History of the Roman Constitution
Encyclopedia
The History of the Roman Constitution is a study of Ancient Rome
that traces the progression of Roman political development from the founding of the city of Rome
in 753 BC to the collapse of the (Western)
Roman Empire
in 476 AD. The constitution of the Roman Kingdom
vested the sovereign power in the King of Rome
. The king did have two rudimentary checks on his authority, which took the form of a board of elders (the Roman Senate
) and a popular assembly
(the Curiate Assembly
). The arrangement was similar to the constitutional arrangements found in contemporary Greek city-states (such as Athens
or Sparta
). These Greek constitutional principles
probably came to Rome through the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia
in southern Italy. The Roman Kingdom
was overthrown in 510 BC, according to legend, and in its place the Roman Republic
was founded.
The constitutional history of the Roman Republic can be divided into five phases. The first phase began with the revolution which overthrew the Roman Kingdom
in 510 BC, and the final phase ended with the revolution which overthrew the Roman Republic, and thus created the Roman Empire
, in 27 BC. Throughout the history of the republic, the constitutional evolution was driven by the struggle
between the aristocracy (the "Patricians") and the ordinary citizens (the "Plebeians"). Approximately two centuries after the founding of the republic, the Plebeians attained, in theory at least, equality with the Patricians. In practice, however, the plight of the average Plebeian remained unchanged. This set the stage for the civil wars of the 1st century BC, and Rome's transformation into a formal empire.
The general who won the last civil war of the Roman Republic, Gaius Octavian
, became the master of the state. In the years after 30 BC, Octavian set out to reform the Roman constitution
, and to found the Principate
. The ultimate consequence of these reforms was the abolition of the republic, and the founding of the Roman Empire
. Octavian was given the honorific Augustus
("venerable") by the Roman Senate
, and became known to history by this name, and as the first Roman Emperor
. Octavian's reforms did not, at the time, seem drastic, since they did nothing more than reorganize the constitution. The reorganization was revolutionary, however, because the ultimate result was that Octavian ended up with control over the entire constitution, which itself set the stage for outright monarchy. When Diocletian
became Roman Emperor
in 284, the Principate
was abolished, and a new system, the Dominate
, was established. This system survived until the ultimate fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 .
Ab Urbe condita
("From the City Having Been Founded", or simply "History of Rome"). While the specific legends were probably not true, they were likely based on historical fact. It is likely that, before the founding of the republic, Rome actually had been ruled by a succession of kings. The first legendary epoch saw the reigns of the first four legendary kings. During this time, the political foundations of the city were laid, the city grew increasingly organized, the religious institutions were established, and the senate and the assemblies evolved into formal institutions. The early Romans were divided into three ethnic groups. The families that belonged to one of these ethnic groups were the original Patrician families. In an attempt to add a level of organization to the city, these Patrician families were divided into units called curia
. The vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their democratic impulses was known as a "committee" (comitia or "assembly"). The two principle assemblies that formed were known as the Curiate Assembly
and the Calate Assembly
. The two assemblies were designed to mirror the ethnic divisions of the city, and as such, the assemblies were organized by curia. The vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their aristocratic impulses was a council of town elders, which became the Roman senate. The elders of this council were known as patres ("fathers"), and thus are known to history as the first Roman senators. The demos ("people") and the elders eventually recognized the need for a single political leader, and thus elected such a leader, the rex (Roman King). The demos elected the rex, and the elders advised the rex.
The second epoch saw the reigns of the last three legendary kings. The second epoch was more consequential than was the first, which was in part due to the significant degree of territorial expansion which occurred during this period. Regardless of how true these legends were, it is likely that, as the legends suggest, a series of conquests did occur during the late monarchy. As a result of these conquests, it became necessary to determine what was to be done with the conquered people. Often, individuals whose towns had been conquered remained in those towns, while other such individuals came to Rome. To acquire legal and economic standing, these newcomers adopted a condition of dependency toward either a Patrician family, or toward the king. Eventually, the individuals who were dependents of the king were released from their state of dependency, and became the first Plebeians. As Rome grew, it needed more soldiers to continue its conquests. When the Plebeians were released from their dependency, they were released from their Curia. When this occurred, while they were no longer required to serve in the army, they also lost their political and economic standing. To bring these new Plebeians back into the army, the Patricians were forced to make concessions. While it is not known exactly what concessions were made, the fact that they were not granted any political power set the stage for what history knows as the Conflict of the Orders
.
The reign of the first four kings was distinct from that of the last three kings. The first kings were elected. Between the reigns of the final three kings, however, the monarchy became hereditary, and as such, the senate became subordinated to the king. This breach in the senate's sovereignty, rather than an intolerable tyranny, was probably what led the Patricians in the senate to overthrow the last king. The king may have sought the support of the Plebeians, however, the Plebeians were no doubt exhausted from their continued military service, and from their forced labor in the construction of public works. They were probably also embittered by their lack of political power, and therefore did not come to the aide of either the king or the senate.
had been founded, the people of Rome began electing two Consuls
each year. In the year 494 BC, the Plebeians (commoners) seceded to the Aventine hill, and demanded of the Patricians (the aristocrats) the right to elect their own officials. The Patricians duly capitulated, and the Plebeians ended their secession. The Plebeians called these new officials Plebeian Tribunes
, and gave these Tribunes two assistants, called Plebeian Aediles
.
