1.
List of kings of Athens
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Before the Athenian democracy, the tyrants, and the Archons, the city-state of Athens was ruled by kings. Most of these are probably mythical or only semi-historical and these three kings were supposed to have ruled before the flood of Deucalion. The early Athenian tradition, followed by the 3rd century BC Parian Chronicle, made Cecrops, a mythical half-man half-serpent, tradition says that King Menestheus took part in the Trojan War. The following list follows that of 1st Century BC Castor of Rhodes, melanthus having been driven from his kingdom in Pylos came to Athens where Thymoestes resigned the crown to him. Codrus, the last king, repelled the Dorian Invasion of Attica, after Codruss death, his sons Medon and Acastus either reigned as kings, or became hereditary archons. In 753 BC the hereditary archonship was replaced by a non-hereditary system
2.
Kingdom of Soissons
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The Kingdom of Soissons also known as the Domain of Syagrius was a rump state of the Western Roman Empire in northern Gaul for some twenty-five years during Late Antiquity. The emergence of the Kingdom of Soissons began when Emperor Majorian appointed Aegidius as magister militum of Roman Gaul. When Majorian was killed on the orders of Ricimer in 461, Aegidius maintained his own rule in much of his province, creating a Roman remnant state that came to be known as the Kingdom of Soissons. In the chaos of contemporary Gaul, he maintained his power against Franks to his east and Visigoths to his south, Aegidius died in 464 or 465. His son Syagrius succeeded to the rule, in 486 Syagrius lost the Battle of Soissons to the Frankish king Clovis I and the domain was thereafter under the control of the Franks. The Kingdom of Soissons originated in the reign of the Western Emperor Majorian, Majorian appointed Aegidius to be magister militum of the Gallic provinces. The remaining Roman territory in Gaul in the northwest was connected with the Roman possessions in the Auvergne, Provence, during Majorians reign, that corridor was annexed by the Germanic tribes now occupying Gaul, thus effectively cutting off Aegidius and his citizens from the Empire. Majorian and Aegidius had recovered the Roman position in most of Gaul and these provinces were annexed by the Visigoths and Burgundians in the years 462-477, which left the remaining Roman Kingdom of Syagrius isolated. Aegidius was allied to Childeric I, king of the Salian Franks of Tournai, according to Gregory of Tours, Aegidius even ruled the Franks during Childerics banishment, but Childeric later returned from exile. It is possible that the Groans of the Britons, referring to a Romano-British request for assistance after the Roman departure from Britain. Aegidius continued to govern until his death on the Loire in 464 and he may have been murdered at the orders of one of Childerics enemies. His Comes Paulus of Angers was killed afterwards, possibly on the same campaign. At that point Aegidiuss son, Syagrius, took his place as ruler, Syagrius governed using the title of dux, but the neighboring Germanic tribes referred to him as King of the Romans, hence the name of his enclave. In 476, under the rule of Syagrius, the Kingdom of Soissons failed to accept the new rule of Odoacer who had dethroned the last Western Emperor earlier that year. While both Syagrius and Odoacer sent messengers to the Eastern Roman Empire, the Eastern emperor Zeno chose to offer legitimacy to Odoacer instead of Syagrius, the Kingdom of Soissons cut all ties with Italy and had no further recorded contact with the Eastern Roman Empire. Even after 476, Syagrius continued to maintain that he was merely governing a Roman province, the Kingdom of Soissons was in fact an independent region. Childeric died about 481, and his son Clovis I became the Frankish king, Clovis made continual war against Syagrius, and in the end took over all his territory. Syagrius lost the battle of Soissons in 486, many historians consider this Clovis greatest victory
3.
Capitoline Wolf
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The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture of the mythical she-wolf suckling the twins, Romulus and Remus, from the legend of the founding of Rome. When Numitor, grandfather of the twins, was overthrown by his brother Amulius and they were rescued by a she-wolf who cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them. The Capitoline Wolf has been housed since 1471 in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Campidoglio, Rome, the age and origin of the Capitoline Wolf is a subject of controversy. The statue was thought to be an Etruscan work of the 5th century BC, with the twins added in the late 15th century AD. However, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating has found that the portion of the statue was likely cast between 1021 and 1153. The sculpture is somewhat larger than life-size, standing 75 cm high and 114 cm long, the wolf is depicted in a tense, watchful pose, with alert ears and glaring eyes watching for danger. By contrast, the human twins – executed in a different style – are oblivious to their surroundings. The she-wolf from the legend of Romulus and Remus was regarded as a symbol of Rome from ancient times, several ancient sources refer to statues depicting the wolf suckling the twins. Livy reports in his Roman history that a statue was erected at the foot of the Palatine Hill in 295 B. C. Cicero also mentions the wolf in De Divinatione 1.20 and 2.47. The 18th-century German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann attributed the statue to an Etruscan maker in the 5th century BC and it was first attributed to the Veiian artist Vulca, who decorated the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and then re-attributed to an unknown Etruscan artist of approximately 480–470 BC. Winckelmann correctly identified a Renaissance origin for the twins, they were added in 1471 or later. During the 19th century, a number of researchers questioned Winckelmanns dating of the bronze, august Emil Braun, the secretary of the Archaeological Institute of Rome, proposed in 1854 that the damage to the wolfs paw had been caused by an error during casting. However, these views were disregarded and had been forgotten by the 20th century. In 2006, the Italian art historian Anna Maria Carruba and the Etruscologist Adriano La Regina contested the traditional dating of the wolf on the basis of an analysis of the casting technique. Carruba had been given the task of restoring the sculpture in 1997, single-piece casting was, however, widely used in medieval times to mould bronze items that needed a high level of rigidity, such as bells and cannon. Carruba argues, like Braun, that the damage to the paw had resulted from an error in the moulding process. Radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating was carried out at the University of Salento in February 2007 to resolve the question, the results revealed with an accuracy of 95.4 percent that the sculpture was crafted between the 11th and 12th century AD. It is unclear when the sculpture was first erected, but there are a number of references to a wolf standing in the Popes Lateran Palace
4.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
5.
