The Roman Republic (Latin: Res Publica Romanorum) vested formal governmental powers in four separate people's assemblies — the Comitia Curiata, the Comitia Centuriata, the Comitia Tributa, and the Concilium Plebis. The Latin Comitia is sometimes rendered in English as Comices. The Roman Kingdom (Latin: Regenum Romanum) was the monarchal government for the city of Rome and its territories from its founding in 753 BC by Romulus until the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus in 510 BC and the establishment of the Roman Republic. ... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century) The Roman Republic (Latin: Res Publica Romanorum) was the republican government of the city of Rome and its territories from 510 BC until the establishment of the Roman Empire, which sometimes placed at 44 BC the year of Caesar... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus). ... The Principate is, according to its etymological derivation from the Latin word princeps, meaning chief or first, the political regime dominated by such a head of state and government. ... The Dominate was the despotic last of the two phases of government in the ancient Roman Empire between its establishment in 27 BC and the formal date of the collapse of the Western Empire in AD 476. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Roman Empire is the name given to the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 286 AD. It would exist intermittently in several periods between the 3rd Century and the 5th Century, after Diocletians Tetrarchy and the reunifications associated... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centred at its capital in Constantinople. ... Magistratus ordinarii (ordinary magistrates) and Magistrarus extraordinarii (extraordinary magistrates) were two categories of officials who held political, military, and, in some cases, religious power in the Roman Republic. ... For modern diplomatic consuls, see Consulate general. ... // Definition According to Cicero, Praetor was a title which designated the consuls as the leaders of the armies of the state. ... Quaestors were elected officials of the Roman Republic who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers. ... See Roman Governor for the duties of a promagistrate as a governor of a province A promagistrate is a person who acts in and with the authority and capacity of a magistrate, but without holding a magisterial office. ... Aedile (Latin Aedilis) was an office of the Roman Republic. ... Tribune (from the Latin: tribunus; Greek form tribounos) was a title shared by several elected magistracies and other governmental and/or (para)military offices of the Roman Republic and Empire. ... For omission and secrecy, see Censorship. ... A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief adminstator of Roman law throughout one or more of Ancient Romes many provinces. ... Magistratus ordinarii (ordinary magistrates) and Magistrarus extraordinarii (extraordinary magistrates) were two categories of officials who held political, military, and, in some cases, religious power in the Roman Republic. ... Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. ... The Master of the Horse was (and in some cases, is) a historical position of varying importance in several European nations. ... Jump to: navigation, search The term triumvirate (Latin for rule by three men) or troika in Russian, is commonly used to describe an alliance between three equally powerful political or military leaders. ... Decemviri (sing. ... Jump to: navigation, search Alternate meanings: see Pontifex (disambiguation) In Ancient Rome, the Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the collegium of the Pontifices, the most august position in Roman religion, open only to a patrician, until 254 BC, when a plebian occupied this post. ... A legatus (often anglicized as legate) was equivalent to a modern general officer in the Roman army. ... Dux is Latin for leader (from the verb ducere, to pull) and could refer to anyone who commanded two or more legions. ... Officium (plural officia) is a Latin word with various meanings, including service, (sense of) duty, courtesy, ceremony and the likes. ... A prefect (from the Latin praefectus, perfect participle of praeficio, to make in front, i. ... Under the Roman Empire, a vicarius was the deputy prefect of a diocese or group of provinces. ... The Vigintisexviri (sing. ... Magister militum (Master of the Soldiers) was a rank used in the later Roman Empire dating from the reign of Constantine. ... The Latin word imperator was a title originally roughly equivalent to commander during the period of the Roman Republic. ... The princeps senatus (plural principes senatus) was the leader of the Roman senate. ... Roman Emperor is the title historians use to refer to rulers of the Roman Empire, after the epoch conventionally named the Roman Republic. ... Augustus (plural augusti) is Latin for majestic or venerable. The feminine form is Augusta. ... Caesar (p. ... The Tetrarchs, a porphyry sculpture sacked from a Byzantine palace in 1204, Treasury of St. ... This is an tentative list of topics regarding political institutions of Rome. ... The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. ... Imperium can, in a broad sense, be translated as power. ... Jump to: navigation, search Roman Law is the legal system of ancient Rome. ... The cursus honorum (Latin: succession of magistracies) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in both the Roman Republic and the early Empire. ... Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues. ... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century) The Roman Republic (Latin: Res Publica Romanorum) was the republican government of the city of Rome and its territories from 510 BC until the establishment of the Roman Empire, which sometimes placed at 44 BC the year of Caesar... Jump to: navigation, search Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Res publica is a Latin phrase, made of res + publica, literally meaning the thing of the people. // Etymology The word publica is the feminine singular of the 1st and 2nd declension adjective publicus, publica, publicum, which is itself derived from an earlier form, poplicus—relating to the populus [people]. The...