In 449 BC, the Senate promulgated the Twelve Tables
as the centerpiece of the Roman Constitution. In 443 BC, the office of Censor was created, and in 367 BC, Plebeians were allowed to stand for the Consulship. The opening of the Consulship to the Plebeian class implicitly opened both the Censorship as well as the Dictatorship to Plebeians. In 366 BC, in an effort by the Patricians to reassert their influence over the magisterial offices, two new offices were created. While these two offices, the Praetor
ship and the Curule Aedileship
, were at first open only to Patricians, within a generation, they were open to Plebeians as well.
Beginning around the year 350 BC, the senators and the Plebeian Tribunes began to grow closer. The Senate began giving Tribunes more power, and, unsurprisingly, the Tribunes began to feel indebted to the senate. As the Tribunes and the senators grew closer, Plebeian senators began to routinely secure the office of Tribune for members of their own families. Also around the year 350 BC, the Plebeian Council
(popular assembly) enacted a significant law (the "Ovinian Law") which transferred, from the Consuls to the Censors, the power to appoint new senators. This law also required the Censors to appoint any newly-elected magistrate to the Senate, which probably resulted in a significant increase in the number of Plebeian senators. This, along with the closeness between the Plebeian Tribunes and the Senate, helped to facilitate the creation of a new Plebeian aristocracy. This new Plebeian aristocracy soon merged with the old Patrician aristocracy, creating a combined "Patricio-Plebeian" aristocracy. The old aristocracy existed through the force of law, because only Patricians had been allowed to stand for high office. Now, however, the new aristocracy existed due to the organization of society, and as such, this order could only be overthrown through a revolution.
In 287 BC, the Plebeians seceded to the Janiculum hill
. To end the secession, a law (the "Hortensian Law") was passed, which ended the requirement that the Patrician senators consent before a bill could be brought before the Plebeian Council for a vote. The ultimate significance of this law was in the fact that it robbed the Patricians of their final weapon over the Plebeians. The result was that the ultimate control over the state fell, not onto the shoulders of democracy, but onto the shoulders of the new Patricio-Plebeian aristocracy. By the middle of the second century BC, the economic situation for the average Plebeian had declined significantly. Farmers became bankrupted, and soon masses of unemployed Plebeians began flooding into Rome, and thus into the ranks of the legislative assemblies, where their economic status usually led them to vote for the candidate who offered them the most. A new culture of dependency was emerging, which would look to any populist leader for relief.
In 88 BC, an aristocratic senator named Lucius Cornelius Sulla
was elected Consul, and soon left for a war in the east. When a Tribune revoked Sulla's command of the war, Sulla brought his army back to Italy, marched on Rome, secured the city, and left for the east again. In 83 BC he returned to Rome, and captured the city a second time. In 82 BC, he made himself Dictator, and then used his status as Dictator to pass a series of constitutional reforms
that were intended to strengthen the senate. In 80 BC he resigned his Dictatorship, and by 78 BC he was dead. While he thought that he had firmly established aristocratic rule, his own career had illustrated the fatal weakness in the constitution: that it was the army, and not the senate, which dictated the fortunes of the state. In 70 BC, the generals Pompey Magnus
and Marcus Licinius Crassus
were both elected Consul, and quickly dismantled Sulla's constitution. In 62 BC Pompey returned to Rome from battle in the east, and soon entered into an agreement with Julius Caesar
. Caesar and Pompey, along with Crassus, established a private agreement, known as the First Triumvirate
. Under the agreement, Pompey's arrangements were to be ratified, Crassus was to be promised a future Consulship, and Caesar was to be promised the Consulship in 59 BC, and then the governorship of Gaul
(modern France) immediately afterwards. In 54 BC, violence began sweeping the city, and in 53 BC Crassus was killed. In January of 49 BC, the senate passed a resolution which declared that if Caesar did not lay down his arms by July of that year, he would be considered an enemy of the republic. In response, Caesar quickly crossed the Rubicon
with his veteran army, and marched towards Rome. Caesar's rapid advance forced Pompey, the Consuls and the senate to abandon Rome for Greece, and allowed Caesar to enter the city unopposed.
By 48 BC, after having defeated the last of his major enemies, Julius Caesar
wanted to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed. He assumed these powers by increasing his own authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political institutions. Caesar held the office of Roman Dictator
, and alternated between the Consulship
(the chief-magistracy) and the Proconsul
ship (in effect, a military governorship). In 48 BC, Caesar was given the powers of a Plebeian Tribune, which made his person sacrosanct, gave him the power to veto the Senate
, and allowed him to dominate the legislative process. After Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Mark Antony
formed an alliance with Caesar's adopted son and great-nephew, Gaius Octavian
. Along with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
, they formed an alliance known as the Second Triumvirate
, and held powers that were nearly identical to the powers that Caesar had held under his constitution. While the conspirators who had assassinated Caesar were defeated at the Battle of Philippi
in 42 BC, the peace that resulted was only temporary. Antony and Octavian fought against each other in one last battle in 31 BC. Antony was defeated, and in 30 BC he committed suicide. In 29 BC, Octavian returned to Rome as the unchallenged master of the state. The reign of Octavian, whom history remembers as Augustus
, the first Roman Emperor
, marked the dividing line between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
. By the time this process was complete, Rome had completed its transition from a city-state with a network of dependencies, to the capital of an empire.
