King of Rome
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2024) |
King of Rome | |
---|---|
Details | |
First monarch | Curiate Assembly |
Politics of ancient Rome |
---|
Periods |
|
Constitution |
Political institutions |
Assemblies |
|
Ordinary magistrates |
Extraordinary magistrates |
Public law |
Senatus consultum ultimum |
Titles and honours |
The king of Rome (
The kings after Romulus were not known to be dynasts and no reference is made to the hereditary principle until after the fifth king Tarquinius Priscus. Consequently, some have assumed that the Tarquins' attempt to institute a hereditary monarchy over this conjectured earlier elective monarchy resulted in the formation of the Republic.
Overview
Early Rome was ruled by the
The king had twelve
The supreme power of the state was vested in the king, whose position gave the following powers:
Chief Executive
Beyond his religious authority, the king was invested with the supreme military, executive, and judicial authority through the use of
The king was also empowered to appoint or nominate all officeholders. He would appoint a tribunus celerum to serve both as the tribune of Ramnes tribe in Rome and also as the commander of the king's personal bodyguard, the Celeres. The king was required to appoint the tribune upon entering office, and the tribune left office upon the king's death. The tribune was second in rank to the king and also possessed the power to convene the Curiate Assembly and lay legislation before it.
Another officer appointed by the king was the custos urbis, who acted as the warden of the city. When the king was absent from the city, the prefect held all of the king's powers, even to the point of being bestowed with imperium while inside the city. The king was the sole person empowered to appoint patricians to the Senate.
Chief Judge
The king's imperium both granted him military powers and qualified him to pronounce legal judgement in all cases as the chief justice of Rome. Although he could assign pontiffs to act as minor judges in some cases, he had supreme authority in all cases brought before him, both civil and criminal. This made the king supreme in times of both war and peace. While some writers believed there was no appeal from the king's decisions, others believed that a proposal for appeal could be brought before the king by any patrician during a meeting of the Curiate Assembly.
To assist the king, a council advised the king during all trials, but this council had no power to control the king's decisions. Also, two criminal detectives (Quaestores Parricidii) were appointed by him as well as a two-man criminal court (Duumviri Perduellionis) which oversaw for cases of treason.
Chief Legislator
Under the kings, the Senate and Curiate Assembly had very little power and authority; they were not independent bodies in that they possessed the right to meet together and discuss questions of state. They could only be called together by the king and could only discuss the matters the king laid before them. While the Curiate Assembly did have the power to pass laws that the king had submitted, the Senate was effectively an honorable council. It could advise the king on his action but, by no means, could prevent him from acting. The only thing that the king could not do without the approval of the Senate and Curiate Assembly was to declare war against a foreign nation. These issues effectively allowed the King to more or less rule by decree with the exception of the above-mentioned affairs.
Election
Whenever a Roman king died, Rome entered a period of interregnum. The supreme power in the state would be devolved to the Senate, which had the task of finding a new king. The Senate would assemble and appoint one of its own members as the interrex to serve for five days to nominate the next king of Rome. After the five days, the interrex could appoint (with the Senate's consent) another senator for another five-day term. This process would continue until the election of a new king. Once the interrex found a suitable nominee for the kingship, he would bring the nominee before the Senate and the Senate would examine him.[citation needed] If the Senate confirmed the nomination, the interrex would convene the Curiate Assembly and preside as its chairman during the election of the king.
Once a candidate was proposed to the Curiate Assembly, the people of Rome could either accept or reject the King-elect. If accepted, the King-elect did not immediately take office: two additional acts had to take place before he was invested with the full regal authority and power. First, it was necessary to obtain the divine will of the gods respecting his appointment by means of the
In theory, the people of Rome elected their leader, but the Senate had most of the control over the process.
Kings of Rome (753–509 BC)
Since Rome's records were destroyed in 390 BC when the city was sacked, it is impossible to know for certain how many kings actually ruled the city, or if any of the deeds attributed to the individual kings, by later writers, are accurate.[citation needed]
Titus Tatius, King of the Sabines, was also joint king of Rome with Romulus for five years, until his death. However, he is not traditionally counted among the seven kings of Rome.
Name | Birth | Reign | Succession |
---|---|---|---|
Romulus | c. 770 BC[2] | c. 753 – 716 BC (37 years)[3][2] |
Proclaimed himself king after murdering his brother, Remus .
|
Numa Pompilius | c. 753 BC[4] | c. 715 – 672 BC (43 years)[3][4] |
Elected king by the Curiate Assembly, after the death of Romulus. |
Tullus Hostilius | ??? | c. 672 – 640 BC (32 years)[3] |
Elected king by the Curiate Assembly, after the death of Numa Pompilius. |
Ancus Marcius | ??? | c. 640 – 616 BC (24 years)[3] |
Son in law of Tullus Hostilius,[5] grandson of Numa Pompilius; five years old at the time of his grandfather's death,[6] he was elected king by the Curiate Assembly after the death of Tullus Hostilius. |
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus | ??? | c. 616 – 578 BC (38 years)[3] |
After the death of Ancus Marcius, he became regent due to Marcius' sons being too young, but was soon elected king by the Curiate Assembly. He was the first Etruscan king, and was originally known as Lucumo. |
Servius Tullius | ??? | c. 578 – 534 BC (44 years)[3] |
Son in law of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus.[7] He seized the kingship after Ancus' sons had Tarquinius Priscus assassinated under the guise that he was merely filling in while the king was recovering. |
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus | ??? | c. 534 – 509 BC (25 years)[3] |
Son or grandson of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus; seized the kingship after the assassination of Servius Tullius which he and his wife (daughter of Tullius) helped orchestrate. |
During the Republic
The overthrow of the Roman monarchy of Tarquinius Superbus led to a limited separation of the powers mentioned above.
The actual title of king was retained for the
The king of sacrifices retained some religious rites only he could perform, and acted as quasi-flamen to Janus. The position seems to have continued in existence until the official adoption of the Christian religion. To qualify for the office, patrician ancestry was necessary; however it was once performed by a member of a family otherwise known as plebeian, the Marcii, earning for himself and his descendants the cognomen Rex.
As has been mentioned, the administrative functions in religion, including at some point the housing in the ancient royal court, were ceded to the supreme pontiff.
In the late Republic, the previous role of the king in choosing new senators and dismissing people from the Senate was ceded to the
The modern concept of a head of state, insofar as the republican times excepting the dictatorships are concerned, can hardly be translated to Roman conceptions[
At the same time, the legislation was practically passed from the
See also
References
- ^ Outline of Roman History William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: American Book Company (1901)
- ^ a b Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Romulus
- ^ ab urbe condita libri, I
- ^ a b Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Numa
- ^ Married his daughter, Hostilia
- ^ Plutach's Parallel Lives vol. 1 p. 379
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 1.39.
- ^ Gary Forsythe, A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War (University of California Press, 2005), p. 136 online.
- ^ It is well known that Julius Caesar inhabited it.
- ^ Before the formal establishment of the office of praetor below the consulate, this was at least another generic name, and quite possibly another title, of the consuls, cf. the names "praetorium" for the military leader's tent etc.