Constitution of the Roman Kingdom

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Politics of ancient Rome
Periods
Constitution
Political institutions
Assemblies
  • Centuriate
  • Curiate
  • Plebeian
  • Tribal
Ordinary magistrates
Extraordinary magistrates
Public law
Senatus consultum ultimum
Titles and honours

The Constitution of the

Curiate Assembly"), which he was also free to ignore. The popular assembly functioned as a vehicle through which the People of Rome
could express their opinions. In it, the people were organized according to their respective curiae. However, the popular assembly did have other functions. For example, it was a forum used by citizens to hear announcements. It could also serve as a trial court for both civil and criminal matters.

Constitutional history

Main articles: History of the Roman Constitution and History of the Constitution of the Roman Kingdom

The period of the kingdom can be divided into two epochs based on the legends.

Calate Assembly". The two assemblies were designed to mirror the ethnic divisions of the city and, as such, the assemblies were organized according to curia. The vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their aristocratic impulses was a council of town elders,[2] 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 populus ("people") and the elders eventually recognized the need for a single political leader,[2] and thus elected the rex (king). The populus elected the rex, and the elders advised the rex.[2]

Aeneas, whom the Romans believed Romulus and Remus descended from and is depicted in the Aeneid, fleeing from the burning city of Troy

The second epoch spans the reigns of the last three legendary kings. This epoch was more consequential than the first, which was due partly to the significant degree of territorial expansion that occurred.[2] Regardless of whether these legends are true, it is likely that, as the legends claim, 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.[2] Often, some of the individuals whose towns had been conquered remained in those towns,[5] while some others came to Rome.[5] To acquire legal and economic standing, these newcomers adopted a condition of dependency toward either a patrician family, or toward the king (who himself was a patrician).[5] Eventually, the individuals who were dependents of the king were released from their state of dependency, and became the first "plebeians".[5] As Rome grew, it needed more soldiers to continue its conquests. When the plebeians were released from their dependency, they were released from their curiae. When this occurred, they were freed from the requirement to serve in the army, but they also lost their political and economic standing.[6] To bring these new plebeians back into the army, the patricians were forced to make concessions.[7] While it is not known exactly what concessions were made, the fact that they were not granted any political power[7] set the stage for what history knows as the Conflict of the Orders.

To bring the plebeians back into the army, the army was reorganized. The legends give credit for this reorganization to King

Centuriate Assembly", though this assembly was not immediately granted any political powers.[11]
In contrast, four tribes were created that encompassed the entire city of Rome, and while new tribes were to be created later, those tribes would encompass territory outside of the city of Rome. Membership in a tribe, unlike that in a curia, was open to both patricians and plebeians without regard to property qualification.

Senate

Main articles: Roman Senate and Senate of the Roman Kingdom

The Roman Senate was a political institution starting in the ancient Roman Kingdom. The

patres from the leading clans were selected[14] for the confederated board of elders (which later became the Roman Senate).[2] Over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader. Therefore, they elected a Roman king (rex),[2] and vested in him their sovereign power.[15] When the king died, that sovereign power would naturally revert to the patres.[2] The senate of the Roman Kingdom held three principal responsibilities: it functioned as the ultimate repository for the executive power,[16] served as counsel to the king, and functioned as a legislative body in concert with the people of Rome.[17]

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

During the years of the monarchy, the Senate's most important function was to select new kings. The period between the death of one king and the election of the next, was called an

Curiate Assembly (the popular assembly) in the process.[17]

Legislative Assemblies

Main articles:
Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom

The legislative assemblies were political institutions in the ancient Roman Kingdom. While one, the Curiate Assembly, had some legislative powers,

Calate Assembly ("Comitia Calata"), were purely religious. During the years of the kingdom, all of the People of Rome were divided among a total of thirty curiae,[20] the basic units of division in the two popular assemblies.[21]
The members in each curia would vote, and the majority therein would determine how that curia voted before the assembly. Thus a majority of the curiae (at least sixteen of the thirty) was needed during any vote in either the Curiate Assembly or the Calate Assembly.

