Roman Senate

For other uses, see Senate.

Political institution in ancient Rome

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Roman Senate Senātus Rōmānus
Type
Type	Advisory and deliberative
History
Founded	753 BC (753 BC)
Disbanded	603 AD (603 AD)
Succeeded by	Byzantine Senate
Meeting place
Curia Julia, Rome

Politics of ancient Rome
Periods
Roman Kingdom 753–509 BC Roman Republic 509–27 BC Roman Empire 27 BC – AD 395 Principate 27 BC – AD 284 Dominate AD 284–641 Western AD 395–476 Eastern AD 395–1453 Timeline
Constitution
Kingdom Republic Sullan republic Empire Augustan reforms Late Empire
Political institutions
Imperium Collegiality Auctoritas Roman citizenship Cursus honorum
Assemblies
Centuriate Curiate Plebeian Tribal
Ordinary magistrates
Consul Praetor Quaestor Promagistrate Aedile Tribune Censor Governor
Extraordinary magistrates
Corrector Dictator Magister equitum Consular tribune Rex Triumviri Decemviri
Public law
Mos maiorum Ius Senatus consultum Quaestio perpetua Senatus consultum ultimum
Titles and honours
Emperor Legatus Dux Officium Praeses Praefectus Vicarius Vigintisexviri Triumvir monetalis Lictor Magister militum Imperator Princeps senatus Pontifex maximus Augustus Caesar Tetrarch
Other countries
v t e

The Roman Senate (

Latin: Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC). It survived the overthrow of the Roman monarchy in 509 BC; the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; the division of the Roman Empire in AD 395; and the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476; Justinian's attempted reconquest of the west in the 6th century, and lasted well into the Eastern Roman Empire's

history.

During the days of the Roman Kingdom, most of the time the Senate was little more than an advisory council to the king, but it also elected new Roman kings. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Roman Republic.

During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the various executive magistrates were quite powerful. Since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power. The late Republic saw a decline in the Senate's power, which began following the reforms of the

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

.

After the transition of the Republic into the

an additional senate in Constantinople

.

After

legislative body.^{[1][clarification needed}

]

History

Senate of the Roman Kingdom

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

The senate was a political institution in the ancient

senex, which means "old man"; the word thus means "assembly of elders". The prehistoric Indo-Europeans who settled Italy in the centuries before the founding of Rome in 753 BC^[2] were structured into tribal communities,^[3] and these communities often included an aristocratic board of tribal elders.^[4]

The early Roman family was called a gens or "clan",

patres from the leading clans were selected^[6] for the confederated board of elders that would become the Roman senate.^[5] Over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king (rex),^[5] and vested in him their sovereign power.^[7] When the king died, that sovereign power naturally reverted to the patres.^[5]

The senate is said to have been created by Rome's first king, Romulus, initially consisting of 100 men. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class.^[8] Rome's fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the minor leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium.^[9]

Rome's seventh and final king,

Publius Valerius Publicola chose from amongst the leading equites new men for the senate, these being called conscripti, and thus increased the size of the senate to 300.^[10]

The senate of the

people of Rome.^[12] During the years of the monarchy, the senate's most important function was to elect new kings. While the king was nominally elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king.^[11]

The period between the death of one king and the election of a new king was called the interregnum,^[11] during which time the Interrex nominated a candidate to replace the king.^[13] After the senate gave its initial approval to the nominee, he was then formally elected by the people,^[14] and then received the senate's final approval.^[13] At least one king, Servius Tullius, was elected by the senate alone, and not by the people.^[15]

The senate's most significant task, outside regal elections, was to function as the king's council, and while the king could ignore any advice it offered, its growing prestige helped make the advice that it offered increasingly difficult to ignore. Only the king could make new laws, although he often involved both the senate and the curiate assembly (the popular assembly) in the process.^[12]

Senate of the Roman Republic

Main articles: Constitution of the Roman Republic and Senate of the Roman Republic

Italian Senate. It is worth noting that idealistic medieval and subsequent artistic depictions of the Senate in session are almost uniformly inaccurate. Illustrations commonly show the senators arranged in a semicircle around an open space where orators were deemed to stand; in reality the structure of the existing Curia Julia building, which dates in its current form from the Emperor Diocletian, shows that the senators sat in straight and parallel lines on either side of the interior of the building. In current media depictions in film this is shown correctly in The Fall of the Roman Empire, and incorrectly in, for example, Spartacus. While the Curia Julia was built, the Senate convened in the Theatre of Pompey and the fact that Julius Caesar

was killed there may have caused the misconception.

effigies

) of deceased ancestors in his hands; marble, late 1st century BC; head (not belonging): mid-1st century BC

Senators were entitled to wear a toga with a broad purple stripe, maroon shoes, and an iron (later gold) ring.

