The last of the Roman kings, the tyrannical Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (’the Arrogant’), was expelled by a revolt of some of the leading Roman aristocrats in 509 BCE. Vowing never again to allow a single person to amass so much authority, the revolutionaries established in place of the monarchy a republican system of governance, featuring a senate composed of aristocratic men and a series of elected political and military officials. The Roman Republic was a remarkably stable and successful polity, lasting from 509 BCE until it was transformed into an imperial state under Augustus in 31 BCE (though the exact date is debated, as this was not a formal transformation). We divide the Republic into an early (509-264 BCE), a middle (264-133 BCE), and a late (133-31 BCE) period.
During the 3rd century BCE, Rome fought two separate wars (264-241 BCE and 218-201 BCE) against the Punic people, inhabitants of a former Phoenician colony in North Africa, Sicily, and southern Spain. The latter conflict featured a bitter contest against the famous Punic general Hannibal, who nearly defeated the Romans on his dramatic march through Italy from 218 to 216 BCE. However, Rome recovered, won control of Punic holdings in Sicily and Spain, and established what were essentially vassal kingdoms in North Africa. In the early 2nd century BCE, Rome became embroiled in another series of wars in Greece, Macedonia, and Anatolia. The 3rd and 2nd centuries were a somewhat chaotic time in the eastern Mediterranean, following the fragmentation of Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire after his death in 323 BCE. Alexander’s Empire had essentially dissolved into a series of successor states, which engaged in near-constant warfare in their attempts to expand at the others’ expense.
[1]
By 148 BCE, at the conclusion of the fourth and final Macedonian War, Rome was either in possession of or was firmly established as hegemon over the entire Mediterranean basin, from Spain in the west to Anatolia in the east, and France in the north to Libya and Egypt in the south. This position brought new territory along with a flood of new peoples, culture, and wealth from the ancient civilizations in Greece, Egypt, and Anatolia. By the end of the Middle Republic period, Rome was virtually unchallenged by external enemies, although this newfound wealth and power was accompanied by the period of internal turmoil that characterized the Late Republic.
Population and political organization
Rome during the Republican period possessed no written constitution, but was governed largely through the power and prestige of the Senate, with a clear respect for precedent and for maintaining Rome’s traditions.
[2]
A primary goal of the early Republic was to establish clear checks on the power of any single ruler - the military office of chief commander was in fact split between two generals (consuls), while the chief priestly and legislative posts were split among different people (individuals were restricted from holding multiple offices at once) - and popular assemblies voted on new laws.
Romans of this period did not distinguish between what is today termed ’secular’ and ’sacred’ authority; although individual magistracies had distinct functions, the same person often held both religious and political offices over the course of their lifetime, as they were thought to be part of essentially the same sphere of governance. The Republic featured a substantial array of religious offices and institutions intended to determine the will of the gods or to please them through the proper performance of rituals and the maintenance of large public temples.
[3]
These public auspices were the basis of magisterial power in the Republic.
[3]
Auspices were sometimes taken by consuls and other officials, for example before important military engagements,
[3]
but were mainly managed by specialist elected priests and full-time priestesses (such as the Vestal Virgins) and other priestly offices supported by the state.
[4]
The Middle Roman Republic saw many firsts in Rome’s economic development. The first paved road was the likely the military road to Capua known as the Appian Way, commissioned around 312 BCE. The first Roman coins (large cast bronze coins) appear around 270 BCE, followed by struck bronze and silver coins imitating Greek forms.
[5]
[6]
This period also saw a further population increase in the total population of Roman-controlled Italy to between about three and five million people, with Rome itself likely supporting over 200,000 people by the end of the 3rd century BCE.