, no one remained to oppose him. Decades of war had taken a terrible toll on the People of Rome
. The political situation was unstable, and there was a constant threat of renewed warfare. Octavian's arrival alone caused a wave of optimism to ripple throughout Italy. As soon as he arrived, he began addressing the problems that were plaguing Rome. Octavian's popularity soon reached new heights, which ultimately gave him the support he needed to implement his reforms. When Octavian deposed Mark Antony in 32 BC, he resigned his position as triumvir, but was probably vested with powers similar to those that he had given up.
Octavian wanted to solidify his status as master of the state, but avoid the fate of his adopted father
. On January 13 of 27 BC, Octavian transferred control of the state back to the Senate and the People of Rome
, but neither the Senate nor the People of Rome were willing to accept what was, in effect, Octavian's resignation. Octavian was allowed to remain Roman Consul
(the chief-executive under the old Republic), and was also allowed to retain his tribunician powers (similar to those of the Plebeian Tribunes, or chief representatives of the people). This arrangement, in effect, functioned as a popular ratification of his position within the state. The Senate then granted Octavian a unique grade of Proconsul
ar command power (imperium
) which gave him the authority over all of Rome's military governors, and thus, over the entire Roman army. Octavian was also granted the title of "Augustus" ("venerable") and of Princeps
("first citizen"). In 23 BC, Augustus (as Octavian now called himself) gave up his Consulship, and expanded both his Proconsular imperium
and his tribunician powers. After these final reforms had been instituted, Augustus never again altered his constitution. Augustus' final goal was to ensure an orderly succession. In 6 BC Augustus granted tribunician powers to his stepson Tiberius
, and quickly recognized Tiberius as his heir. In 13 AD a law was passed which made Tiberius' legal powers equivalent to, and independent from, those of Augustus. Within a year, Augustus was dead.
When Augustus died in 14 AD, the Principate legally ended. Tiberius knew that if he secured the support of the army, the rest of the government would soon follow. Therefore, Tiberius assumed command of the Praetorian Guard
, and used his Proconsular imperium to force the armies to swear allegiance to him. As soon as this occurred, the Senate and the magistrates acquiesced. Under Tiberius, the power to elect magistrates was transferred from the assemblies
to the Senate. When Tiberius died, Caligula
was proclaimed Emperor by the Senate. In 41 Caligula was assassinated, and for two days following his assassination, the Senate debated the merits of restoring the Republic. Due to the demands of the army, however, Claudius
was declared emperor, but he was ultimately killed, and Nero
was declared Emperor.
In the decades after the death of Augustus, the Roman Empire was, in a sense, a union of inchoate principalities, which could have disintegrated at any time. In 68 AD, Ser. Sulpicius Galba
, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis
, was proclaimed Emperor by his troops. In Rome, the emperor Nero quickly lost his supporters and committed suicide. The governor of Lower Germany, A. Vitellius
, was soon proclaimed Emperor by his troops, and in Rome, the Praetorian Guard proclaimed M. Salvius Otho
Emperor. In 69, Galba was assassinated and Otho took an army to Germany to defeat Vitellius, but instead was himself defeated. He committed suicide, and Vitellius was proclaimed Emperor, but was quickly defeated and the executed by Vespasian
, who was then declared Emperor. Under the Emperor Vespasian, the Roman constitution began a slide toward outright monarchy. Vespasian died in 79, and was succeeded by his son, Titus, who presided over a further weakening of the senate. He was succeeded by his brother, Domitian, in 81. Domitian's
reign marked a significant turning point on the road to monarchy, as he made himself Censor for life, and unlike his father, used these powers to further subjugate the Senate. Domitian, ultimately, was a tyrant with the character which always makes tyranny repulsive, and this derived in part from his own paranoia, which itself was a consequence of the fact that he had no son, and thus no obvious heir. In September of 96, Domitian was assassinated.
During the period that began with the accession of the Emperor Nerva and ended with the death of the Emperor Commodus, the Empire continued to weaken. It was becoming difficult to recruit enough soldiers for the army, inflation was becoming an issue, and on at least one occasion, the Empire almost went bankrupt. The most significant constitutional development during this era was the steady drift towards monarchy. M. Cocceius Nerva
succeeded Domitian, and although his reign was too short for any major constitutional reforms, he did reverse some of his predecessor's abuses. He was succeeded by Trajan
in 98, who then went further than even Nerva had in restoring the image of a free republic, by, for example, allowing the senate to regain some independent legislative abilities. Hadrian
succeeded Trajan as Emperor. By far, his most important constitutional alteration was his creation of a bureaucratic apparatus, which included a fixed gradation of clearly defined offices, and a corresponding order of promotion. Hadrian was succeed by Antonius Pius, who made no real changes to the constitution. Antonius Pius was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius in 161. The most significant constitutional development that occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius was the revival of the republican principle of collegiality
, as he made his brother, L. Aelius, his co-emperor. In 169, Aelius died, and in 176, Marcus Aurelius made his son, L. Aurelius Commodus, his new co-emperor. In 180, Marcus Aurelius died, and Commodus
became Emperor. Commodus' tyranny revived the worst memories of the later Julian emperors, as he was more explicit than any of his predecessors in taking powers that he did not legally have, and in disregarding the constitution. He was killed in 192.