The Curiate Assembly (Comitia Curiata) was the only popular assembly with any political significance during the period of the Roman Kingdom,

nones (the fifth or seventh day of the month), this assembly met to hear announcements.[22] Appeals heard by the Curiate often dealt with questions concerning Roman family law.[23] During two fixed days in the spring, the assembly was scheduled to meet to witness wills and adoptions.[22] The assembly also had jurisdiction over the admission of new families to a curia, the transfer of families between two curiae, and the transfer of individuals from plebeian to patrician status (or vice versa).[22]

Executive Magistrates

Main articles:
Executive Magistrates of the Roman Kingdom
Growth of the city region during the Kingdom

Executive Magistrates were elected officials of the ancient Roman Kingdom. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the king was the principal executive magistrate.

quaestors as general assistants, while several other officers assisted the king during treason cases. In war, the king occasionally commanded only the infantry, and delegated command over the cavalry to the commander of his personal bodyguards, the tribune of the Celeres.[14] The king sometimes deferred to precedent, often simply out of practical necessity. While the king could unilaterally declare war, for example, he typically wanted to have such declarations ratified by the popular assembly.[14][22]

The period between the death of one king and the election of the next was known as an

auspices (a ritual search for omens from the gods), and was vested with legal authority (imperium) by the popular assembly.[18]

The end of the monarchy

Main article: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy

The first Etruscan King of Rome,

Tarquinius Priscus, succeeded king Ancus Marcius. It has been suggested that Rome had been conquered by the Etruscans,[9] but this is unlikely. The city was located in an easily defensible position, and its rapid growth attracted people from all over the region. The city's liberal policy of extending citizenship probably created an opportunity for a skillful leader to gain the throne.[24] The reign of the first four kings was distinct from that of the last three. The first kings were elected. Between the reigns of the final three kings, however, the monarchy became hereditary,[16] and thus the Senate became subordinated to the king. The fact that the monarchy became hereditary is obvious from the kinship among those three kings, as well as from the lack of interregna.[16] The fact that the auspices did not revert to the Senate upon the deaths of those kings constituted a serious erosion of the Senate's authority, because it prevented the Senate from electing a monarch of its choosing.[16] This violation of the Senate's sovereignty, rather than an intolerable tyranny, was probably what led the patricians in the Senate to overthrow the last king.[16] The king may have sought the support of the plebeians, but the plebeians were no doubt exhausted from their continued military service and from their forced labor in the construction of public works, and were probably also embittered by their lack of political power. Therefore, they did not come to the aid of either the king or the Senate.[16]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Byrd, 161
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Abbott, 6
  3. ^ a b c d Abbott, 3
  4. ^ Abbott, 5
  5. ^ a b c d Abbott, 7
  6. ^ Abbott, 7-8
  7. ^ a b c d Abbott, 8
  8. ^ a b Abbott, 20
  9. ^ a b Abbott, 9
  10. ^ Abbott, 4
  11. ^ Abbott, 21
  12. ^ a b Abbott, 1
  13. ^ a b Abbott, 12
  14. ^ a b c d e Abbott, 16
  15. ^ Byrd, 42
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Abbott, 10
  17. ^ a b Abbott, 17
  18. ^ a b c d e f Abbott, 14
  19. ^ Byrd, 20
  20. ^ a b c Abbott, 18
  21. ^ Byrd, 33
  22. ^ a b c d e f Abbott, 19
  23. ^ a b c d Abbott, 15
  24. ^ Abbott, 9-10

References

  • Abbott, Frank Frost (1901). A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions. Elibron Classics (
    ISBN 0-543-92749-0
    ).
  • Byrd, Robert (1995). The Senate of the Roman Republic. U.S. Government Printing Office, Senate Document 103-23.
  • Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1841). The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero: Comprising his Treatise on the Commonwealth; and his Treatise on the Laws. Translated from the original, with Dissertations and Notes in Two Volumes. By Francis Barham, Esq. London: Edmund Spettigue. Vol. 1.
  • ISBN 0-19-926108-3
    ).

Further reading

Library resources about
Constitution of the Roman Kingdom
  • 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.
  • Mommsen, Theodor. Roman Constitutional Law. 1871-1888
  • 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.
  • The Histories by Polybius
  • Cambridge Ancient History, Volumes 9–13.
  • A. Cameron, The Later Roman Empire, (Fontana Press, 1993).
  • M. Crawford, The Roman Republic, (Fontana Press, 1978).
  • E. S. Gruen, "The Last Generation of the Roman Republic" (U California Press, 1974)
  • F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, (Duckworth, 1977, 1992).
  • A. Lintott, "The Constitution of the Roman Republic" (Oxford University Press, 1999)

Primary sources

Secondary source material

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