[7]
[1]: (Eckstein 2006, chapter 4) Arthur M. Eckstein. 2006. Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
[2]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. ’Power and Process under the Republican "Constitution"’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Brennan 2004, 37) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. ’Power and Process under the Republican "Constitution"’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (Culham 2004, 131) Phyllis Culham. 2004. ’Women in the Roman Republic, in The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 139-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (von Reden 2010, 50) Sitta von Reden. 2010. Money in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]: (Crawford 1974, 6-11) Michael H. Crawford. 1974. Roman Republican Coinage. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7]: (Scheidel 2008) Walter Scheidel. 2008. ’Roman Population Size: The Logic of the Debate’, in People, Land, and Politics: Demographic Developments and the Transformation of Roman Italy, 300 BC-AD 14, edited by L. de Ligt and S. J. Northwood, 17-70. Leiden: Brill.
| none |
| Roman |
| Late Roman Republic |
| continuity |
| Preceding: Early Roman Republic (it_roman_rep_1) [continuity] | |
| Succeeding: Late Roman Republic (it_roman_rep_3) [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| 210,000 people | 200 BCE |
| 400,000 people | 100 BCE |
| [130,000 to 730,000] km2 |
| [3,500,000 to 4,000,000] people |
| Year Range | Middle Roman Republic (it_roman_rep_2) was in: |
|---|---|
| (264 BCE 134 BCE) | Latium |
Indoeuropean, Italic. Latin and Greek, Italic languages within Italy itself, such as Etruscan or Oscan. Map of languages in pre-Roman Italy which shows the then distribution of Etruscan and Oscan languages [1] . Latin, Osco-Umbrian, Venetic, Messapian (Stearns 2001). "In Africa, Punic was widely spoken as well as Latin, and in a famous passage of The City of God Augustine reminds the reader that the imperious Roman capital had not only placed the yoke of dominion on defeated peoples; it had also imposed Latin as the official language (Augustine, The City of God, 19, 7)." [2]
[2]: (Triana 2011, 86) Giusto Triana. 2011. 428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press.
Indoeuropean, Italic. Latin and Greek, Italic languages within Italy itself, such as Etruscan or Oscan. Map of languages in pre-Roman Italy which shows the then distribution of Etruscan and Oscan languages [1] . Latin, Osco-Umbrian, Venetic, Messapian (Stearns 2001). "In Africa, Punic was widely spoken as well as Latin, and in a famous passage of The City of God Augustine reminds the reader that the imperious Roman capital had not only placed the yoke of dominion on defeated peoples; it had also imposed Latin as the official language (Augustine, The City of God, 19, 7)." [2]
[2]: (Triana 2011, 86) Giusto Triana. 2011. 428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press.
Rome.
Rome (reported census tallies)
[1]
census numbers refer to state, not city, and even then not the full population. ideally we should use scholar reconstructions here.
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
[1]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
Rome.
Rome (reported census tallies)
[1]
census numbers refer to state, not city, and even then not the full population. ideally we should use scholar reconstructions here.
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
[1]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
KM2. In 265 BCE Roman territory was approximately 50,000 square miles and still growing. [1]
[1]: (Taagepera 1979: 125) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GPEXGDM4.
3,750,000 around 220 BCE.
[1]
"Roman and Italian pool of men on which Rome could draw was of the order of 1-2 million."
[2]
Crawford’s reference is to men only. Including women, old people and children the population may have been about the level suggested by Dupuy and Dupuy.
[1]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[2]: (Crawford 2001, 37)
1. Capital ’Rome’
2. Provincial capitals3. tributary communities, not necessarily urbanized4. village/vici5. pagi (rural settlements). Hierarchy varied with population density.
[1]
[2]
[3]
1. Pontifex maximus
2. Colleges (flamines, augurs, pontifices, vestals)Three colleges of religious officials. 1. augurs 2. decemviri sacris faciundis 3. pontifices
3. high priests of imperial cult in provinces4. priests for a deity (running a specific temple or sanctuary)
"Freelance" religious officials (soothsayers, oracles, seers, etc). This hierarchy refers to the state religion only.