Unlike modern chambers, these representative bodies combined legislative, judicial, and electoral functions, as Magistrates did too. Although there was no separation of powers, the intricate balance of 'constitutional' checks and divisions of powers in the Roman republic was remarkably elaborate. They possessed the power to make ex post facto laws, retroactively making a given act illegal. Note that the Roman Senate was a deliberative chamber, and did not possess legislative or judicial powers. Chamber of the Estates-General, the Dutch legislature. ... The judiciary, also referred to as the judicature, consists of justices, judges and magistrates among other types of adjudicators. ... Jump to: navigation, search An election is a decision making process whereby people vote for preferred political candidates or parties to act as representatives in government. ... An ex post facto law (Latin for from a thing done afterward), also known as a retrospective law, is a law that is retroactive, i. ... The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. ...

Curiate Assembly

The Comitia Curiata were the oldest Roman assembly after the "Comitia Calata", represented the original three Roman tribes, organized in 30 "curiae", voting units that each casted one collective vote. This organ originally elected all higher magistrates but later only confirmed and inaugurated those elected by the Centuriate Assembly. The Comitia Calata was the most ancient and least-known of the Ancient Rome popular assemblies. ... The Curia, inside the Forum The Curia of ancient Rome was the place where the Senate met to discuss the making of laws and take decisions about the affairs of the Republic. ...

Centuriate Assembly

The Comitia Centuriata included both patricians and plebeians organized into five economic classes (knights and senators being the First Class) and distributed among internal divisions called Centuries. Membership in the Centuriate Assembly required certain economic status, and power was heavily vested in the First and Second Classes. The Centuriate Assembly met annually to elect the next year's consuls and praetors, and quintannually (every 5 years) to elect the censors. It also sat to try cases of high treason (perduellio), although this latter function fell into disuse after Lucius Appuleius Saturninus introduced a more workable format (maiestas). Patricians were originally the elite caste in ancient Rome. ... In Ancient Rome, the plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. ... For modern diplomatic consuls, see Consulate general. ... // Definition According to Cicero, Praetor was a title which designated the consuls as the leaders of the armies of the state. ... For omission and secrecy, see Censorship. ... Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, Roman demagogue. ...

A citizen's vote did not count in the Centuriate Assembly. Rather, the individual's vote was counted within his Century and determined the outcome of the Century's vote. Because only the first eighteen (and richest) Centuries were kept to the nominal size of 100 members, members of those Centuries exerted a disproportionate influence over the outcome of votes. The Centuriate Assembly, originally a military assembly of knights, had to meet outside the pomerium of Rome on the Campus Martius, and was as a result extremely clumsy to convoke and manage. It was not normally used except to elect the next year's magistrates. The Centuriate Assembly is usually cited, with little contemporary evidence, as the classical precedent for the US Electoral College. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The pomerium (or pomoerium) was the sacred boundary of the city of Rome. ... Jump to: navigation, search City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost... The Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km² (600 acres) in extent. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ... An electoral college is a set of electors who are empowered as a deliberative body to elect someone to a particular office. ...