Old Latin
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Old Latin, also known as Early Latin or Archaic Latin, refers to the Latin language in the period before 75 BC, before the age of Classical Latin. In New and Contemporary Latin, it is called prisca Latinitas rather than vetus Latina, the use of old, early and archaic has been standard in publications of Old Latin writings since at least the 18th century. The definition is not arbitrary, but the terms refer to writings with spelling conventions and this article presents some of the major differences. The earliest known specimen of the Latin language is from the Praeneste fibula, a new analysis performed in 2011 declared it to be genuine beyond any reasonable doubt and dating from the Orientalizing period, in the first half of the seventh century BC. The concept of Old Latin is as old as the concept of Classical Latin, viri prisci, old-time men, were the population of Latium before the founding of Rome. In the Late Latin period, when Classical Latin was behind them, Isidore of Seville reports a classification scheme that had come into existence in or before his time, the four Latins. The scheme persisted with little change for some years after Isidore. Although the differences are striking and can be identified by Latin readers. Latin speakers of the empire had no reported trouble understanding Old Latin, except for the few texts that must date from the time of the kings, mainly songs. Thus, the laws of the Twelve Tables from the early Republic were comprehensible, there is no sharp distinction between Old Latin, as it was spoken for most of the Republic, and Classical Latin, but the earlier grades into the later. The end of the republic was too late a termination for compilers after Wordsworth, Charles Edwin Bennett said, bell, De locativi in prisca Latinitate vi et usu, Breslau,1889, sets the later limit at 75 BC. A definite date is impossible, since archaic Latin does not terminate abruptly. Bennetts own date of 100 BC did not prevail but rather Bells 75 BC became the standard as expressed in the four-volume Loeb Library and other major compendia. Over the 377 years from 452 to 75 BC, Old Latin evolved from being partially comprehensible by classicists with study to being read by scholars. Old Latin authored works began in the 3rd century BC and these are complete or nearly complete works under their own name surviving as manuscripts copied from other manuscripts in whatever script was current at the time. In addition are fragments of works quoted in other authors, numerous inscriptions placed by various methods on their original media survive just as they were except for the ravages of time. Some of these were copied from other inscriptions, no inscription can be earlier than the introduction of the Greek alphabet into Italy but none survive from that early date. The imprecision of archaeological dating makes it impossible to assign a year to any one inscription, some texts, however, that survive as fragments in the works of classical authors, had to have been composed earlier than the republic, in the time of the monarchy
6.
Religion in ancient Rome
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The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety in maintaining good relations with the gods. According to legends, most of Romes religious institutions could be traced to its founders, particularly Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome, who negotiated directly with the gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, the way of the ancestors or simply tradition, as Rome came into contact with foreign cultures, and conquered them, foreign religions increasingly attracted devotees among Romans, who increasingly had ancestry from elsewhere in the Empire. The emperors promoted the Imperial cult around the empire, and this, ultimately, Roman polytheism was brought to an end with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the empire. The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes, there was no principle analogous to separation of church and state in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic, the men who were elected public officials might also serve as augurs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives, Julius Caesar became pontifex maximus before he was elected consul. The augurs read the will of the gods and supervised the marking of boundaries as a reflection of universal order, Roman religion was thus practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, I give that you might give. Even the most skeptical among Romes intellectual elite such as Cicero, for ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a shrine at which prayers and libations to the familys domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances, women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. The Romans are known for the number of deities they honored. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature, etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of magic, conspiratorial, or subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity, one way that Rome incorporated diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage, building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the worship of local and Roman deities. Because Romans had never been obligated to one god or one cult only
7.
Elective monarchy
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An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, historically it is not uncommon for elective monarchies to transform into hereditary ones over time, or for hereditary ones to acquire at least occasional elective aspects. Many, if not most, kingdoms were officially elective historically, the kings of Macedon and of Epirus were elected by the army, which was similar in composition to the ecclesia of democracies, the council of all free citizens. Military service often was linked with citizenship among the members of the royal house. In the ancient Kingdom of Rome, the kings were elected by the Assemblies, therefore, the office of Roman and Byzantine emperor remained vaguely elective and heredity never was, and could never be, formally established in law. The Holy Roman Empire is perhaps the best-known example of an elective monarchy, however, from 1453 to 1740, a Habsburg was always elected emperor, the throne becoming unofficially hereditary. During that period, the emperor was elected from within the House of Habsburg by a council of nobles called prince-electors. The secular electoral seats were hereditary, however, spiritual electors were usually elected by the cathedral chapters as religious leaders, but simultaneously ruled as monarch of a territory of imperial immediacy. Thus the prince-bishoprics were elective monarchies too, the same holds true for prince-abbeys, whose prince-abbesses or prince-abbots were elected by a college of clerics and imperially appointed as princely rulers in a pertaining territory. In the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, the kingship was partially elected, during the height of the kingdom in the mid-12th century there was a royal family and a relatively clear line of succession. Nevertheless, the king was elected, or at least recognized, here the king was considered a primus inter pares, and in his absence his duties were performed by his seneschal. Originally, the Kings of Sweden were elected by all men at the Mora Thing. Elective monarchy continued until 1544, when the Riksdag of the Estates designated the heirs of King Gustav Vasa as the heirs to the throne, the Danish monarchy was also officially elective, although the eldest son of the reigning monarch was usually elected. This continued until 1660, when a hereditary and absolute monarchy was instituted by Frederick III, though the monarchy of Norway was originally hereditary, it too became elective in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Candidates had to be of royal blood, but the kingship was elected by a council of noblemen, in 1905 Prince Carl was elected King of Norway, after the male population in an election decided Norway should still be a monarchy. Bernadotte eventually ascended the throne as Charles XIV John of Sweden, in Poland, after the death of the last Piast in 1370, Polish kings were initially elected by a small council, gradually, this privilege was granted to all members of the szlachta. During the election period, the function of the king was performed by an interrex and this unique Polish election was termed the free election. Since medieval times, the King of Bohemia was elected by the Estates of Lands of the Bohemian Crown, since 1526, when the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I assumed the Bohemian Crown, it was always held by the Habsburgs, who expected this situation to go on indefinitely
8.
