Late Roman Republic Graphic Organizer

• Assembled to elect major magistrates: two consuls, eight praetors, and two censors
• It was originally an assembly of the army
• Usually conducted meetings on Campus Martius
• The Comitia was made up of several groups called centuries
• Each century consisted of one hundred men
• Each century voted as a unit
• An election was decided by the majority's vote
• The Comitia Centuriata could declare an offensive war

• Assembly of 35 tribes of plebeians
• Every citizen belonged to a tribe
• Each tribe had one vote
• The Comitia Tributa elected ten tribunes of the people, four aediles, twenty quaestors, fifteen augors, and various magistrates
• Meetings were usually held in the Forum, in the Comitium or the Campus Martius

Governmental Structure

All administrative, judicial, and military powers were distributed among the civil magistrates.

They shared four rights:

• To issue proclamations on matters pertaining to their particular sphere of influence
• To convoke and to address popular assemblies in a meeting
• To take auspices
• To veto the actions of other members of their own board

Late Roman Republic Graphic Organizer

Yusuf Ahmad

Extraordinary

Ordinary

Censors

Dictators

Quaestor

Dictators

Quaestors

Censors

• Senate could order the consuls to appoint a dictator in times of an invasion or war
• This dictator was usually an ex-consul and a military expert
• He was appointed by the consuls to serve with absolute power for six moths
• He took precedence over all other magistrates

• Financial officers
• 20 selected a year by the Comitia Tributa
• To be a quaestor, needed to be 31 yeard
• Becoming a quaestor was the first important step in the cursus honorum
• The office automatically granted the rank of senator

• Two censors
• They were elected from a pool of ex-consuls once every five years
• Held office for 18 years
• Did not possess imperium/the power to convene the senate or an assembly of the people
• Primary function was to inspect the registry of every class, take the census, to maintain high standars of public and private morality, and to punish known immorality

Master of the Cavalry

Aedile

Praetors

Master of the Cavalry

• The dictator could appoint a subordinate, a magister equitum
• The magister equitum (master of the cavalry) commanded the cavalry in battle

Praetors

Aediles

• 8 selected annually by the Comitia Centuriata
• Served one-year terms
• Possessed potestas and imperium
• Judicial officers
• Acted as judges in civil and criminal courts
• Had to be forty years old to be eligible

• Four magistrates elected annually by the Comitia Tributa
• Two were curule aediles who were under the supervision of the sonsuls
• Other two were plebeian aediles under the supervision of the tribunes
• Primary duties included: Supervising public places, buildings, streets, supervising the market and the grain supply, to supply police and fire protection for the city, and providing funds for the public games
• Had to be 37 years old to be eligble

The Interrex

Tribunes

Consuls

The Interrex

Consuls

Tribunes

• The Senate was allowed to appoint an interrex if both consuls died in office until new consuls were chosen
• The interrex were appointed for five days, and at the end of the five days he was appointed the successor himself if there was still no legally elected consul

• Chief officials of the Roman State
• Needed to be 43 years old to be eligible
• Had both potestas, power in general, and imperium, supreme military, civil, and judicial power
• Had the right to place troops and take command in emergencies
• Could convene, preside over, and consult the senate
• Could convoke the Comitia Tributa and the Comitia Centuriata
• Were in control of relations between Rome and the rest of Italy and the provinces

• Ten tribunes were elected annually by the Comitia Tributa to serve one year terms
• Only plebeians by birth or adoption were eligible
• Created to serve as the direct representatives of the plebs
• The veto was its primary weapon, which was used to halt a debate in the Senate or to wait to annul a vote
• Had the right to introduce laws before the Comitia Tributa
• Also had the right to convoke and preside over sessions of Senate and the Comitia Tributa
• Became the most powerful officials in the state

Works Cited

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp

http://patbook.weebly.com/uploads/7/1/8/3/7183521/6614267_orig.png

https://soonersinrome.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/capitoline-sketches-2.jpg

http://www.trevorbloom.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/roman-slaves.jpg

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/61/c2/7c/61c27c2230b05f3f37b9971d397057a6.jpg

http://www.crystalinks.com/romeslaves4.jpg

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/images/00034284.jpg

https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/784/flashcards/3883784/jpg/procession-141D2B70A7E14A9BC53.jpg

Political Structure

Social Structure

Senators

The Popular

Assemblies

• Ordo Senatorius/Optimates, the Senatorial Class, was the governing group.
• The senatorial order controlled all the magistracies.
• The Senate’s control over the elections prohibited non-nobilis, descendants of men who had held the higher magistracies, to get into office and towards Senate.
• To indicate their rank, members wore a tunic with a broad purple stripe on the front and high purple shoes with black caligae.

The Senate

Knights

• Ordo Equestris/Equites, the knights, were those who possessed a fortune of 400,000 sesterces.
• The equestrian order controlled the wealth.
• Their wealth helped increase their influence on politics and public affairs.
• The equestrian order controlled the wealth. Knights wore a gold ring and a tunic with a narrow purple stripe down the front.

Knights

The Senate

The Popular Assemblies

Plebeians

• Ordo Plebeius/Plebs, great mass of voters, made up the third class of citizens.
• Majority of them were former small traders or farmers.
• These traders and farmers fled to Rome where they survived on the free distributions of grain from the public granaries and the money that politicians would distribute for votes.
• There was a great variety in fortune and respectability among the plebs, with many of them rising to higher positions of wealth and influence.

Plebeians

Comitia Tributa

Comitia Centuriata

Contiones

• Contiones were mass meetings which took place when discussions and speeches were necessary
• A Comitia had to be summoned after a Contio to take a vote
• Contiones were held on subjects of popular interest

• At the beginning of its creation, the Senate served as an advisory body to the kings
• It consisted of three hundred elders during this period
• Its members were originally representatives of leading families, but over time, all curule magistrates were automatically admitted to Senate at the end of their term in office and became members for the rest of their lives
• Number grew over time to six hundred senators
• Consisted of ex-governors of provinces, famous orators, jurists, successful generals, and high religious dignitaries
• Chief functions included the administration of foreign affairs, declaration of war, handling of military troops, making of treaties and negotiations with foreign nations, and the appointment of provincial officials

Freedmen

• Libertini, freedmen, consisted of a large class of citizens who had the right to vote and to possess property but were not eligible for office.
• They had been former slaves with no rights set free by their masters.

Freedmen

Slaves

• Slaves were at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
• With no rights and under the control of their masters, these people did not have much power to exercise.

Slaves