Six Vestals, appointd by pontifex maximus. Girls 6-10 with two living parents served 30 years during which time had to remain chaste. After 30 released and free to marry. Duties included: tend sacred fire and sacred objects "on which the survival of Rome depended (such as the ’palladium’)"; making salt cakes used at sacrifices; various rituals and ceremonial appearances. Vestals had unique "old-fashioned and heavy" costumes and impressive hairstyles "which other women only wore on their wedding".
"Because a vestal’s person was sacrosanct, she could not be executed. Instead, she was entombed in an underground chamber with a bed, a lamp, and some food and water, and left to die. Male accomplices were publicly flogged to death."
[4]
"The vestal virgins were responsible for maintaining the temple of Vesta and performing the rites of the goddess. They ensured that her holy flame, said to have been brought from Troy, was not extingished."
[4]
The vestal virgins had many privileges: "Wills and treaties were in their keeping, and they themselves could make a will. They could conduct business in their own name. They could give evidence in court without taking an oath. ... If they accidentally met a criminal on his way to execution, he was spared."
[4]
; "any injury to them was punishable by death; they could own and administer their own property ...; when they went out they were preceded by a lictor and had complete right of way on the streets; they could even drive in carriages within the city limits (otherwise only permitted to empresses)."
[5]
; given prominent seats at games.
[6]
[1]: (Stearns 2001)
[2]: (Rives 2007)
[3]: (North and Price 2011)
[4]: (McKeown 2010, 13) McKeown, J. C. 2010. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[5]: (Claridge 1998, 103) Claridge, Amanda. 1998. Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[6]: (McKeown 2010, 15) McKeown, J. C. 2010. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
"The earliest contemporary description of a Roman legion was written by the Greek writer Polybius in c.150-120 BC. He describes a military organization that is distinctively Roman, and specifically refers to it as a ’legion’. It consisted of 4,200 infantry (5,000 in times of emergency), subdivided into units of 120 or 60 men called maniples (’handfuls’), and so modern scholars often refer to it as the ’manipular’ legion, to distinguish it from later legions organized in larger subunits called cohorts." "It perhaps emerged in the 4th century BC (as Livy suggests), due to problems the Romans encountered fighting against enemies who fought in looser formations than the phalanx and in rougher terrain, to which the phalanx was unsuited."
[1]
1. Two Consuls, field commanders.
[2]
2. Quaestors, senior officers.
[2]
3. Legion (4,200 men) lead by six Tribunes"Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’)."
[1]
Legion "headed by six officers called tribunes, who had to have completed a minimum of five or ten years’ military service before appointment."
[3]
4. Maniple (120 or 60 men) commanded by two Centurions"The hastati and principes were divided into ten maniples of 120 men, the triarii into ten of 60 men. The velites were also organized into ten subunits, and assigned to the heavy infantry.
"The officers who commanded the maniples, two for each, were centurions, elected by the soldiers themselves."
[3]
5. Two OptioPage 16 Pollard and Berry (2012): an "optio" is present in graphic but not described in text.
[4]
6. Individual soldiers
[1]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14)
[2]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[3]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 15)
[4]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 16)
Before the Roman Principate there was no formal bureaucracy. The old Roman treasury - the aerarium Saturni - was housed in the basement of the Temple of Saturn
[1]
The state treasury of the Roman Republic was kept in the custody of the priesthood inside the temple of Saturn, and was managed by elected aristocratic officials called quaestors.
[2]
1. Consuls (two)
presided over the Senate
(minimum 42 years old) both also commanders. Elected by comitia centuriata, an aristocratic assembly.
Until 363 CE consuls may have been called praetors
[3]
.
Two consuls, appointed for one year terms.
[4]
_Governing institutions_
1. Senators in the Senate
Three hundred senators (no minimum age) elected for life, and ten tribunes to represent plebians (created 471 BCE).
2. Quaestors in the State treasuryTreasury called aerarium or aerarium Saturni (treasury of Saturn). This was used for "depositing cash and archives of the Roman state and was situated in the temple of Saturn below the Capitol. It was controlled by the quaestors under the general supervision of the Senate."
