marius died of a massive brain hemorrhage. Cinna retained power, and in an almost comic twist, decided to ignore Sulla's existence completely, even sending a second army to Pontus. Sulla eventually took over that army and combined it with his own. The war came to a close with the Treaty of Dardanos in 85 BC. Sulla then returned to Rome with his Legions in 83 BC. Sulla (82 to 80 BC)
First Triumvirate Civil war
Second Triumvirate
Causes of the subversion of the Republic into the Empire
Footnotes Early Republic Late Republic Latin literature of the Republic Tourist resorts See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| |