King of Rome
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The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for an average of 35 years, 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 and their attempt to institute a hereditary monarchy over this conjectured earlier elective monarchy resulted in the formation of the republic, early Rome was not self-governing, and was ruled by the king. The king possessed absolute power over the people, the senate was a weak oligarchy, capable of exercising only minor administrative powers, so that Rome was ruled by its king who was in effect an absolute monarch. The senates main function was to out and administer the wishes of the king. Candidates for the throne could be chosen from any source, for example, one such candidate, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was originally a citizen and migrant from a neighboring Etruscan city-state. The people of Rome, sitting as the Curiate Assembly, could either accept or reject the nominated candidate-king. The insignia of the king was twelve lictors wielding the fasces, a throne of a Curule chair, the purple Toga Picta, red shoes, only the king could wear a purple toga. The people knew the king as a mediator between them and the gods and thus viewed the king with religious awe and this made the king the head of the national religion and its chief executive. Having the power to control the Roman calendar, he conducted all religious ceremonies and appointed lower religious offices and it was Romulus who instituted the augurs and who was believed to have been the best augur of all. Likewise, King Numa Pompilius instituted the pontiffs and through them developed the foundations of the dogma of Rome. Beyond his religious authority, the king was invested with the military, executive. The imperium of the king was held for life and protected him from ever being brought to trial for his actions. As being the owner of imperium in Rome at the time. His executive power and his sole imperium allowed him to issue decrees with the force of law, also, the laws that kept citizens safe from the misuse of magistrates owning imperium did not exist during the times of the king. Another power of the king was the power to appoint or nominate all officials to offices. The king would appoint a tribunus celerum to serve as both the tribune of Ramnes tribe in Rome but also as the commander of the personal bodyguard
9.
Romulus
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Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Romes oldest legal, political, religious, Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, were the sons of Rhea Silvia, herself the daughter of Numitor, the former king of Alba Longa. Through them, the twins are descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas and Latinus, before the twins birth, Numitor had been usurped by his brother, Amulius. After seizing the throne, Amulius murdered Numitors son, and condemned Rhea to perpetual virginity by consecrating her a Vestal, Rhea, however, became pregnant, ostensibly by the god Mars. Amulius had her imprisoned, and upon the birth, ordered that they be thrown into the rain-swollen Tiber. Instead of carrying out the orders, his servants left the twins along the riverbank at the foot of Palatine Hill. In the traditional telling of the legend, a she-wolf happened upon the twins and she suckled and tended them by a cave until they were found by the herdsman Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia. The brothers grew to manhood among the shepherds and hill-folk, after becoming involved in a conflict between the followers of Amulius and those of their grandfather Numitor, they learned the truth of their origin. They overthrew and killed Amulius and restored Numitor to the throne, the princes set out to establish a city of their own. They returned to the hills overlooking the Tiber, the site where they had exposed as infants. They could not agree on which hill should house the new city, when an omen to resolve the controversy failed to provide a clear indication, the conflict escalated and Remus was killed by his brother or by his brothers follower. In a variant of the legend, the augurs favoured Romulus, when Remus derisively leapt over the walls to show how inadequate they were against invaders, he was struck down by Romulus. In another variant, Remus died during a melée along with Faustulus, the founding of the city by Romulus was commemorated annually on April 21, with the festival of the Parilia. His first act was to fortify the Palatine, in the course of which he made a sacrifice to the gods and he then laid out the citys boundaries with a furrow that he ploughed, performed another sacrifice, and with his followers set to work building the city itself. Romulus then sought the assent of the people to become their king, with Numitors help, he addressed them and received their approval. Romulus accepted the crown after he sacrificed and prayed to Jupiter, Romulus then divided the populace into three tribes, known as the Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, for taxation and military purposes. Each tribe was presided over by a known as a tribune. Romulus also allotted a portion of land to ward, for the benefit of the people
10.
Numa Pompilius
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Numa Pompilius was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Romes most important religious, according to Plutarch, Numa was the youngest of Pomponiuss four sons, born on the day of Romes founding. He lived a life of discipline and banished all luxury from his home. Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines and a colleague of Romulus, gave in marriage his daughter, Tatia. After 13 years of marriage, Tatia died, precipitating Numas retirement to the countryside, according to Livy, Numa resided at Cures immediately before being elected king. Livy and Plutarch refer to the story that Numa was instructed in philosophy by Pythagoras, Plutarch reports that some authors credited him with only a single daughter, Pompilia. Pompilias mother is identified as Numas first wife Tatia or his second wife Lucretia. She is said to have married the future first pontifex maximus Numa Marcius, still other writers, writes Plutarch, believed these were fictional genealogies to enhance the status of these families. After the death of Romulus, there was an interregnum of one year in which the power was exercised by members of the Senate in rotation for five days in a row. In 715 BC, after much bickering between the factions of Romulus and Tatius, a compromise was reached, and the Sabine Numa was elected by the senate as the next king, according to Plutarch, Numa was a cunning and calculating person. At first he refused the offer and his father and Sabine kinsmen, including his teacher and the father of Numas son-in law, Marcus, along with an embassy of two senators from Rome, banded together to persuade him to accept. In the account of Plutarch and Livy, Numa, after being summoned by the Senate from Cures, was offered the tokens of power amid an enthusiastic reception by the people of Rome. He requested, however, that an augur should divine the opinion of the gods on the prospect of his kingship before he accepted, Jupiter was consulted and the omens were favourable. Thus approved by the Roman and Sabine people as well as the heavens, according to Plutarch, Numas first act was to disband the personal guard of 300 so-called Celeres with which Romulus permanently surrounded himself. The gesture is variously interpreted as self-protection in the face of their questionable loyalty, based on Roman chronology, Numa died of old age in 673 BC. He was succeeded by Tullus Hostilius, Numa was traditionally celebrated by the Romans for his wisdom and piety. According to Livy, Numa claimed that he held consultations with Egeria on the proper manner of instituting sacred rites for the city. Numa was said to have authored several sacred books in which he had written down divine teachings, mostly from Egeria, the other books dealt with philosophy
11.