[5]
This treasury still existed during the empire period when revenues "were increasingly diverted into the fiscus (imperial treasury). The aerarium eventually became the treasury of the city of Rome."
[5]
elected position. "financial and administrative officials who maintained public records, administered the treasury (aerarium), acted as paymasters accompanying generals on campaigns and were financial secretaries to governors."
[2]
In 2nd century BCE the quaestorship (a provincial appointment?) "was an entry-level office; it had limited powers, and in this period was usually held around age 30."
[6]
3. Assistants or scribes?
3. Equites managerial class who hold public contractsThe equites, the plebeian "middle class", "were also able to take on public contracts, such as road building and supplying equipment to the army."
[7]
4. Workers for Equites
1. Censors (two)
elected position. Two magistrates "that involved some especially important sacral and civic duties".
[8]
The office of the censor (censorship) from 443 BCE but not always present were two officials who enrolled citizens into military service.
[9]
1. Aediles (two)
elected by comitia tributa. "Two plebeian magistrates administered temple of Ceres, function later "extended to public buildings and archives (of the plebiscita and senatus consulta). From 367 BC two curule aediles were elected from the patricians. The plebeian and curule aediles had similar functions at Rome; they were in charge of the maintenance and repair of public buildings (such as temples, roads and aqueducts), of markets (especially weights and measures), of the annona (to the time of Julius Caesar), and of public games and festivals (to the time of Augustus, when games were transferred to praetors)."
[2]
1. Praetors (six?)
elected by comitia centuriata. "In 366 BC the praetor urbanus (city praetor) was introduced, who was almost exclusively concerned with the administration of law at Rome. The praetor ... was the supreme civil judge. By the middle republic the praetors’ powers were restricted to law and justice... By 241 BC a second praetor ... was established to deal with legal cases in which one or both parties were foreigners. ... there were eight by 80 BC. Praetors issued annual edicts that were an important source of Roman law."
[2]
"A third magistracy, the praetorship, was also established in 367."
[10]
The first plebeian praetor was in 336 BCE.
[10]
_ Provincial administration _
2. Provincial governors3. quaestors
2. Municipal government3. Decurions in the townships4. Scribes?
2. Client rulers and Colonies
Colonies of citizens - 8 coastal by 264 BCE. Latin colonies established by military. They had a devolved government modelled on the system at Rome.
[11]
[1]: Garrett Fagan. Personal Communication.
[2]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 42) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. New York.
[3]: (Stearns 2001)
[4]: (Crawford 2001)
[5]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 45) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. New York.
[6]: (Brennan 2004, 36) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[7]: (Adkins and Adkins 1994, 38) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[8]: (Brennan 2004, 34) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[9]: (Oakley 2004, 17) Oakley, Stephen P. The Early Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[10]: (Oakley 2004, 18) Oakley, Stephen P. The Early Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[11]: (Stearns 2001, 79)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals" [1] ; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina." [2]
[1]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938)
[2]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143)
The highest officers in the Roman military system were usually senators not professionals. There were, however, professional junior officers at least from the Roman Principate.
"Typically the men who commanded armies and legions were senators. There were no military specialists in Roman government and no imperial high command. All senators alternated brief periods of military command with administrative posts, participation in domestic politics and careers as legal advocates. As military commanders they were, to a great extent, amateurs, even though most did a brief spell as a junior officer (tribune) in a legion. They would have depended on the professional junior officers (tribunes and centurions) as well as the training and discipline of the legionaries themselves to win battles.""
[1]
"Tribunes, like the legionary legate (commander), were drawn from Rome’s social and political elite, the senatorial and equestrian orders, and were not professional soldiers. They alternated military service with political, judicial and administrative duties."
[2]
[1]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 38)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 39)
The first senate building, the Curia Hostilia, existed from about 600 BCE.
