Roman Senate Structure

Augustus, formerly known as Octavian, was the adopted son of dictator Julius Caesar and Emperor or Rome. Octavian set out to destroy his father’s murderers and assembled his own army in his quest for power and retribution. At the start, he shared rule with Mark Antony, however, their collaboration proved ineffective leading Augustus to pursue more and more control, culminating in the defeat of Antony in the battle of Actium and assuming rule as Emperor of Rome. Augustus did not inherit rule, his pursuit for power comprised of manipulative actions veiled under his generosity, concern for his people and charismatic tone and tenor. Res Gestae Divi Augusti expresses a sense of self adoration and honor in his quest for power and control, yet the subtext portrays a vastly different undertone, that of use of cajoling and propagandizing messages to benefit his position and accumulation of control of the republic. This Res Gestae is Augustus’ mechanism of self-promotion and adoration for his exceptional leadership qualities, concern and respect gleaned from his citizens and senate, and his military savvy to overpower and gain peace for the Romans, thus proclaiming his reign as one of prestige and importance.

Cato the Elder: “I believe it is a unanimous decision that we eliminate any further threat to the Roman Republic from Carthage.”

One similarity from ancient Rome and our government is the Senate. For example a senator is a

Most Romans had trouble with the idea of power to only a few people. The concept of power to the people settled well with many of the Romans. There were three main separate parts of the Roman Republic. These parts were the Consuls, the Senate, and the Assembly. A direct statement of their powers is given in document A by Polybius: “ The consuls (magistrates) lead the military and are the supreme masters of the government. They bring matters requiring debate before the Senate. They also call together the people’s Assemblies, and carry out whatever the majority of the Assemblies decide.” This similar to the style of the U.S democracy. Both have mass majority votes on various issues. For U.S democracy it is always for the election of someone to represent for the people. But in the Roman republic it was for people to vote directly on some issues among each other then elect someone to handle the issue in office for a

Romulus, who reigned from 753-716 B.C., was the ruler who established the social hierarchy in Rome which would have ever-lasting effects on Roman society for centuries. Romulus created the Senate whose senators were chosen from the patrician class of Rome. The senate had 100 members, which our senate in the United States if reflective of today. This shows how the Etruscans effectively maintained control over Rome but also allowed for government to reflect the will of the people, to an extent. The senate of ancient Rome has is representative of the people, being able to elect magistrates, decide on matters of war and ratify laws.

The ancient Roman Senate was a government body that advised the rulers of Rome. It was the only one to survive the long history of ancient Rome. It went through many changes since it was established around 750 BC by Romulus, the founder and first king of Rome. Both the role it played and its structural makeup changed greatly as Rome went through different phases of government.

Without the sharing of power between the Senate and People of Rome, the development of a republican form of government in the city would have been impossible. This is proved by Livy’s acknowledgement that the system of electing magistrates used in his time mirrors this first Roman election for king (Livy I.17.28-30). In this monarchical system of government as well as the Republic, both the Senate and the People must share power to ensure stability; a government dominated by one group, whether it be the king, the Senate, or the People, would be ruinous. The affirmation of this reality in the election of Numa served as a foundation for the system of political society that characterized the ideals of

The assemblies can can grant office for any citizens they want. They want peace or to start a war for the Roman Republic can do. Polybius said that the constitution was a democracy by how strong it is. The senator has the propose the laws and control the treasure. The assemblies are the most important to the senator.

4) The role the Roman Senate played in the Roman Republic, is that they were the power house, and they continually made policy and governed. The Roman Senate also seemed like an advisory council, because of the job and role they played.

In the early republic social divisions was in fact what determined the shape of politics. The most important division in roman society was between the patricians and the plebeians. The political power was in the hands of the patricians a “hereditary aristocracy”, whose privileged legal status was determined by their birth as members of certain families” (p.130). It was the patrician men who will dominate the affairs of state, provided by military leadership in the time of war, and they would monopolize knowledge of law and legal procedure.

Initially, when looking back at the Roman Republic there are a plethora of elements to observe that made it up. The main thing that the Republic had since it has risen was its senate. The senate played a vital role in the political dimension of the Republic itself as one whole. Made up of roughly around three-hundred men, they had adjusted the Roman society to fit the needs it had to have to stay afloat. Senators had taken on jobs specifically preparing legislation, handling finances, managing foreign relations, and supervising the state religion (Lassieur 15). This all tied together in what led to orderly conduct and harmony. SPQR:Senatus Populusque Romanus, better known as the senate and people of Rome, have been found on Roman carvings (Chandler, Taplin, Bingham 21). Just this piece of evidence shows that they really did play an important part in the Republic. All of the senators came from being a magistrate elected by the 4 assemblies (Lassieur 15-17). The four assemblies; Canitia Centuriata, Concilium Plebis, Comitia

Prior to Octavius’ ascension to his power, the Roman society functioned as a republic, wherein assemblies and elected officials shared political prerogatives and balanced each other’s influence. The Senatus, composed of 300 Patricians of enormous wealth appointed by the Consuls, directed foreign and domestic affairs, managed public treasury, directed instructions to all magistrates save the Tribunus, and declared wars; however, the Tribunus Plebis, elected by the Plebeii, could veto any of its actions, and Censors could impeach its members. Its humbler counterpart, the Concilium Plebis, the popular assembly, enacted laws as the Republic’s ultimate legislative institution, yet, in reality, their legislation proved enforceable only with the cooperation of the Patrician magistrates. Meanwhile, the two Consuls functioned as the head of the entire government and the army, but each had only a single year term. Censors hold the power to eliminate senators, but they were elected by the Comitia

Carthaginians were wealthy and from the North Africans city that was founded by Phoenician’s they had more power, military, and naval experience than the Romans (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.184). Because Carthaginians were trying to expand into Sicily which held just one of Rome’s greatest grain producing cities this unsettled the Romans, who feared being cut off from a great food source (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.184). Though they tried a workable solution of sharing control of the Mediterranean this was not to be. This inability to work together was one of the reasons for the start of the Punic wars, a series of three different wars (Jones, Rome, Podcast 1). In the bloody 3rd war of the Punic wars Rome defeated the Carthaginians (Jones, Rome, Podcast 1). After the Punic wars the Romans had found they had accumulated vast amounts of wealth and land. This put them in an awkward position, because they had no plan in place for this and did not know what to do with it (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.187). This huge wealth also created a problem for Rome, one of greed and corruption which began to take control over Rome (Backman, Cultures of the West, p.187). Senators who amassed wealth begun to become lazy and accustomed to a life of leisure, also the more wealth they got the more they wanted (Jones, Rome, Podcast 1). The next problem for Rome was these greedy senators not only wanted the wealth they wanted power too

Finally, we come to the focus of this report, that is, the Roman Senate. The Senate represented the aristocratic and elitist element of Roman government and was a collection of patrician citizens (the patrician/plebian conflict will be described in more depth later) who served as the legislative branch of the government as well as an advisory body. In the beginning of the Republic, the Senate contained 300 members, the members themselves were chosen from the patrician class, ex-consuls, and other officers who served for life. By the time that Julius Caesar gained power, the Senate's membership had increased to nearly 800 people.

Following the assassination of Julius Caesar by the Senators of the republic on the ideas of March in 44BC, Rome descended into a bloody civil war which lasted a decade. Although the senators had cunningly planned the murder of Caesar, it became apparent that they did not possess the foresight to consider who may fill the gaping power vacuum created by Caesar's absence. The conflict between Mark Antony and Octavian developed out of their battle supremacy in their failed alliance, and the victory of either would undoubtedly have a profound effect on the Rome and its provinces, solidifying the importance of the conflict. Unlike the unscrupulous and initial union between Caesar, Crassus and Pompey, the Second Triumvirate was legally recognised and binding under Treaty of Brundisium, with each triumvir assigned sectors to preside over. With an embarrassing ease, Octavian had forced Lepidus to live out his days exiled in Africa, leaving only Mark Antony and Octavian to contest the rulership of Rome following the expiration of the treaty in 33BC. Tensions grew between the men, as evident in Suetonius’ claims that Mark Antony taunted Octavian, saying of him that “’he could not even stand up to review his fleet when his ships were already at their fighting stations; but lay on his back and gazed up at the sky, never rising to show that he was alive until his admiral Marcus Agrippa had routed the enemy’” The Battle of Actium