Tullus Hostilius
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Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third king of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius, unlike his predecessor, Tullus was known as a warlike king. Tullus Hostilius was the grandson of Hostus Hostilius, who had fought with Romulus, the principal feature of Tullus reign was his defeat of Alba Longa. After Alba Longa was beaten, Alba Longa became Romes vassal state, Tullus also fought successful wars against Fidenae and Veii and against the Sabines. According to Livy, Tullus paid little heed to religious observances during his reign, king Tullus became ill and was filled with superstition. He reviewed the commentaries of Numa Pompilius and attempted to carry out sacrifices recommended by Numa to Jupiter Elicius. However, Tullus did not undertake the ceremony correctly, and both he and his house were struck by lightning and reduced to ashes as a result of the anger of Jupiter. As with those of all the kings of Rome, the events ascribed to the reign of Tullus Hostilius are treated with skepticism by modern historians. Both are brought up among shepherds, carry on war against Fidenae and Veii, double the number of citizens, Hostilius was probably a historical figure, however, in the strict sense that a man bearing the name Tullus Hostilius likely reigned as king in Rome. The first event is the destruction of Alba Longa and it is beyond doubt that the Alban mountains were the site of a large settlement and that this settlement fell under Roman power during the regal period. But when and by whom Alba Longa was destroyed is uncertain and this would bring the construction of the Curia Hostilia well within the time of a possible reign by Tullus Hostilius and also explain the otherwise inexplicable name of the building. Operatic pastiches with the title Tullo Ostilio performed in Prague in 1727, consistent with contemporary conventions, the stories concentrate on concocted love stories involving members of the principal characters family. Tullus Hostilius was played by Robert Keith in the 1961 film Duel of Champions, Tullus is briefly mentioned in the Aeneid in the description of Aeneas shield. He is described as hauling away the remains of the liar Mettius through the brush and he is a character in Philip Jose Farmers novel Riverworld. After the Resurrection, he has teamed up with Hermann Göring to run a slave-state
12.
Ancus Marcius
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Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth king of Rome. He was the son of Marcius, who may be identified with Numa Marcius, according to Festus, Marcius had the surname of Ancus from his crooked arm. Upon the death of the king, Tullus Hostilius, the Roman Senate appointed an interrex. Ancus Marcius was believed by the Romans to have been the namesake of the Marcii and he waged war successfully against the Latins, and a number of them were settled on the Aventine Hill. According to Livy the war was commenced by the Latins who anticipated Ancus would follow the pious pursuit of peace adopted by his grandfather, the Latins initially made an incursion on Roman lands. When a Roman embassy sought restitution for the damage, the Latins gave a contemptuous reply, Ancus accordingly declared war on the Latins. The declaration is notable since, according to Livy, it was the first time that the Romans had declared war by means of the rites of the fetials, Ancus Marcius marched from Rome with a newly levied army and took the Latin town of Politorium by storm. Its residents were removed to settle on the Aventine Hill in Rome as new citizens, following the Roman traditions from wars with the Sabines, when the other Latins subsequently occupied the empty town of Politorium, Ancus took the town again and demolished it. The Latin villages of Tellenae and Ficana were also sacked and demolished, the war then focused on the Latin town of Medullia. The town had a garrison and was well fortified. Several engagements took place outside the town and the Romans were eventually victorious, Ancus returned to Rome with much booty. More Latins were brought to Rome as citizens and were settled at the foot of the Aventine near the Palatine Hill, by the temple of Murcia. Ancus Marcius incorporated the Janiculum into the city, fortifying it with a wall and connecting it with the city by a bridge across the Tiber. On the land side of the city he constructed the Fossa Quiritium and he also built Romes first prison, the Mamertine prison. He expanded the temple of Jupiter Feretrius to reflect these territorial successes, according to a reconstruction of the Fasti Triumphales, Ancus Marcius celebrated at least one triumph, over the Sabines and Veientes. Ancus Marcius was succeeded by Lucius Tarquinius Priscus who would later be executed by the sons of Ancus Marcius, patrician Marcius Rex -family is descended from Ancus Marcius and remained prominent during the republic and empire. Attribution Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Ancus Marcius
13.
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus
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Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, or Tarquin the Elder, was the legendary fifth king of Rome from 616 to 579 BC. According to Livy, Tarquin came from Etruria, after inheriting his fathers entire fortune, Lucius attempted to gain a political office. Disgruntled with his opportunities in Etruria, he migrated to Rome with his wife Tanaquil, legend has it that on his arrival in Rome in a chariot, an eagle took his cap, flew away and then returned it back upon his head. Tanaquil, who was skilled in prophecy, interpreted this as an omen of his future greatness, in Rome, he attained respect through his courtesy. The king himself noticed Tarquinius and, by his will, appointed Tarquinius guardian of his own sons, upon the death of Marcius, Tarquin addressed the Comitia Curiata and convinced them that he should be elected king over Marcius natural sons, who were still only youths. In one tradition, the sons were away on an expedition at the time of their fathers death. According to Livy, Tarquin increased the number of the Senate by adding one hundred men from the leading minor families, among these was the family of the Octavii, from whom the first emperor, Augustus, was descended. Tarquins first war was waged against the Latins, Tarquinius took the Latin town of Apiolae by storm and took great booty from there back to Rome. According to the Fasti Triumphales, this war must have occurred prior to 588 BC and his military ability was then tested by an attack from the Sabines, who received auxiliaries from five Etruscan cities. Tarquin doubled the numbers of equites to help the war effort, the Sabines were defeated after difficult street fighting in the city of Rome. In the peace negotiations followed, Tarquin received the town of Collatia. Tarquin returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph on September 13,585 BC, subsequently, the Latin cities of Corniculum, old Ficulea, Cameria, Crustumerium, Ameriola, Medullia and Nomentum were subdued and became Roman. Since Tarquin had kept the captured Etruscan auxiliaries prisoners for meddling in the war with the Sabines, seven other Etruscan cities joined forces with them. The Etruscans soon captured the Roman colony at Fidenae, which became the focal point of the war. After several bloody battles, Tarquin was once again victorious, at the successful conclusion of each of his wars, Rome was enriched by Tarquins plunder. Tarquin is said to have built the Circus Maximus, the first and largest stadium at Rome, raised seating was erected privately by the senators and equites, and other areas were marked out for private citizens. There the king established a series of games, according to Livy. After a great flood, Tarquin drained the damp lowlands of Rome by constructing the Cloaca Maxima and he also constructed a stone wall around the city, and began the construction of a temple in honour of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill
14.