[1]
The first paving of the Roman Forum occurred around 575-625 BCE.
[2]
The first coin minted in Rome occurred about 269 BCE (one in Neapolis produced coins slightly earlier, around 281 BCE) and the first state archives was created in 78 BCE. Other buildings include: granaries and storehouses.
The Curia Julia was one of the main meeting places of the Roman Senate (later rebuilt under Diocletian after a fire in 283 CE).
[3]
The Senate also often met in appropriate temples.
[4]
The old Roman treasury - the aerarium Saturni - was housed in the basement of the Temple of Saturn. There were lots of multi-purpose government buildings: basilicas, imperial fora, and porticos, which were utilized for government functions, such as official meetings or court hearings.
[1]: (Cornell 1995, 94)
[2]: (Cornell 1995, 100)
[3]: (http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Forum/reconstructions/CuriaIulia_1)
Before the Roman Principate there was no formal bureaucracy. The old Roman treasury - the aerarium Saturni - was housed in the basement of the Temple of Saturn
[1]
The state treasury of the Roman Republic was kept in the custody of the priesthood inside the temple of Saturn, and was managed by elected aristocratic officials called quaestors.
[2]
During the Roman Principate there were salaried officials who worked in the Imperial Bureaux (scrinia)
[3]
but before this time any bureaucrats are thought to have been unpaid aristocrats.
[1]: Garrett Fagan. Personal Communication.
[2]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 42) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. New York.
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome.
[3]
"Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history."
[3]
"In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form."
[3]
Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE.
[4]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4])
[2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163)
[3]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome.
[3]
"Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history."
[3]
"In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form."
[3]
Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE.
[4]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4])
[2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163)
[3]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
Professional judges did not exist until the Roman Dominate although at that time their precise role vis-a-vis that of Imperial officials is a matter of debate. [1] Before this time there were no judges as a distinct profession in the Roman system of law. Local magistrates dealt with local matters, provincial governors dealt with provincial matters, and the praetors often dealt with cases in Rome. The Roman people could be duly convened as a final court of appeal in cases involving citizens.
[1]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163)
A formal legal code was first founded in the Twelve Tables of 450-449 BCE. Law thereafter was based on precedent. Our sources of knowledge of Roman law include the forensic speeches of Cicero; the Institutes of Gaius textbook (from 160 CE); and, much later, the sixth century CE Corpus Ius Civilis of Justinian. Wax tablets and papyri (contracts and wills etc.) also provide information on Roman law.
[1]
"ius honorarium, the law contained in the Edict of the praetor, who, under the Republic and Early Empire administered law in Rome; this form of law derived its name from the praetor’s magistracy (honos) and was held to ’assist, supplement or amend’ the ius civile.".
[2]
[1]: (Tellegen-Couperus, 2002, 66)
[2]: (Harries 2001, 11) Harries, Jill. 2001. Law and Empire in Late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
During the Roman Dominate administration of justice was "thoroughly bureaucratized" and "regular courts, special courts were established to deal with particular matters and categories of persons." [1] Before this time there was no specialised court building. Courts could be held in the basilicas [2] (introduced by the 3rd Century BCE [3] ) where a provincial governor could an hold audience or in the Roman forum. Basilicas were multi-purpose buildings a place for banking and money-changing and town hall activities. The forum was a multi-purpose building which had existed since the Roman Kingdom.
[1]: (Mousourakis 2007, 161)
[2]: (Berger 1968, 742)
[3]: (Stearns 2001)
For irrigation systems, particularly North Africa, read Andrew Wilson.
Rome’s mayoral office, which supervised the import of grain, dates back to early days of the Roman Republic. [1] "The Republican stages of the Roman attempt to deal with storage problems are to some extent lost, because the material remains of most of the warehouses we have found belong to the Imperial period, but there are some clues." [2] From literary sources [Livy] it seems that the major development of Rome’s river port and its attendant warehouses did not take place until the early second century B.C. Earlier the old Forum Boarium and Forum Holitorium in the centre of Rome seem to have coped with the main flow of imports which had probably come down the Tiber from the Italian hills." [2]
[1]: (Canciello 2005)
[2]: (Rickman 1971, 2)
The Aqua Marcia aqueduct was built between 144-140 BCE.