No further constitutional reforms were enacted during the Principate. The only development of any significance was the continuing slide towards monarchy, as the constitutional distinctions that had been set up by Augustus lost whatever meaning that they still had. Starting in 235, with the reign of the barbarian Emperor Maximinus Thrax
, the Empire was put through a period of severe military, civil, and economic stress. The crisis arguably reached it height during the reign of Gallienus
, from 260 to 268. The crisis ended with the accession of Diocletian in 284, and the abolishment of the Principate
.
became Roman Emperor
in 284, the military situation had recently stabilized, which allowed him to enact badly needed constitutional reforms. Diocletian resurrected the "collegial" system that Marcus Aurelius had first used, and divided the empire into east and west. Each half was to be ruled by one of two co-emperors, called the Augusti
. He then resurrected the precedent set by Hadrian
, and ensured that each emperor named his successor early in his reign. Diocletian called that successor a Caesar
. Diocletian then created a bureaucratic apparatus that was similar to the system that Hadrian had created, wherein each office had a defined set of responsibilities, a set rank, and a set path of promotion. In this administrative system, Diocletian followed the example that had been set by Domitian, and divided the Empire into small administrative units. He also assigned to the four tetrarchs (the two Augusti and the two Caesares) honorary titles and insignia that had been used by Domitian
. One important consequence of these reforms was the fact that the image of a free republic had finally given way, and the centuries-old reality of monarchy now became obvious.
When Diocletian resigned, chaos ensued, but after the chaos had subsided, most of his reforms remained in effect. While the Emperor Constantine the Great did enact some revisions to this constitution, the most significant change over the centuries was in the abolition of the Caesares. Ultimately this constitution survived, in one form or another, until the Western Roman Empire fell in 476. Diocletian's division of the Empire into west and east set the stage for ages to come, and was a significant factor behind the ultimate division of the Christian church
into western Roman Catholic and eastern Greek Orthodox, while his division of the Empire into prefectures and dioceses is used by the Catholic Church to this day.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
that traces the progression of Roman political development from the founding of the city of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 753 BC to the collapse of the (Western)
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in 476 AD. The constitution of the Roman Kingdom
Constitution of the Roman Kingdom
The Constitution of the Roman Kingdom was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles originating mainly through precedent. During the years of the Roman Kingdom, the constitutional arrangement was centered around the king, who had the power to appoint assistants, and delegate to them their...
vested the sovereign power in the King of Rome
King of Rome
The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for...
. The king did have two rudimentary checks on his authority, which took the form of a board of elders (the Roman Senate
Senate of the Roman Kingdom
The Senate of the Roman Kingdom was a political institution in the ancient Roman Kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means "old man"...
) and a popular assembly
Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom
The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom were political institutions in the ancient Roman Kingdom. While one assembly, the Curiate Assembly, had some legislative powers, these powers involved nothing more than a right to symbolically ratify decrees issued by the king. The functions of the...
(the Curiate Assembly
Curiate Assembly
The Curiate Assembly was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these first decades, the People of Rome were organized into thirty units called "Curia"...
). The arrangement was similar to the constitutional arrangements found in contemporary Greek city-states (such as Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
or Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
). These Greek constitutional principles
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model,...
probably came to Rome through the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia
Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...
in southern Italy. The Roman Kingdom
Roman Kingdom
The Roman Kingdom was the period of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a monarchical form of government of the city of Rome and its territories....
was overthrown in 510 BC, according to legend, and in its place the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
was founded.
The constitutional history of the Roman Republic can be divided into five phases. The first phase began with the revolution which overthrew the Roman Kingdom
Roman Kingdom
The Roman Kingdom was the period of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a monarchical form of government of the city of Rome and its territories....
in 510 BC, and the final phase ended with the revolution which overthrew the Roman Republic, and thus created the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, in 27 BC. Throughout the history of the republic, the constitutional evolution was driven by the struggle
Conflict of the Orders
The Conflict of the Orders, also referred to as the Struggle of the Orders, was a political struggle between the Plebeians and Patricians of the ancient Roman Republic, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the...
between the aristocracy (the "Patricians") and the ordinary citizens (the "Plebeians"). Approximately two centuries after the founding of the republic, the Plebeians attained, in theory at least, equality with the Patricians. In practice, however, the plight of the average Plebeian remained unchanged. This set the stage for the civil wars of the 1st century BC, and Rome's transformation into a formal empire.
The general who won the last civil war of the Roman Republic, Gaius Octavian
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, became the master of the state. In the years after 30 BC, Octavian set out to reform the Roman constitution
Roman Constitution
The Roman Constitution was an uncodified set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. The Roman constitution was not formal or even official, largely unwritten and constantly evolving. Concepts that originated in the Roman constitution live on in constitutions to this day...
, and to found the Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
. The ultimate consequence of these reforms was the abolition of the republic, and the founding of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Octavian was given the honorific Augustus
Augustus (honorific)
Augustus , Latin for "majestic," "the increaser," or "venerable", was an Ancient Roman title, which was first held by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus , and subsequently came to be considered one of the titles of what are now known as the Roman Emperors...
("venerable") by the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, and became known to history by this name, and as the first Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
. Octavian's reforms did not, at the time, seem drastic, since they did nothing more than reorganize the constitution. The reorganization was revolutionary, however, because the ultimate result was that Octavian ended up with control over the entire constitution, which itself set the stage for outright monarchy. When Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
became Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
in 284, the Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
was abolished, and a new system, the Dominate
Dominate
The Dominate was the "despotic" latter phase of government in the ancient Roman Empire from the conclusion of the Third Century Crisis of 235–284 until the formal date of the collapse of the Western Empire in AD 476. It followed the period known as the Principate...
, was established. This system survived until the ultimate fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 .
Under the Kingdom
The period of the kingdom can be divided into two epochs based on the legends, handed down to us principally in the first book of Livy'sLivy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
Ab Urbe condita
Ab urbe condita
Ab urbe condita is Latin for "from the founding of the City ", traditionally set in 753 BC. AUC is a year-numbering system used by some ancient Roman historians to identify particular Roman years...
("From the City Having Been Founded", or simply "History of Rome"). While the specific legends were probably not true, they were likely based on historical fact. It is likely that, before the founding of the republic, Rome actually had been ruled by a succession of kings. The first legendary epoch saw the reigns of the first four legendary kings. During this time, the political foundations of the city were laid, the city grew increasingly organized, the religious institutions were established, and the senate and the assemblies evolved into formal institutions. The early Romans were divided into three ethnic groups. The families that belonged to one of these ethnic groups were the original Patrician families. In an attempt to add a level of organization to the city, these Patrician families were divided into units called curia
Curia
A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
. The vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their democratic impulses was known as a "committee" (comitia or "assembly"). The two principle assemblies that formed were known as the Curiate Assembly
Curiate Assembly
The Curiate Assembly was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these first decades, the People of Rome were organized into thirty units called "Curia"...
and the Calate Assembly
Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom
The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom were political institutions in the ancient Roman Kingdom. While one assembly, the Curiate Assembly, had some legislative powers, these powers involved nothing more than a right to symbolically ratify decrees issued by the king. The functions of the...
. The two assemblies were designed to mirror the ethnic divisions of the city, and as such, the assemblies were organized by curia. The vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their aristocratic impulses was a council of town elders, which became the Roman senate. The elders of this council were known as patres ("fathers"), and thus are known to history as the first Roman senators. The demos ("people") and the elders eventually recognized the need for a single political leader, and thus elected such a leader, the rex (Roman King). The demos elected the rex, and the elders advised the rex.
The second epoch saw the reigns of the last three legendary kings. The second epoch was more consequential than was the first, which was in part due to the significant degree of territorial expansion which occurred during this period. Regardless of how true these legends were, it is likely that, as the legends suggest, a series of conquests did occur during the late monarchy. As a result of these conquests, it became necessary to determine what was to be done with the conquered people. Often, individuals whose towns had been conquered remained in those towns, while other such individuals came to Rome. To acquire legal and economic standing, these newcomers adopted a condition of dependency toward either a Patrician family, or toward the king. Eventually, the individuals who were dependents of the king were released from their state of dependency, and became the first Plebeians. As Rome grew, it needed more soldiers to continue its conquests. When the Plebeians were released from their dependency, they were released from their Curia. When this occurred, while they were no longer required to serve in the army, they also lost their political and economic standing. To bring these new Plebeians back into the army, the Patricians were forced to make concessions. While it is not known exactly what concessions were made, the fact that they were not granted any political power set the stage for what history knows as the Conflict of the Orders
Conflict of the Orders
The Conflict of the Orders, also referred to as the Struggle of the Orders, was a political struggle between the Plebeians and Patricians of the ancient Roman Republic, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the...
.
The reign of the first four kings was distinct from that of the last three kings. The first kings were elected. Between the reigns of the final three kings, however, the monarchy became hereditary, and as such, the senate became subordinated to the king. This breach in the senate's sovereignty, rather than an intolerable tyranny, was probably what led the Patricians in the senate to overthrow the last king. The king may have sought the support of the Plebeians, however, the Plebeians were no doubt exhausted from their continued military service, and from their forced labor in the construction of public works. They were probably also embittered by their lack of political power, and therefore did not come to the aide of either the king or the senate.
Under the Republic
After the monarchy had been overthrown, and the Roman RepublicRoman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
had been founded, the people of Rome began electing two Consuls
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
each year. In the year 494 BC, the Plebeians (commoners) seceded to the Aventine hill, and demanded of the Patricians (the aristocrats) the right to elect their own officials. The Patricians duly capitulated, and the Plebeians ended their secession. The Plebeians called these new officials Plebeian Tribunes
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
, and gave these Tribunes two assistants, called Plebeian Aediles
Aedile
Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...
.
In 449 BC, the Senate promulgated the Twelve Tables
Twelve Tables
The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum...
as the centerpiece of the Roman Constitution. In 443 BC, the office of Censor was created, and in 367 BC, Plebeians were allowed to stand for the Consulship. The opening of the Consulship to the Plebeian class implicitly opened both the Censorship as well as the Dictatorship to Plebeians. In 366 BC, in an effort by the Patricians to reassert their influence over the magisterial offices, two new offices were created. While these two offices, the Praetor
Praetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
ship and the Curule Aedileship
Aedile
Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...
, were at first open only to Patricians, within a generation, they were open to Plebeians as well.
Beginning around the year 350 BC, the senators and the Plebeian Tribunes began to grow closer. The Senate began giving Tribunes more power, and, unsurprisingly, the Tribunes began to feel indebted to the senate. As the Tribunes and the senators grew closer, Plebeian senators began to routinely secure the office of Tribune for members of their own families. Also around the year 350 BC, the Plebeian Council
Plebeian Council
The Concilium Plebis — known in English as the Plebeian Council or People's Assembly — was the principal popular assembly of the ancient Roman Republic. It functioned as a legislative assembly, through which the plebeians could pass laws, elect magistrates, and try judicial cases. The Plebeian...