Servius Tullius
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Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 575–535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Romes first Etruscan king. Several traditions describe Servius father as divine, Livy depicts Servius mother as a captured Latin princess enslaved by the Romans, her child is chosen as Romes future king after a ring of fire is seen around his head. The Emperor Claudius discounted such origins and described him as an originally Etruscan mercenary, named Mastarna, Servius was a popular king, and one of Romes most significant benefactors. He had military successes against Veii and the Etruscans, and expanded the city to include the Quirinal, Viminal and Esquiline hills. He is traditionally credited with the institution of the Compitalia festivals, the building of temples to Fortuna and Diana and, less plausibly, despite the opposition of Romes patricians, he expanded the Roman franchise and improved the lot and fortune of Romes lowest classes of citizens and non-citizens. According to Livy, he reigned for 44 years, until murdered by his daughter Tullia, in consequence of this tragic crime and his hubristic arrogance as king, Tarquinius was eventually removed. This cleared the way for the abolition of Romes monarchy and the founding of the Roman Republic, before its establishment as a Republic, Rome was ruled by kings. In Roman tradition, Romes founder Romulus was the first, Servius Tullius was the sixth, and his successor Tarquinius Superbus was the last. The nature of Roman kingship is unclear, most Roman kings were elected by the senate, as to a lifetime magistracy, some were native Romans, others were foreign. Later Romans had a complex relationship with this distant past. In Republican mores and institutions kingship was abhorrent, and remained so, in name at least, Servius Tullius has been described as Romes second founder, the most complex and enigmatic of all its kings, and a kind of proto-Republican magistrate. The oldest surviving source for the political developments of the Roman kingdom and Republic is Ciceros De republica. Livys sources probably included at least some official state records, he excluded what seemed implausible or contradictory traditions, and arranged his material within an overarching chronology. Dionysius and Plutarch offer various alternatives not found in Livy, and Livys own pupil and she was given to Tanaquil, wife of king Tarquinius, and though slave, was treated with the respect due her former status. In one variant, she became wife to a client of Tarquinius. According to Tanaquil, this was a manifestation, either of the household Lar or Vulcan himself. Thus Servius was divinely fathered and already destined for greatness, despite his mothers status, for the time being, Tanaquil
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Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
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Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final king of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his cognomen Superbus, ancient accounts of the Regal period mingle history and legend. His reign is described as a tyranny that justified the abolition of the monarchy, Tarquin was the son or grandson of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and Tanaquil. According to an Etruscan tradition, the hero Macstarna, usually equated with Servius Tullius, defeated and killed a Roman named Gnaeus Tarquinius and this may recollect an otherwise forgotten attempt by the sons of Tarquin the elder to reclaim the throne. To forestall further dynastic strife, Tullius married his daughters, known to history as Tullia Major and Tullia Minor, to Lucius Tarquinius, the future king and their sister, Tarquinia, married Marcus Junius Brutus, and was the mother of Lucius Junius Brutus. The elder Tullia was of mild disposition, yet married the ambitious Lucius Tarquinius, after the murder of their siblings, Lucius and Tullia were married. Together, they had three sons, Titus, Arruns, and Sextus, and a daughter, Tarquinia, who married Octavius Mamilius, Tullia encouraged her husband to advance his own position, ultimately persuading him to usurp the throne. Tarquin solicited the support of the senators, especially those from families who had received their senatorial rank under Tarquin the Elder. He bestowed presents upon them, and spread criticism of Servius the king, in time, Tarquin felt ready to seize the throne. He went to the senate-house with a group of armed men, sat himself on the throne, and summoned the senators to attend upon King Tarquin. The kings retainers fled, and as he made his way, dazed and unattended, toward the palace, Tullia, meanwhile, drove in her chariot to the senate-house, where she was the first to hail her husband as king. But Tarquin bade her return home, concerned that the crowd might do her violence, as she drove toward the Urbian Hill, her driver stopped suddenly, horrified at the sight of the kings body, lying in the street. But in a frenzy, Tullia herself seized the reins, the kings blood spattered against the chariot and stained Tullias clothes, so that she brought a gruesome relic of the murder back to her house. The street where Tullia disgraced the dead king afterward became known as the Vicus Sceleratus, Tarquin commenced his reign by refusing to bury the dead Servius, and then putting to death a number of leading senators, whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the senate on matters of government, in another break with tradition, Tarquin judged capital crimes without the advice of counselors, causing fear amongst those who might think to oppose him. He made an ally when he betrothed his daughter to Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum. Early in his reign, Tarquin called a meeting of the Latin leaders to discuss the bonds between Rome and the Latin towns, the meeting was held at a grove sacred to the goddess Ferentina. At the meeting, Turnus Herdonius inveighed against the Tarquins arrogance, Tarquin then bribed Turnus servant to store a large number of swords in his masters lodging
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Senate of the Roman Kingdom
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The Senate of the Roman Kingdom was a political institution in the ancient Roman Kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, therefore, senate literally means board of old men and translates as Council of Elders. The prehistoric Indo-Europeans who settled Rome in the centuries before the founding of Rome in 753 BC were structured into tribal communities. These tribal communities often included a board of tribal elders. The early tribes that had settled along the banks of the Tiber eventually aggregated into a loose confederation, the early Romans were deeply patriarchal. The early Roman family was called a gens or clan, each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. The pater was the master of his clan. He had the power to resolve any disputes, and to make any decisions for the collective gens. When the early Roman gens were aggregating to form a common community, legend states that the senate grew to a membership of 300 after three blocks of 100 senators were added at fixed points in time. What likely happened, however, was an aggregation of patres over time. The early senate derived its sovereignty from the fact that it was composed of the patriarchal heads of the leading families. As the individual patres led their families, the board of patres led the confederation of those families, in time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader. Therefore, they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power, the king presided over the senate, appointed individuals to the senate, and expelled individuals from the senate. When the king died, his sovereign power naturally reverted to the patres, according to Livy the Senate, initially consisting of 100 men, was created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class,100 more were added to the Senate by Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, from amongst the minor leading families. The senate of the Roman Kingdom could only be convened by the king, while the senate could pass laws, it would be incorrect to view the laws passed during the time of the kingdom as legislation. In effect, these laws were actually the decrees of the king, the king had the absolute power to make any law. However, he often involved both the senate and the assembly in the process
