Differences Between Roman Republic And Roman Empire

In ancient Rome, there were two classes the Patricians who were the descendants of the senators appointed by King Romulus, and the Plebeians or plebs who were the free and lower class people. There was a growing tension between the two classes right from the foundation of Rome. The tension escaladed following the fall of Etruscan king and the declaration of Rome as a republic; the rise of aristocrats? leadership.

Romans were a civilization that originated after the Greek culture. They, like Greeks, saw an extreme significance in the idea of a love for one’s country and loyalty. The Romans, however, were more concerned with public affairs such as education, sanitation, and health. They held a strong connection with their ancestors and wished to imitate what the ancient Romans did. Although Romans rejected the idea of a Rex, or king, they favored the common hero. They wanted a leader who a “regular Joe”, someone who was average and could still led an average life after doing extraordinary things. The Romans also had a very defined government that was broken into consuls, senate, and assembly. There were two consuls who served in place of the king as the leaders of the Roman Empire. Next in succession was the senate, comprised only of patricians who debated and passed legislation. Finally, there was the assembly made for the plebeians to approve laws.

To begin, the Roman Republic seemed to have several problems before Octavian or Caesar Augustus entered as the ruler. There were political problems between the classes which caused much of the trouble. There were a few classes, the Nobiles which contained the patricians and the plebeians. There were two types of aristocratic leaders the optimates the populares. There was conflict between the two aristocratic groups, which had caused more political turmoil. (p. 112)

Patricians continued to dominate Rome, although the plebeians did receive some governmental rights. They had tribunes, which had the power to intervene in political matters and veto measures they considered were unfair. The plebeians gained the right to hold almost all state offices and became eligible to have one

Throughout history, societies have fought to have both equal rights and superior rights for the sake of personal comfort. It is much easier to live well at the expense of others when a class or race is dehumanized and kept at a distance. While the patricians could never have dehumanized the plebeians, they allowed them to become destitute and took their rights away. The patricians and the plebeians were one people joined in a cause, and regardless of improvements the plebeians could never be totally satisfied without compensation.

One of the most important advances during the initial history of the Roman Republic was the "Struggle of the Orders." The “Struggle of the Orders” was also known as the “Conflict of the Orders. “ This was a political struggle that lasted about two hundred years. There were two groups that were divided, the Patricians and the Plebeians. It was a conflict between the two. The Patricians were superior to the most of citizens. They became a Patrician through wealth, the ownership of land, or were born into it. They were aristocrats that were extremely privileged citizens who took advantage of their privileges. Even though the Patricians were outnumbered by the Plebeians, they had control over the social, political and economic power in Rome. The

It is important to remember that the rich controlled about ninety percent of the wealth in Rome. This not only extended to money, but also power. The Patricians consisted of Rome’s rich and upper class population, wielding most of the power. The Plebeians were comprised of Rome’s poor and lower class populace. Compared to the Patricians, the Plebeians’ power

While the new oppressive class ruled over plebeians, the first struggles over equality emerged, namely, the demand for a fair distribution of wealth. According to Morey (1901b), plebeians, significantly contributed to the army while living normally in the country, without the protection of the city walls; this led to many problems such as the destruction of their farms since they couldn’t attend to it while serving in the military, and the destruction of their homes since their family were dislocated in order to escape the enemy attacks to their

In this paper, I will be using information I learned from our reading’s this week to discuss the economic and political differences between the patricians and the plebeian classes and how those differences ultimately led to the plebeian revolt. To start the discussion one must first understand the history between the patricians and plebeians. The plebeians and the patricians had been allies working together to fight the kingship that was Rome and convert it to a republic. However, while both fought together, when the republic of Rome was first created, it was not a democracy but rather ruled by the privileged few, an aristocracy. The patricians becoming the wealthy aristocracy that got the majority of the spoils of the war, while the plebeians received little and had little governing rights.

After the fall of the kingship, Rome was essentially made up of two economic classes of free people. The first were the Patricians, who were the wealthy who according to legend were the descendants of Romulus, founder or Rome. (Morey, 1901) The second group, were the middle to lower class called Plebeians, or Plebes for short. As is the case in many societies, the interests of the aristocracy and the common people were at odds. Under the new Roman Republic, the Patricians had all of the economic, social, and political power, and the Plebeians had very little opportunity to arise from their class. As one would expect, this was a recipe for conflict between the classes.

One great example is. “The comitia centuriata” is one of the three voting assemblies. From the Romans, historic statement information record shows that it is true plebeians, still vote in the comitia centuriata; but the point is they could never hold any of the new offices since then, nor could they sit in the Senate. This makes a big difference between the two and mostly the power of the patrician's domination affected and the hurts plebeians very hard. It was not only politically but the dominant was with every scenario such as including politics, economics, integrity, and sustainability, also right and the freedom of plebeians was affected under the

The struggle against kingship left the plebeians poorer because they left their homes at most time, they are the ones who

The Plebeians were the merchants, farmers, and the craft workers of Rome. The Plebeians refused to fight in Rom’s way in after the Senate declared war in 491 BC. This was because the Patricians forbade the Plebeians from taking part in the Senate, so they stood their grounds and decided not to take part in their war. It is told that the Plebeians removed themselves from the city until a time they had the right to elect their own leaders, which This Historians calls the struggle of the orders. Also, their great struggle aid in the continued effort of the plebeians to achieve political equality to safe guard economic relief for their less fortunate people, and to break the political and religious control (monopoly) of the patricians. The Plebeians didn’t remain under the control the Patricians forever. It took some time, but bit by bit, closer to the end of the early republic they were partly successful and took back some control they could of the old priesthoods, the office of interim head of state and possibly the senate leader. In the late republic to the 1st century BC, distinctions between patricians and plebeians lost political importance for differences or distinctions; in fact, some patricians were adopted and became plebeians and so on. Regarding the first plebian revolt: It led to the removal of debts and the freedom at last from the hash laws and control they were put under. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) the tribune was elected by the plebeians which symbolizes freedom and where their people now had a voice. Their objectives were to offer their people, mostly the less privilege a better and safe livelihood. The

According to the Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (1998), "Patricians were members of a group of citizen families who, in contrast with the Plebeian class, formed a privileged class in early Rome". With the Roman Republic entering a new era after eradicating the monarchy, the patricians practiced total control over the Roman affairs and claimed all the economic and political spoils. They dominated the political positions and decision making was exclusive to them while taking control of the protected lands and