Introduction to Greek and Roman History

Week 2: Democracy or autocracy?Dr Gareth Sears

Today Examine how Rome was governed

Look at the major institutions Consider how elites and the majority of the population interacted

in governing the Republic Consider the potential effects of the governmental system on

wider society

What is a democracy? What sorts of governmental institutions might we expect to see? Who should be able to stand for office? How should voting work? In Rome what groups do you think can’t vote?

Women Slaves Freedmen Resident foreigners

The debate The ‘old orthodoxy’ The Millar position – a new orthodoxy? How might we judge it?

How does Polybius define the Roman constitution? Monarchical – consuls Aristocratic – senate Democratic – Council of the plebs/ comitia centuriata

Roman Government (post 367)• Consuls (and other magistracies)• Senate• comitia centuriata• comitia tributa• concilium plebis? ▫ The last two have often been seen as distinct (Le Glay et

al. p. 59.▫ See Forsythe 2005: 179ff arguing that the latter two are

identical

Consuls• Livy (II.1.7-8) ‘One can regard the

cause of freedom as lying rather in the fact that consular imperium was made annual than in any diminution in the regal power; the first consuls retained all the rights and insignia; [...] Brutus was the first to hold the fasces with the agreement of his colleague.’▫ Two elected annually▫ Fasti – eponymous▫ Not many elected more than once

• What effects might the consular system have?

C. Norbanus 83 BC – from Crawford 1974: pl. 47.

Tripoli,Libya

cursus honorum circa 180Consul – 42 Praetor – 39 (after 366 – for judicial affairs) Aedile – 36 (very early – for administrative

affairs)Quaestor (after 446 – for financial matters)

Dictator – rare role in emergencies (some dictators may have been made up…)

Censor – additional role for revising citizenship lists (2 every five years)

Imperium – the right to command

comitia centuriata193 centuries divided among five citizen census

classes based on wealthElects senior magistrates, military leaders and

censors. Voted on major laws.How might you prevent this body being

democratic?

A demonstration… I’ll assign classes/centuriae by row In your centuriae you’ll vote either ‘yellow’ or ‘blue’We’ll stop voting once one option has 50% of the

centuriae

comitia centuriataHow might you prevent this body being

democratic? Richest classes vote first 18 equites and 80 pedites make up first class centuries 20 of each second, third and fourth class, 30 fifth class, 2 engineers, 2 musicians, 1 without property 100,000 asses for first class, 11,000 for the fifth

Fewer people in each elite century Voting stops after 50% centuries vote for/against

something

Military• Based on the centuriae

▫ Juniores 17-45▫ Seniores 46-60▫ E.g. equites provide 12 juniores and 6 seniores; fifth provide

15 of each.• First class disproportionately represented – why might

this be the case?• Effects?

comitia tributa People divided into the 35 tribes (31 rural and 4 urban) by

mid-third century Tribes not organised on wealth lines but geography Elected minor officials, voted on the legality of plebiscites

and judged legal cases where the penalty did not exceed a fine

Senate

• circa 300 members• control of finances and security• administration of Italy (once it was conquered)• running of relationship with foreign powers (comitia centuriata

held the actual decision to go to war)• advised on legislation• the senate could also invalidate legislation from other bodies

Cesare Maccari, Cicero denouncing Catiline https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comitia_Centuriata.jpg

General problems of ancient sources Class Sex Interests Agenda

How did they get to this organisation?

The SourcesAnnalistic tradition

Q. Fabius Pictor fl. l 3rd /e 2nd C Cn. Naevius ca. 270-201 BC Ennius ca. 239-169 BC L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi l. 2nd C

BC (consul in 133 BC) Valerius Antias fl. e 1st C Licinius Macer fl. e 1st C

Historians and biographers Polybius ca. 200- after 118 BC Livy 59 BC-AD 17 Dionysus of Halicarnassus 1st C

BC Plutarch mid 1st C to e 2nd C AD Cassius Dio l 2nd to e 3rd C AD

Production of history Non-Roman sources

LawsTreatiesLists of magistratesOral traditionAnnals of the Chief Priest (pontifex maximus) Greek histories

How much can we believe? Raaflaub, 2005, 12 : ‘Our sources are not safe guides to the

past’. Cornell, 2005, 53: ‘…that the Romans of the later Republic

thought they knew a great deal about their own history, a claim that would be very hard to understand if there were not some sound basis for it’

Cicero, Brutus, 62• ‘Yet by these laudatory speeches our history has become quite

distorted; for much is set down in them which never occurred, false triumphs, too large a number of consulships, false relationships and transitions of patricians to plebeian status, in that men of humbler birth professed that their blood blended with a noble family of the same name, though in fact quite alien to them; as if I, for example, should say that I was descended from Manius Tullius the patrician, who was consul with Servius Sulpicius ten years after the expulsion of the kings.’

Patricians and plebeians•Very loosely (there are potentially big

problems with this – see Forsythe 2005 160ff):▫Patricians – elite clans based on birth at

the beginning of the Roman period. Largely monopolise offices and priesthoods

▫Plebeians – other citizens

The ‘Struggle of the Orders’• Aims of the plebeians as presented to us by our late sources:▫ Magistracies to be shared between plebeians and patricians▫ Change to the laws on debt – why might this be so important? ▫ Protection from arbitrary actions by magistrates▫ Social conflict of some sort is likely

Campaigning techniques• How might the plebeians achieve their aims?• Revolt/civil war leading to:

▫Creation of tyrannies▫Creation of democracies

• Doesn’t happen – why?• ‘Secession’• Why might some patricians support plebeians?

The ‘Struggle of the Orders’Outcomes

1. ‘Nobility’ (nobiles) based on wealth, being consul or being descended from one – access to magistracies for the plebeians

2. Debt relief3. Priesthoods open to all after 300.4. Protection of the plebeians

1. Council of the Plebs (concilium plebis) –legalised in 4712. Legalisation of laws passed by the Council of the Plebs

(plebiscites – legal only in 287 but recognised from 449)3. Creation of tribunes of the plebs– (before 471, sacrosanct in

449)5. Law of the Twelve Tables – 450-1 (Livy, History of

Rome, Book VI.1).

Conclusions• Rome is not a democracy. It is a republic.• Structural imbalances to the benefit of the elites.• Composition of the elite changes over time (but it is only ever

comprised of a small percentage of the population.• Always keep your sources in mind.

▫ Problematic because of: Source survival Time depth Later reconstruction of history

• Governmental system evolves

The Twelve Tables (reconstructed)• Table I - procedure for courts and trials• Table II - trials, continued.• Table III - debt• Table IV - rights of fathers over the family• Table V - legal guardianship and inheritance laws• Table VI - acquisition and possession• Table VII - land rights• Table VIII - torts and delicts (laws of injury)• Table IX - public law• Table X - sacred law• Table XI - supplement I• Table XII - supplement II