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Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom
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The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom were political institutions in the ancient Roman Kingdom. While one assembly, the Curiate Assembly, had some legislative powers, the functions of the other assembly, the Calate Assembly, was purely religious. During the years of the kingdom, the People of Rome were organized on the basis of units called Curia, all of the People of Rome were divided amongst a total of thirty Curia, and membership in an individual Curia was hereditary. Each member of a particular family belonged to the same Curia, each Curia had an organization similar to that of the early Roman family, including specific religious rites and common festivals. These Curia were the units of division in the two popular assemblies. The members in each Curia would vote, and the majority in each Curia would determine how that Curia voted before the assembly, thus, a majority of the Curia were needed during any vote before either the Curiate Assembly or the Calate Assembly. The Curiate Assembly was the popular assembly with any political significance during the period of the Roman Kingdom. The king presided over the assembly, and submitted decrees to it for ratification, an interrex presided over the assembly during interim periods between kings. After a king died, the interrex selected a candidate to replace the king, after the nominee received the approval of the Roman Senate, the interrex held the formal election before the Curiate Assembly. After the Curiate Assembly elected the new king, and the Senate ratified that election, on the kalends, and the nones, this assembly met to hear announcements. Announcements often dealt with such as the exact date of a future event or any upcoming intercalary months. Appeals heard by this assembly often dealt with questions concerning Roman family law, during two fixed days in the spring, the assembly was scheduled to meet to witness wills and adoptions. All other meetings were held on an as-needed basis, the assembly usually decided these matters under the presidency of the Pontifex Maximus. Since this assembly was the legislative assembly, it was responsible for ratifying laws. However, the rejection of such laws by the assembly did not prevent their enactment, sometimes, the Curiate Assembly reaffirmed a kings legal authority, and sometimes it ratified a decision to go to war. The Calate Assembly was the oldest of the Roman assemblies, very little is known about this assembly. The Calate Assembly met on the Capitoline Hill, and was organized on the basis of the thirty Curia. The purpose of assembly was not legislative or legal
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Iron Age Europe
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In Europe, the Iron Age may be defined as including the last stages of the prehistoric period and the first of the proto-historic periods. Iron working was introduced to Europe in the late 11th century BC, probably from the Caucasus, the widespread use of the technology of iron was implemented in Europe simultaneously with Asia. The Iron Age in Europe is characterized by an elaboration of designs in weapons, implements, the dead were buried in an extended position, whereas in the preceding Bronze Age cremation had been the rule. There is not a consensus on how the end of the Iron Age should be defined. Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Prehistoric Iron Age Historic Iron Age The early 1st millennium BC marks the Iron Age in Eastern Europe. In the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus region, the Iron Age begins with the Koban, by 800 BC, it was spreading to Hallstatt C via the alleged Thraco-Cimmerian migrations. In Central Europe, the Iron Age is generally divided in the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture, in the Swiss or La Tène group of implements and weapons, the forms are new and the transition complete. The Celtic culture, or rather Proto-Celtic groups, had expanded to much of Central Europe, in Central Europe, the prehistoric Iron Age ends with the Roman conquest. From the Hallstatt culture, the Iron Age spreads westwards with the Celtic expansion from the 6th century BC, in Poland, the Iron Age reaches the late Lusatian culture in about the 6th century, followed in some areas by the Pomeranian culture. The ethnic ascription of many Iron Age cultures has been bitterly contested, in the Greek Dark Ages, there was a widespread availability of edged weapons of iron, but a variety of explanations fits the available archaeological evidence. From around 1200 BC, the centres and outlying settlements of the Mycenaean culture began to be abandoned or destroyed, and by 1050 BC. The Greek alphabet began in the 8th century BC and it is descended from the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks adapted the system, notably introducing characters for vowel sounds, as Greece sent out colonies eastwards, across the Black Sea, and westwards towards Sicily and Italy, the influence of their alphabet extended further. The traditional material from which the epics were drawn treats the Mycenaean Bronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron Age. Cremated remains were housed in double-cone shaped urns and buried, the Etruscans Old Italic alphabet spread throughout Italy from the 8th century. The Etruscan Iron Age was then ended with the rise and conquest of the Roman Republic, the Celtic culture had expanded to the group of islands of northwest Europe and Iberia. In the British Isles, the British Iron Age lasted from about 800 BC until the Roman Conquest, structures dating from this time are often impressive, for example the brochs and duns of northern Scotland and the hill forts that dotted the islands. On the Iberian peninsula, the Paleohispanic scripts began to be used between 7th century to the 5th century BC and these scripts were used until the end of the 1st century BC or the beginning of the 1st century AD
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Founding of Rome
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The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. The national epic of mythical Rome, the Aeneid of Virgil, the Aeneid was written under Augustus, who claimed ancestry through Julius Caesar from the hero and his mother Venus. This started a series of armed conflicts with Turnus over the marriage of Lavinia, before the arrival of Aeneas, Turnus was betrothed to Lavinia, who then married Aeneas, starting the war. Aeneas won the war and killed Turnus, the Trojans won the right to stay and to assimilate with the local peoples. Toward the end of line, King Procas was the father of Numitor. At Procas death, Numitor became king of Alba Longa, but Amulius captured him and sent him to prison, for many years, Amulius was the king. The tortuous nature of the chronology is indicated by Rhea Silvias ordination among the Vestals, the myth of Aeneas was of Greek origin and had to be reconciled with the Italian myth of Romulus and Remus, who would have been born around 771 BC if taken as historical figures. They were purported to be sons of Rhea Silvia and either Mars and they were abandoned at birth, in the manner of many mythological heroes, because of a prophecy that they would overthrow their great-uncle Amulius, who had overthrown Silvias father Numitor. They were abandoned on the Tiber River by servants who took pity on the infants, the twins were nurtured by a she-wolf until a shepherd named Faustulus found the boys and took them as his sons. Faustulus and his wife Acca Larentia raised the children, when Remus and Romulus became adults, they killed Amulius and restored Numitor. They decided to establish a city, however, they quarreled, thus, Rome began with a fratricide, a story that was later taken to represent the citys history of internecine political strife and bloodshed. The ancient Romans were certain of the day Rome was founded, April 21, even the official Fasti Capitolini offers its own date,752 BC. Recent discoveries by Andrea Carandini on Romes Palatine Hill have also yielded evidence of a series of walls on the north slope that can be dated to the middle of the 8th century BC. According to the legend, Romulus plowed a furrow around the hill in order to mark the boundary of his new city, there is no consensus on the etymology of the citys name. Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested Greek ῥώμη, meaning strength, vigor, a modern theory of etymology holds that the name of the city is of Etruscan origin, derived from rumon, river. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from about 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attests to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron age, in any case, the location that became the city of Rome was inhabited by Latin settlers from various regions, farmers and pastoralists, as evidenced by differences in pottery and burial techniques
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Overthrow of the Roman monarchy
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The Roman histories tell that while the king was away on campaign, his son Sextus Tarquinius raped a noblewoman Lucretia. Afterwards, she revealed the offence to various Roman noblemen, the Roman noblemen, led by Lucius Junius Brutus, obtained the support of the Roman aristocracy and the people to expel the king and his family and to institute a republic. The Roman army supported Brutus, and the king went into exile, despite a number of attempts by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus to reinstate the monarchy, the republic was established and two consuls were elected annually to rule the city. Roman history held that seven kings of Rome reigned from the establishment of the city in 753 BC by Romulus up to the reign of Tarquinius, Tarquinius was the son of the fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. In around 535 BC Tarquinius, together with his wife Tullia Minor arranged the murder of Servius, despite various military victories, Tarquinius became an unpopular king. He refused to bury his predecessor, then put to death a number of the senators whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the Senate on all matters of government, in another break with tradition, he judged capital criminal cases without advice of counsellors, thereby creating fear among those who might think to oppose him. He also engaged in treachery with the Latin allies, in about 510 BC, Tarquinius went to war with the Rutuli. Tarquinius unsuccessfully sought to take the Rutulian capital Ardea by storm, Sextus Tarquinius, the kings son, was sent on a military errand to Collatia. Lucius wife, Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius, prefect of Rome and she was weaving with her maids. The party awarded her the palm of victory and Lucius invited them to visit, at night Sextus entered her bedroom by stealth, quietly going around the slaves who were sleeping at her door. In the alternative story, he returned from camp a few later with one companion to take Collatinus up on his invitation to visit and was lodged in a guest bedroom. He entered Lucretias room while she lay naked in her bed and started to wash her belly with water, the next day Lucretia dressed in black and went to her fathers house in Rome and cast herself down in the suppliants position, weeping. While they were debating she drew a dagger and stabbed herself in the heart. She died in her fathers arms, with the women present keening and lamenting, Lucretia, believing that the rape dishonored her and her family, committed suicide by stabbing herself with a dagger after telling of what had befallen her. According to legend, Brutus grabbed the dagger from Lucretias breast after her death and immediately shouted for the overthrow of the Tarquins. The four men gathered the youth of Collatia, then went to Rome where Brutus, being at that time Tribunus Celerum, summoned the people to the forum, the people voted for the deposition of the king, and the banishment of the royal family. He began by revealing that his pose as fool was a designed to protect him against an evil king
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Alba Longa
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Alba Longa was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy,19 kilometres southeast of Rome, in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgils Aeneid had been the bloodline of Aeneas. Livy said of Alba Longa that it was founded by Ascanius to relieve crowding at Lavinium and he placed it at the foot of the Alban Mount and said that it took its name from being extended along a ridge. Dionysius of Halicarnassus repeated the story, but added that Ascanius, following a given to his father. Noting that alba means white he translated the name into Greek as long white town, Dionysius placed the town between the Alban Mount and the Alban Lake, thus beginning a long controversy about its location. Since the 16th century, the site has been at times identified as that of the Convent of St. Paul at Palazzola near Albano, Coste Caselle near Marino. The last named of these places in fact occupies the site of Domitians villa which, archaeological data show the existence of a string of villages in the Iron Age, each with its own necropolis, along the south-western shore of Lake Albano. In the later period the territory of Alba was settled once again with many residential villas. According to Roman legend, after the fall of Troy in 1184 BC, Aeneas led a group of surviving Trojans through the Mediterranean to Sicily, Carthage, upon landing in Italy he was welcomed by Latinus, king of the early Latins. Soon, Aeneas married king Latinus daughter, Lavinia, and would found the city Lavinium in her name, Latinus later fell in war making Aeneas king and his son, Ascanius, his successor. A few years later Aeneas was killed in battle like Latinus, Ascanius reportedly built Alba Longa at the slope of Mount Alba with six hundred families as a colony of Lavinium. The city was founded thirty years after Lavinium and his descendants would rule the Latins for another five hundred years. Alba Longa was the city of the roughly thirty cities that made up the Latin League. The leagues conferences were held by the Ferentine spring, in the part of the valley between Albano and Marino, Italy. The sacrifices of the league were offered on the Alban mountain from which all the country of Latium might be seen, after the rise of its colony, Rome, Alba Longa appeared as Romes rival and was destroyed in the mid-seventh century BC by Rome. The colonies of Alba Longa were distinct from the Alban townships which must have consisted of Albani plebs, among the Alban colonies some become part of the plebs, others become Latin cities. The others were ceded to the Latins to maintain a consistent thirty townships, accordingly, the Latin kingdom of Latinus, and the Rutulian kingdom of Turnus must have had thirty cities each with Laurentum as the Latin capital prior to the arrival of Aeneas
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Etruscan civilization