Tribal Assembly

The Comitia Tributa included both patricians and plebeians distributed among the thirty-five tribes into which all Roman citizens were placed for administrative and electoral purposes. The vast majority of the urban population of Rome was distributed among the four urban tribes, which meant that their votes were individually insignificant. Like the Centuriate Assembly, voting was indirect, with one vote apportioned to each tribe. The voting was therefore heavily slanted in favor of the thirty-one rural tribes. The Tribal Assembly met in the well of the Comitia in the Forum Romanum, and elected the aediles (curulis only), the quaestors, and the tribunes of the soldiers (tribuni militum). It conducted most trials until the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla established the standing courts (quaestiones). The Roman Forum (Forum Romanum) was a central area of ancient Rome in which commerce, business, trading and the administration of justice took place. ... Aedile (Latin Aedilis) was an office of the Roman Republic. ... Quaestors were elected officials of the Roman Republic who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers. ... Tribune (from the Latin: tribunus; Greek form tribounos) was a title shared by several elected magistracies and other governmental and/or (para)military offices of the Roman Republic and Empire. ... Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (Latin: L·CORNELIVS·L·F·P·N·SVLLA·FELIX) ¹ (ca. ...

Council of the People

The Concilium Plebis was also a tribal assembly, but it excluded all patricians, who were forbidden to take part in its meetings. Only the tribunes of the people (tribuni plebis) could convoke the Council of the People, and it usually met in the well of the Comitia (patrician senators often observed from the steps of the Curia Hostilia and heckled the tribunes during meetings. Roman politics were considerably more rambunctious than even the modern House of Commons). The Council of the People was the favored legislature of the Republic, although technically its laws were called plebiscites. It elected the aediles (plebis only) and the tribunes of the people, and conducted trials; the latter function fell into disuse after Sulla established the permanent courts. Tribune (from the Latin: tribunus; Greek form tribounos) was a title shared by several elected magistracies and other governmental and/or (para)military offices of the Roman Republic and Empire. ... The Curia Hostilia (Lat. ... In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ...

Senate

Although the permanent Roman Senate passed senatus consulta ("the senate's advice") recommending laws and measures, these were comparable to modern United Nations resolutions, and did not actually carry any force of law — except in the case of the senatus consultum de republica defendenda, the so-called ultimate decree establishing a "pocket dictator" by directing the consuls to "take care that the Republic should take no harm" and in the case of the senatus consultum ultimum a deliberation based on the decree of a tumultus and that often led to the proclamation of a iustitium, meaning "standstill" or "suspension of the law". The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. ... Jump to: navigation, search The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945. ...

The former can be seen in the conduct of the Jugurthine War, when the Senate passed a senatus consultum extending Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus's tenure as commander in chief, but the Council of the People passed a plebiscite appointing Gaius Marius in Metellus Numidicus's stead. Although Julius Caesar was named proconsul of Gallia Cisalpina and Illyricum by senatus consultum, he was given Gallia Transalpina by plebiscite. The second one can be seen in the context of the Hannibal's invasion of Italy. The senatus consultum ultimum called all citizens to take whatever necessary measure to the salvation of the State. Tumultus was an event of a social and political nature requiring exceptional measures. The declaration of a tumultus often led to the proclamation of a iustitium according to which the citizens were called to defend the State, and see that no harm come to it. The Jugurthine War (122-105 BC) was fought between the Roman Republic and Jugurtha, the renegade king of the African client state of Numidia. ... The Caecilii Metellii was one of the most important and wealthiest families in the Roman Republic. ... Gaius Marius (Latin: C·MARIVS·C·F·C·N) (157 - January 13, 86 BC) was a Roman general and politician who was mostly known for his reform of Roman armies. ... Jump to: navigation, search Bust of Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (Classical Latin: IMP·C·IVLIVS·CAESAR·DIVVS¹) (b. ... A promagistrate is a person who acts in and with the authority and capacity of a magistrate, but without holding a magisterial office. ... Province of the Roman Republic, in modern-day northern Italy. ... This article is about an ancient civilization in southeastern Europe; see also Illyria (software), Illyria (character in the TV series Angel). ... Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, 120 AD Gallia Narbonensis was a Roman province located in what is now Provence in southern France. ...

