Emperors of Rome | The Roman Republic (Lecture 2)

Lecture 2: Before there were emperors, there was the Roman Republic. The republic had been founded in 509 B.C. in reaction to monarchy and had retained as a core element in its political ideology a strong aversion to imposed one-man rule. In this lecture, we investigate the political character of the republic—rule by the Senate, people, and magistrate especially in light of a recent and heated debate about whether or not the system was more or less “democratic” or “oligarchic.” The most important characteristics of the republic for understanding the events that follow are that it had no written constitution, that it was dominated by leading families who expected to pass prestige and political prominence down the dynastic tree, and that its institutions existed on the scale of a city-state. However, as the 2nd century B.C. drew to a close, these institutions were expected to regulate a Mediterranean wide empire.

Essential Reading:
Millar, The Crowd in Rome.

Supplementary Reading:
Mouritsen, Plebs and Politics.
Scullard, Roman Politics.
Yakobson, Elections and Electioneering.