(popular assembly) enacted a significant law (the "Ovinian Law") which transferred, from the Consuls to the Censors, the power to appoint new senators. This law also required the Censors to appoint any newly-elected magistrate to the Senate, which probably resulted in a significant increase in the number of Plebeian senators. This, along with the closeness between the Plebeian Tribunes and the Senate, helped to facilitate the creation of a new Plebeian aristocracy. This new Plebeian aristocracy soon merged with the old Patrician aristocracy, creating a combined "Patricio-Plebeian" aristocracy. The old aristocracy existed through the force of law, because only Patricians had been allowed to stand for high office. Now, however, the new aristocracy existed due to the organization of society, and as such, this order could only be overthrown through a revolution.
In 287 BC, the Plebeians seceded to the Janiculum hill
Janiculum
The Janiculum is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although the second-tallest hill in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city.-Sights:The Janiculum is one of the...
. To end the secession, a law (the "Hortensian Law") was passed, which ended the requirement that the Patrician senators consent before a bill could be brought before the Plebeian Council for a vote. The ultimate significance of this law was in the fact that it robbed the Patricians of their final weapon over the Plebeians. The result was that the ultimate control over the state fell, not onto the shoulders of democracy, but onto the shoulders of the new Patricio-Plebeian aristocracy. By the middle of the second century BC, the economic situation for the average Plebeian had declined significantly. Farmers became bankrupted, and soon masses of unemployed Plebeians began flooding into Rome, and thus into the ranks of the legislative assemblies, where their economic status usually led them to vote for the candidate who offered them the most. A new culture of dependency was emerging, which would look to any populist leader for relief.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
was elected Consul, and soon left for a war in the east. When a Tribune revoked Sulla's command of the war, Sulla brought his army back to Italy, marched on Rome, secured the city, and left for the east again. In 83 BC he returned to Rome, and captured the city a second time. In 82 BC, he made himself Dictator, and then used his status as Dictator to pass a series of constitutional reforms
Constitutional Reforms of Lucius Cornelius Sulla
The Constitutional Reforms of Lucius Cornelius Sulla were a series of laws that were enacted by the Roman Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla between 82 and 80 BC, which reformed the Constitution of the Roman Republic. In the decades before Sulla had become Dictator, a series of political developments...
that were intended to strengthen the senate. In 80 BC he resigned his Dictatorship, and by 78 BC he was dead. While he thought that he had firmly established aristocratic rule, his own career had illustrated the fatal weakness in the constitution: that it was the army, and not the senate, which dictated the fortunes of the state. In 70 BC, the generals Pompey Magnus
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
and Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the...
were both elected Consul, and quickly dismantled Sulla's constitution. In 62 BC Pompey returned to Rome from battle in the east, and soon entered into an agreement with Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. Caesar and Pompey, along with Crassus, established a private agreement, known as the First Triumvirate
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...
. Under the agreement, Pompey's arrangements were to be ratified, Crassus was to be promised a future Consulship, and Caesar was to be promised the Consulship in 59 BC, and then the governorship of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
(modern France) immediately afterwards. In 54 BC, violence began sweeping the city, and in 53 BC Crassus was killed. In January of 49 BC, the senate passed a resolution which declared that if Caesar did not lay down his arms by July of that year, he would be considered an enemy of the republic. In response, Caesar quickly crossed the Rubicon
Rubicon
The Rubicon is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, about 80 kilometres long, running from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. The Latin word rubico comes from the adjective "rubeus", meaning "red"...
with his veteran army, and marched towards Rome. Caesar's rapid advance forced Pompey, the Consuls and the senate to abandon Rome for Greece, and allowed Caesar to enter the city unopposed.
By 48 BC, after having defeated the last of his major enemies, Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
wanted to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed. He assumed these powers by increasing his own authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political institutions. Caesar held the office of Roman Dictator
Roman dictator
In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...
, and alternated between the Consulship
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
(the chief-magistracy) and the Proconsul
Proconsul
A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...
ship (in effect, a military governorship). In 48 BC, Caesar was given the powers of a Plebeian Tribune, which made his person sacrosanct, gave him the power to veto the Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, and allowed him to dominate the legislative process. After Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
formed an alliance with Caesar's adopted son and great-nephew, Gaius Octavian
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
. Along with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , was a Roman patrician who rose to become a member of the Second Triumvirate and Pontifex Maximus. His father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had been involved in a rebellion against the Roman Republic.Lepidus was among Julius Caesar's greatest supporters...
, they formed an alliance known as the Second Triumvirate
Second Triumvirate
The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Octavius , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic...
, and held powers that were nearly identical to the powers that Caesar had held under his constitution. While the conspirators who had assassinated Caesar were defeated at the Battle of Philippi
Battle of Philippi
The Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian and the forces of Julius Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia...
in 42 BC, the peace that resulted was only temporary. Antony and Octavian fought against each other in one last battle in 31 BC. Antony was defeated, and in 30 BC he committed suicide. In 29 BC, Octavian returned to Rome as the unchallenged master of the state. The reign of Octavian, whom history remembers as Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, the first Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
, marked the dividing line between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. By the time this process was complete, Rome had completed its transition from a city-state with a network of dependencies, to the capital of an empire.