The Senate had also the ability to reinstate the rule of law at the end of the emergency period and restore the imperium of the Republic magistrates. Such was the case after the defeat of Hannibal.

In political terms, though, the honoured expression Senatus Populusque Romanum (abbreviated as SPQR), often used as an indication for the Roman state, clearly testifies to the general perception that Rome was legitimately ruled by the will of the people (in the assemblies) and the senate, and under their authority by the magistrates. Only when the principate was established -legally within the republic, which was never abolished- did the shift of power to the emperor, no longer a 'temporary' strong man as opposed to the dictator, start to embody the state politically, though never in law, and hence incarnate the maiestas of Rome. The Principate is, according to its etymological derivation from the Latin word princeps, meaning chief or first, the political regime dominated by such a head of state and government. ...

Sulla's Changes

During his consulate in 88 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla passed a series of three laws impeding the Tribal Assembly and the Council of the People from considering any law unless it was sent to the assemblies by senatus consultum with a favorable "do pass" recommendation. His fourth law restructured the Centuriate Assembly such that the First Class — the senators and the most powerful knights — had nearly fifty percent of the voting power. His fifth law stripped both popular assemblies — the Tribal Assembly and the Council of the People — of their legislative functions, leaving all legislation in the hands of the restructured Centuriate Assembly. The tribal assemblies were left with the election of certain magistrates and the conduct of trials — but no trials could be held unless authorized by senatus consultum. Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC - 80s BC - 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 93 BC 92 BC 91 BC 90 BC 89 BC - 88 BC - 87 BC 86 BC 85... Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (Latin: L·CORNELIVS·L·F·P·N·SVLLA·FELIX) ¹ (ca. ...

These reforms were overturned by the Populares led by Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, restored by Sulla during his dictatorship rei publicae constituendae, and were again overturned after his death. They represent one of the most wide-ranging and direct shifts in the constitutions of the Roman state during both the Republic and the Empire. Gaius Marius (Latin: C·MARIVS·C·F·C·N)¹ (157 BC - January 13, 86 BC) was a Roman general and politician elected Consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. ... Lucius Cornelius Cinna (Latin: L·CORNELIVS·L·F·L·N·CINNA), a member of the Cinna family of the Cornelii of ancient Rome, was a supporter of Marius in his contest with Sulla. ... Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus). ...

Under the Empire

Augustus maintained the forms of republican government while he and his successors concentrated more and more power in their own hands by having themselves elected to various magistracies for life. Augustus transferred the legislative functions of the popular assemblies to the Senate and the senators were appointed by the emperor. Tiberius transferred the election of magistrates to the Senate as well. The assemblies, apart from the Senate, did not meet again after the reign of Caligula. When Constantine founded Constantinople he established a Senate in the new city which existed, in vestigial form, until 1453. Augustus (plural Augusti) is Latin for majestic or venerable. The greek equivalent is sebastos, or a mere grecization (by changing of the ending) augustos. ... A bust of younger Emperor Tiberius For the city in Israel, see Tiberias. ... Gaius Caesar Germanicus Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (August 31, 12CE – January 24, 41CE), most commonly known as Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor and third member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from AD 37CE to 41CE. Caligula represents a turning point in the early history of the Principate. ... Jump to: navigation, search Constantine. ... Jump to: navigation, search Map of Constantinople. ... Events May 29 - Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). ...