The first canal is thought to have been built by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 187 BCE) to drain the lower Po region.
The first bridge thought to be the Pons Sublicius possibly in built 642 BCE under Ancus Marcius. In 179 BCE the first stone bridge was constructed. [1] Ponte San Lorenzo at Bulicame, Ponte di Nona in Rome, both 174 BCE. Pons Aemilius 142 BCE. Ponte dell’Abadia near Vulci 90 BCE. "The maximum span of Roman bridges increased from 80 feet (24 meters) in 142 BCE to 115 feet (35 meters) by Augustus’ reign (27 BC - 14 CE) and was not exceeded until about 605 CE, by the span of 120 feet (37 meters) of the bridge at Zhao-Zhou in China." [2]
[1]: (Stearns 2001)
[2]: (Gagarin and Fantham 2009, 25)
Weights and measures, intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance.
E.g. The Sibyl of Cumae reportedly offered nine books of prophecies to the Roman Kingdom monarch Tarquin. Three books were purchased and kept in the Temple of Jupiter. According to Tacitus (Tacitus 6.12) after the temple was destroyed in a fire in the 1st century BCE efforts were made to reconstruct their contents.
Intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance.
Twelve Tables laws of 450 BCE.
Existing calendar of Numa, and the reform of Lex Acilia in 191 BCE.
Spintria may have been used in the Principate to pay prostitutes although it is also argued that these were gaming pieces.
gold was used as a store of wealth (cf J.-M. Carrié 2003 "Solidus et Credit") and conceivably was used for payment.
The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE. [1]
[1]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42)
Slaves were acquired by means of exchange: "we are told that some Gallic chiefs were so fond of Italian wine they would give a slave for a single jar, and there is literary evidence for Gallic slaves in Italy." [1] Salt was used as payment to soldiers from 406 BCE and was an essential commodity with the "Salt Road" being in existence from the start of the Roman Kingdom period.
[1]: (Rawson 2001, 59)
No general postal service until the Cursus Publicus, established by Augustus during the Principate.
No general postal service until the Cursus Publicus, established by Augustus during the Principate.
"Romans were so fond of the texture effect of opus quadratum that they continued to use this technique even after having developed more effective kinds of masonry." [1] Inferred absent because "texture effect" should be irrelevant in a military context and on the assumption Romans of this period had access to motar.
[1] The 392 BCE conquest Veii gave the Romans access to a quality building stone, the Grotta Oscura tufa. In 374 BCE a stone wall constructed around Rome used this stone. [2] opus caementicium - Roman concrete.
[1]: (http://www.romeartlover.it/Costroma.html)
[2]: (Stearns 2001)
for the largest armies 20-25 miles per day. Theodore Dodge’s Caesar: A History of The Art of War (1900). EXTERNAL_INLINE_LINK: http://seshat.info/File:DodgeHow.jpg
Noric steel first made by the Celts in 300 BCE. Romans imported Noric steel. Noricum, a region of the Austrian Alps "between Raetia in the west and Pannonia in the east" became a province within the Roman Empire. [1] However, use of Noric steel could hardly have been typical. "A sword from the Roman Republican period (3rd-2nd century BCE) in Slovenia was found to have an iron edge and a steel (0.4%C) body, like the much later spatha discussed below; a particularly unfortunate combination." [2]
[1]: (Buchwald 2005, 124) Vagn Fabritius Buchwald. 2005. Iron and steel in ancient times. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab.
[2]: (Williams 2012, 51-52) Alan Williams. 2012. The Sword and the Crucible: A History of the Metallurgy of European Swords Up to the 16th Century. BRILL. Leiden.