Under the Empire
When Octavian returned to Rome two years after defeating Mark AntonyMark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, no one remained to oppose him. Decades of war had taken a terrible toll on the People of Rome
SPQR
SPQR is an initialism from a Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus , referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official emblem of the modern day comune of Rome...
. The political situation was unstable, and there was a constant threat of renewed warfare. Octavian's arrival alone caused a wave of optimism to ripple throughout Italy. As soon as he arrived, he began addressing the problems that were plaguing Rome. Octavian's popularity soon reached new heights, which ultimately gave him the support he needed to implement his reforms. When Octavian deposed Mark Antony in 32 BC, he resigned his position as triumvir, but was probably vested with powers similar to those that he had given up.
Octavian wanted to solidify his status as master of the state, but avoid the fate of his adopted father
Ides of March
The Ides of March is the name of the 15th day of March in the Roman calendar, probably referring to the day of the full moon. The word Ides comes from the Latin word "Idus" and means "half division" especially in relation to a month. It is a word that was used widely in the Roman calendar...
. On January 13 of 27 BC, Octavian transferred control of the state back to the Senate and the People of Rome
SPQR
SPQR is an initialism from a Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus , referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official emblem of the modern day comune of Rome...
, but neither the Senate nor the People of Rome were willing to accept what was, in effect, Octavian's resignation. Octavian was allowed to remain Roman Consul
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
(the chief-executive under the old Republic), and was also allowed to retain his tribunician powers (similar to those of the Plebeian Tribunes, or chief representatives of the people). This arrangement, in effect, functioned as a popular ratification of his position within the state. The Senate then granted Octavian a unique grade of Proconsul
Proconsul
A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...
ar command power (imperium
Imperium
Imperium is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms. Imperium, referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual...
) which gave him the authority over all of Rome's military governors, and thus, over the entire Roman army. Octavian was also granted the title of "Augustus" ("venerable") and of Princeps
Princeps
Princeps is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person."...
("first citizen"). In 23 BC, Augustus (as Octavian now called himself) gave up his Consulship, and expanded both his Proconsular imperium
Imperium
Imperium is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms. Imperium, referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual...
and his tribunician powers. After these final reforms had been instituted, Augustus never again altered his constitution. Augustus' final goal was to ensure an orderly succession. In 6 BC Augustus granted tribunician powers to his stepson Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, and quickly recognized Tiberius as his heir. In 13 AD a law was passed which made Tiberius' legal powers equivalent to, and independent from, those of Augustus. Within a year, Augustus was dead.
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. The title was already used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...
, and used his Proconsular imperium to force the armies to swear allegiance to him. As soon as this occurred, the Senate and the magistrates acquiesced. Under Tiberius, the power to elect magistrates was transferred from the assemblies
Roman assemblies
The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital...
to the Senate. When Tiberius died, Caligula
Caligula
Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
was proclaimed Emperor by the Senate. In 41 Caligula was assassinated, and for two days following his assassination, the Senate debated the merits of restoring the Republic. Due to the demands of the army, however, Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
was declared emperor, but he was ultimately killed, and Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
was declared Emperor.
In the decades after the death of Augustus, the Roman Empire was, in a sense, a union of inchoate principalities, which could have disintegrated at any time. In 68 AD, Ser. Sulpicius Galba
Galba
Galba , was Roman Emperor for seven months from 68 to 69. Galba was the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and made a bid for the throne during the rebellion of Julius Vindex...
, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis
Hispania Tarraconensis
Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the Mediterranean coast of Spain along with the central plateau. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia, was the province of Hispania Baetica...
, was proclaimed Emperor by his troops. In Rome, the emperor Nero quickly lost his supporters and committed suicide. The governor of Lower Germany, A. Vitellius
Vitellius
Vitellius , was Roman Emperor for eight months, from 16 April to 22 December 69. Vitellius was acclaimed Emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors...
, was soon proclaimed Emperor by his troops, and in Rome, the Praetorian Guard proclaimed M. Salvius Otho
Otho
Otho , was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.- Birth and lineage :...
Emperor. In 69, Galba was assassinated and Otho took an army to Germany to defeat Vitellius, but instead was himself defeated. He committed suicide, and Vitellius was proclaimed Emperor, but was quickly defeated and the executed by Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
, who was then declared Emperor. Under the Emperor Vespasian, the Roman constitution began a slide toward outright monarchy. Vespasian died in 79, and was succeeded by his son, Titus, who presided over a further weakening of the senate. He was succeeded by his brother, Domitian, in 81. Domitian's
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
reign marked a significant turning point on the road to monarchy, as he made himself Censor for life, and unlike his father, used these powers to further subjugate the Senate. Domitian, ultimately, was a tyrant with the character which always makes tyranny repulsive, and this derived in part from his own paranoia, which itself was a consequence of the fact that he had no son, and thus no obvious heir. In September of 96, Domitian was assassinated.
During the period that began with the accession of the Emperor Nerva and ended with the death of the Emperor Commodus, the Empire continued to weaken. It was becoming difficult to recruit enough soldiers for the army, inflation was becoming an issue, and on at least one occasion, the Empire almost went bankrupt. The most significant constitutional development during this era was the steady drift towards monarchy. M. Cocceius Nerva
Nerva
Nerva , was Roman Emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became Emperor at the age of sixty-five, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the rulers of the Flavian dynasty. Under Nero, he was a member of the imperial entourage and played a vital part in exposing the Pisonian conspiracy of 65...
succeeded Domitian, and although his reign was too short for any major constitutional reforms, he did reverse some of his predecessor's abuses. He was succeeded by Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
in 98, who then went further than even Nerva had in restoring the image of a free republic, by, for example, allowing the senate to regain some independent legislative abilities. Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
succeeded Trajan as Emperor. By far, his most important constitutional alteration was his creation of a bureaucratic apparatus, which included a fixed gradation of clearly defined offices, and a corresponding order of promotion. Hadrian was succeed by Antonius Pius, who made no real changes to the constitution. Antonius Pius was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius in 161. The most significant constitutional development that occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius was the revival of the republican principle of collegiality
Collegiality
Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues.Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respecting each other's abilities to work toward that purpose...
, as he made his brother, L. Aelius, his co-emperor. In 169, Aelius died, and in 176, Marcus Aurelius made his son, L. Aurelius Commodus, his new co-emperor. In 180, Marcus Aurelius died, and Commodus
Commodus
Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...
became Emperor. Commodus' tyranny revived the worst memories of the later Julian emperors, as he was more explicit than any of his predecessors in taking powers that he did not legally have, and in disregarding the constitution. He was killed in 192.
No further constitutional reforms were enacted during the Principate. The only development of any significance was the continuing slide towards monarchy, as the constitutional distinctions that had been set up by Augustus lost whatever meaning that they still had. Starting in 235, with the reign of the barbarian Emperor Maximinus Thrax
Maximinus Thrax
Maximinus Thrax , also known as Maximinus I, was Roman Emperor from 235 to 238.Maximinus is described by several ancient sources, though none are contemporary except Herodian's Roman History. Maximinus was the first emperor never to set foot in Rome...
, the Empire was put through a period of severe military, civil, and economic stress. The crisis arguably reached it height during the reign of Gallienus
Gallienus
Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...
, from 260 to 268. The crisis ended with the accession of Diocletian in 284, and the abolishment of the Principate
Principate
The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate. The Principate is characterized by a concerted effort on the part of the Emperors to preserve the...
.
Decline and fall
When DiocletianDiocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
became Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
in 284, the military situation had recently stabilized, which allowed him to enact badly needed constitutional reforms. Diocletian resurrected the "collegial" system that Marcus Aurelius had first used, and divided the empire into east and west. Each half was to be ruled by one of two co-emperors, called the Augusti
Augustus (honorific)
Augustus , Latin for "majestic," "the increaser," or "venerable", was an Ancient Roman title, which was first held by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus , and subsequently came to be considered one of the titles of what are now known as the Roman Emperors...
. He then resurrected the precedent set by Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, and ensured that each emperor named his successor early in his reign. Diocletian called that successor a Caesar
Caesar (title)
Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator...
. Diocletian then created a bureaucratic apparatus that was similar to the system that Hadrian had created, wherein each office had a defined set of responsibilities, a set rank, and a set path of promotion. In this administrative system, Diocletian followed the example that had been set by Domitian, and divided the Empire into small administrative units. He also assigned to the four tetrarchs (the two Augusti and the two Caesares) honorary titles and insignia that had been used by Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
. One important consequence of these reforms was the fact that the image of a free republic had finally given way, and the centuries-old reality of monarchy now became obvious.
When Diocletian resigned, chaos ensued, but after the chaos had subsided, most of his reforms remained in effect. While the Emperor Constantine the Great did enact some revisions to this constitution, the most significant change over the centuries was in the abolition of the Caesares. Ultimately this constitution survived, in one form or another, until the Western Roman Empire fell in 476. Diocletian's division of the Empire into west and east set the stage for ages to come, and was a significant factor behind the ultimate division of the Christian church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
into western Roman Catholic and eastern Greek Orthodox, while his division of the Empire into prefectures and dioceses is used by the Catholic Church to this day.
See also
Further reading
- Cambridge Ancient History, Volumes 9–13.
- Cameron, A. The Later Roman Empire, (Fontana Press, 1993).
- Crawford, M. The Roman Republic, (Fontana Press, 1978).
- Gruen, E. S. "The Last Generation of the Roman Republic" (U California Press, 1974)
- Ihne, Wilhelm. Researches Into the History of the Roman Constitution. William Pickering. 1853.
- Johnston, Harold Whetstone. Orations and Letters of Cicero: With Historical Introduction, An Outline of the Roman Constitution, Notes, Vocabulary and Index. Scott, Foresman and Company. 1891.
- Millar, F. The Emperor in the Roman World, (Duckworth, 1977, 1992).
- Mommsen, Theodor. Roman Constitutional Law. 1871–1888
- PolybiusPolybiusPolybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
. The Histories - Tighe, Ambrose. The Development of the Roman Constitution. D. Apple & Co. 1886.
- Von Fritz, Kurt. The Theory of the Mixed Constitution in Antiquity. Columbia University Press, New York. 1975.
External links
- Cicero's De Re Publica, Book Two
- Rome at the End of the Punic Wars: An Analysis of the Roman Government; by Polybius
- Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline, by Montesquieu
- The Roman Constitution to the Time of Cicero
- What a Terrorist Incident in Ancient Rome Can Teach Us