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The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, the latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by ancient Greece, Magna Graecia, and Phoenicia. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands, the last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC. Politics were based on the city, and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them. The study also excluded recent Anatolian connection, the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia, the word may also be related to the Hittite Taruisa. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna, the origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC, repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians with Pelasgians. Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates, pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History, Adjoining these the Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy, therefore, much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods, another source of genetic data on Etruscan origins is from four ancient breeds of cattle. Analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of these and seven other breeds of Italian cattle, the other Italian breeds were linked to northern Europe. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania, some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean, from the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces
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Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Vatican City
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Vatican City, officially Vatican City State or the State of Vatican City, is a walled enclave within the city of Rome. With an area of approximately 44 hectares, and a population of 842, however, formally it is not sovereign, with sovereignty being held by the Holy See, the only entity of public international law that has diplomatic relations with almost every country in the world. It is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Bishop of Rome – the Pope, the highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various national origins. Vatican City is distinct from the Holy See, which dates back to early Christianity and is the episcopal see of 1.2 billion Latin. According to the terms of the treaty, the Holy See has full ownership, exclusive dominion, within Vatican City are religious and cultural sites such as St. Peters Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the worlds most famous paintings and sculptures, the unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications. The name Vatican City was first used in the Lateran Treaty, signed on 11 February 1929, the name is taken from Vatican Hill, the geographic location of the state. Vatican is derived from the name of an Etruscan settlement, Vatica or Vaticum meaning garden, located in the area the Romans called vaticanus ager. The official Italian name of the city is Città del Vaticano or, more formally, Stato della Città del Vaticano, although the Holy See and the Catholic Church use Ecclesiastical Latin in official documents, the Vatican City officially uses Italian. The Latin name is Status Civitatis Vaticanæ, this is used in documents by not just the Holy See. The name Vatican was already in use in the time of the Roman Republic for an area on the west bank of the Tiber across from the city of Rome. Under the Roman Empire, many villas were constructed there, after Agrippina the Elder drained the area and laid out her gardens in the early 1st century AD. In AD40, her son, Emperor Caligula built in her gardens a circus for charioteers that was completed by Nero, the Circus Gaii et Neronis, usually called, simply. Even before the arrival of Christianity, it is supposed that this originally uninhabited part of Rome had long considered sacred. A shrine dedicated to the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis remained active long after the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter was built nearby, the particularly low quality of Vatican water, even after the reclamation of the area, was commented on by the poet Martial. The Vatican Obelisk was originally taken by Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt to decorate the spina of his circus and is thus its last visible remnant and this area became the site of martyrdom of many Christians after the Great Fire of Rome in AD64. Ancient tradition holds that it was in this circus that Saint Peter was crucified upside-down, opposite the circus was a cemetery separated by the Via Cornelia. Peters in the first half of the 4th century, the Constantinian basilica was built in 326 over what was believed to be the tomb of Saint Peter, buried in that cemetery
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Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
27.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
28.
Empire of Trebizond
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The Empire of Trebizond or the Trapezuntine Empire was a monarchy that flourished during the 13th through 15th centuries, consisting of the far northeastern corner of Anatolia and the southern Crimea. The Emperors of Trebizond pressed their claim on the Imperial throne for decades after the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, the Trapezuntine monarchy survived the longest of the Byzantine successor states. The Despotate of Epirus was slowly decimated, and briefly occupied by the restored Byzantine Empire c. 1340, thereafter becoming a Serbian dependency and later inherited by Italians, ultimately falling to the Ottoman Empire in 1479, having long ceased to contest the Byzantine throne. While the Empire of Nicaea had become the resurrected Byzantine Empire, the Empire of Trebizond continued until 1461 when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered it after a month-long siege and took its ruler and his family into captivity. The Crimean Principality of Theodoro, an offshoot of Trebizond, lasted another 14 years and its demographic legacy endured for several centuries after the Ottoman conquest in 1461 and the region retained a substantial number of Greek Orthodox inhabitants until 1923. These are usually referred to as Pontic Greeks and their displacement was formalized, and the few still remaining were required to leave, in 1923 with the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Many were resettled in Greek Macedonia and those living in the Crimea and the Russian province of Kars Oblast, much of which lies in modern Georgia, stayed longer, with some Greek speaking villages remaining in both locations today. Anthony Bryer has argued that six of the seven banda of the Byzantine theme of Chaldia were maintained in working order by the rulers of Trebizond until the end of the empire, helped by geography. This territory corresponds to an area comprising all or parts of the modern Turkish provinces of Sinop, Samsun, Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon, Bayburt, Gümüşhane, Rize, and Artvin. In the 13th century, some believe the empire controlled the Gazarian Perateia. However, after Michael VIII Palaiologos of Nicaea recaptured Constantinople in 1261, in 1282, John II Komnenos stripped off his imperial regalia before the walls of Constantinople before entering to marry Michaels daughter and accept his legal title of despot. However, his successors used a version of his title, Emperor and Autocrat of the entire East, of the Iberians, rulers of Trebizond were also known as Prince of Lazes. Its wealth and exotic location endowed a lingering fame on the polity, cervantes described the eponymous hero of his Don Quixote as imagining himself for the valour of his arm already crowned at least Emperor of Trebizond. Rabelais had his character Picrochole, the ruler of Piedmont, declare, other allusions and works set in Trebizond continue into the 20th century. The city of Trebizond was the capital of the theme of Chaldia, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos confirmed him as governor of Chaldia, but kept his son at Constantinople as a hostage for his good conduct. Nevertheless, Gabras proved himself a worthy guardian by repelling a Georgian attack on Trebizond, one of his successors, