At the end of the VI century; a., the Romans established a deep transformation in their political institutions. At the time, King Tarquin the Superb was deposed through a revolt led by members of the patrician class. According to some historians, this change came about because of this monarch's military defeats and his intention to seek political support through a series of concessions to the less fortunate.
The fall of the monarchic regime represented the beginning of the political hegemony of the patricians in Rome. The Senate became a political institution of fundamental importance and had its number of representatives raised from one hundred to three hundred members, all from the patrician class, who held the position within a period of time. lifetime. Among other functions, senators were to watch over religious traditions, take care of finances, handle foreign policy, appoint a dictator, bestow honors, and control the provinces.
Mind Map: Republican Rome
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Senate sessions were always called by a magistrate who organized the work and agendas to be discussed on that occasion. During the same session, senators had the right to deliver a speech. As soon as he uttered his opinion on an issue or law, he could withdraw through one of the two doors of the Senate. If he chose the passage on his right, it meant his favor with the measure; leaving on the left, he expressed his disapproval.
Even abandoning the monarchic model, we realize that Republican Rome still preserved some traces of this regime. Each year, the Curiata Assembly, formed only by adult patricians, chose two consuls. As the most important position in the magistracy, consuls had as their primary functions the organization of public cults, the command of armies and the summoning of the Senate. In times of instability, they could appoint a dictator who would have absolute power for six months.
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The so-called Centuriate Assembly was charged with choosing those who would be responsible for the activities undertaken in two other magistratures. The first of them referred to the censors, elected every five years, who counted the population, collected taxes, inspected public works and watched over the conduct of citizens. Another vote decided who would be the praetors, responsible for matters of justice in the city, in the countryside and among foreigners.
The members of the Tribunic Assembly were chosen from among thirty-five tribes existing in Rome, most of them coming from the countryside and the rest from the city itself. In voting, they chose those who would annually occupy the role of mayor, responsible for supervising public services. In addition, they also had the power to decide who the Quaestors would be, that is, the magistrates who administered the public treasury kept in the temple of Saturn.
At first, we observed that most public and political posts were controlled by individuals from the patrician class. However, the social conflicts that developed in Rome transformed the Roman political picture. Progressively, members of the military class and the commoners were also able to hold positions of magistracy and vote on laws of their interest by creating, for example, the magistracy of the tribunes of the plebs.
* Mind Map by Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "The political organization of the Republican Rome"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/a-organizacao-politica-roma-republicana.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