The Senate of the Roman Republic passed decrees called senatus consulta, which in form constituted "advice" from the senate to a magistrate. While these decrees did not hold legal force, they usually were obeyed in practice.^[16]

If a senatus consultum conflicted with a law (lex) that was passed by an assembly, the law overrode the senatus consultum because the senatus consultum had its authority based on precedent and not in law. A senatus consultum, however, could serve to interpret a law.^[17]

Through these decrees, the senate directed the

Since the 3rd century BC the senate also played a pivotal role in cases of emergency. It could call for the appointment of a

Meetings usually began at dawn, and a magistrate who wished to summon the senate had to issue a compulsory order.^[21] The senate meetings were public^[19] and directed by a presiding magistrate (usually a consul).^[7] While in session, the senate had the power to act on its own, and even against the will of the presiding magistrate if it wished. The presiding magistrate began each meeting with a speech,^[22] then referred an issue to the senators, who would discuss it in order of seniority.^[19]

Senators had several other ways in which they could influence (or frustrate) a presiding magistrate. For example, every senator was permitted to speak before a vote could be held, and since all meetings had to end by nightfall,^[16] a dedicated group or even a single senator could talk a proposal to death (a filibuster or diem consumere).^[22] When it was time to call a vote, the presiding magistrate could bring up whatever proposals he wished, and every vote was between a proposal and its negative.^[23]

With a dictator as well as a senate, the senate could veto any of the dictator's decisions. At any point before a motion passed, the proposed motion could be vetoed, usually by a tribune. If there was no veto, and the matter was of minor importance, it could be put to either a voice vote or a show of hands. If there was no veto and no obvious majority, and the matter was of a significant nature, there was usually a physical division of the house,^[19] with senators voting by taking a place on either side of the chamber.

Senate membership was controlled by the

After the fall of the

During the reigns of the first emperors, legislative, judicial, and electoral powers were all transferred from the Roman assemblies to the senate. However, since the emperor held control over the senate, the senate acted as a vehicle through which he exercised his autocratic powers.

The Curia Julia in the Roman Forum

, the seat of the imperial Senate

If an individual was not of senatorial rank, there were two ways for him to become a senator. Under the first method, the emperor manually granted that individual the authority to stand for election to the quaestorship,[25] while under the second method, the emperor appointed that individual to the senate by issuing a decree.^[27] Under the empire, the power that the emperor held over the senate was absolute.^[28]

The two consuls were a part of the senate, but had more power than the senators. During senate meetings, the emperor sat between the two consuls,^[29] and usually acted as the presiding officer. Senators of the early empire could ask extraneous questions or request that a certain action be taken by the senate. Higher ranking senators spoke before those of lower rank, although the emperor could speak at any time.^[29]

Besides the emperor, consuls and praetors could also preside over the senate. Since no senator could stand for election to a magisterial office without the emperor's approval, senators usually did not vote against bills that had been presented by the emperor. If a senator disapproved of a bill, he usually showed his disapproval by not attending the senate meeting on the day that the bill was to be voted on.^[30]

While the Roman assemblies continued to meet after the founding of the empire, their powers were all transferred to the senate, and so senatorial decrees (senatus consulta) acquired the full force of law.^[28] The legislative powers of the imperial senate were principally of a financial and an administrative nature, although the senate did retain a range of powers over the provinces.^[28]

During the early Roman Empire, all judicial powers that had been held by the Roman assemblies were also transferred to the senate. For example, the senate now held jurisdiction over criminal trials. In these cases, a consul presided, the senators constituted the jury, and the verdict was handed down in the form of a decree (senatus consultum),^[28][31] and, while a verdict could not be appealed, the emperor could pardon a convicted individual through a veto. The emperor Tiberius transferred all electoral powers from the assemblies to the senate,^[31] and, while theoretically the senate elected new magistrates, the approval of the emperor was always needed before an election could be finalized.

Around 300 AD, the emperor Diocletian enacted a series of constitutional reforms. In one such reform, he asserted the right of the emperor to take power without the theoretical consent of the senate, thus depriving the senate of its status as the ultimate repository of supreme power. Diocletian's reforms also ended whatever illusion had remained that the senate had independent legislative, judicial, or electoral powers. The senate did, however, retain its legislative powers over public games in Rome, and over the senatorial order.

The senate also retained the power to try treason cases, and to elect some magistrates, but only with the permission of the emperor. In the final years of the western empire, the senate would sometimes try to appoint their own emperor, such as in the case of Eugenius, who was later defeated by forces loyal to Theodosius I. The senate remained the last stronghold of the traditional Roman religion in the face of the spreading Christianity, and several times attempted to facilitate the return of the Altar of Victory (first removed by Constantius II) to the senatorial curia.

According to the

The peaceful coexistence of senatorial and barbarian rule continued until the Ostrogothic leader Theodahad found himself at war with Emperor Justinian I and took the senators as hostages. Several senators were executed in 552 as revenge for the death of the Ostrogothic king, Totila. After Rome was recaptured by the imperial (Byzantine) army, the senate was restored, but the institution (like classical Rome itself) had been mortally weakened by the long war. Many senators had been killed and many of those who had fled to the east chose to remain there, thanks to favorable legislation passed by Emperor Justinian, who, however, abolished virtually all senatorial offices in Italy. The importance of the Roman senate thus declined rapidly.^[33]

In 578 and again in 580, the senate sent envoys to Constantinople. They delivered 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of

It is not known exactly when the Roman senate disappeared in the West, but it appears to have been in the early 7th century. It is last attested in 603, when the Gregorian register records that it acclaimed new statues of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia,^[36][37] and in 630 the Curia Julia was converted into a church (Sant'Adriano al Foro) by Pope Honorius I, which suggests that the Senate had ceased to meet there some time previously.^[38]