According to one military historian (don’t know if a Roman specialist - need to check), many ancient armies used slingers. They were vulnerable to counter-attacks, slinger units were usually small and used at the start of the battle. Because of the training required to produce and effective slinger they were often hired mercenaries. [1] Balearic slingers (mercenaries). [2] According to Livy, Servian Classes IV and V were skirmishers, who carried a sling. [3]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 31) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
[2]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[3]: (Fields 2007, 5)
Inferred from flint arrowheads found in earlier period.
Hastati and principes infantry carried two heavy iron-headed throwing spears called pilum. [1] Hastati and principes carried two types of-iron tipped pila (heavy and light). The triarii carried a hasta (long spear). [2] Velites (skirmishers) threw light javelins. [1]
[1]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 15)
[2]: (Fields 2007, 19)
Not at this time: "the hand-held crossbow was invented by the Chinese, in the fifth century BC, and probably came into the Roman world in the first century AD, where it was used for hunting." [1] The crossbow also developed after the Syracuse Greek Dionysios I invented a form of crossbow called the gastraphetes in 399 BCE. [2]
[1]: (Nicholson 2004, 99) Helen Nicholson. 2004. Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.
[2]: (Keyser and Irby-Massie 2006, 260) Paul T Keyser. Georgia Irby-Massie. Science, Medicine, And Technology. Glenn R Bugh. ed. 2006. The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Hastati and principes carried the gladius (sword). [1] "All armies after the seventeenth century B.C.E. carried the sword, but in none was it a major weapon of close combat; rather, it was used when the soldier’s primary weapons, the spear and axe, were lost or broken." [2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19)
[2]: (Gabriel 2002, 26-27) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport.
Hastati and principes carried an oval scrutum (shield). [1] Scutum find in Kasr-el-Harit provides example. It was 1.2m length, 0.6m width, oval and made out of three layers of birch plywood. Shield was covered with canvas and calfskin, reinforced at edges, bronze or iron. [2] Cavalry used a "Greek-style" lance and shield. [3]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19)
[2]: (http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel/html/romefood.html)
[3]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 15)
"Two ancient sources confirm only one greave (leg armour) worn." [1] "Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’). They were equipped in broadly similar fashion, with bronze helmets and greaves and either a simple square bronze chest-guard, or more elaborate body armour such as a mail tunic, according to each individual’s wealth and ability to provide his own protection." [2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14-15)
Possible. Already introduced by Assyria.
"Helmet styles included: Attic; Montefortino; Etrusco-Corinthian." [1] "Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’). They were equipped in broadly similar fashion, with bronze helmets and greaves and either a simple square bronze chest-guard, or more elaborate body armour such as a mail tunic, according to each individual’s wealth and ability to provide his own protection." [2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14-15)
"Polybius reports all soldiers wore a bronze pectoral body armour, though lorica hamata (chain mail shirt) was preferred by those soldiers who could afford it." [1] "Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’). They were equipped in broadly similar fashion, with bronze helmets and greaves and either a simple square bronze chest-guard, or more elaborate body armour such as a mail tunic, according to each individual’s wealth and ability to provide his own protection." [2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14-15)
"Polybius reports all soldiers wore a bronze pectoral body armour, though lorica hamata (chain mail shirt) was preferred by those soldiers who could afford it." [1] "Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’). They were equipped in broadly similar fashion, with bronze helmets and greaves and either a simple square bronze chest-guard, or more elaborate body armour such as a mail tunic, according to each individual’s wealth and ability to provide his own protection." [2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14-15)
Rome relied on allies and subject peoples for ships. First Punic War, from 264 BCE, saw the first systematic attempt by the Romans to make their own ships and for this purpose they copied the Carthaginian quinquireme. To this they added a corvus (bridge) which was used to board enemy ships. [1] .
[1]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Likely for transportation of military overseas, e.g. at this time to Egypt or North Africa.
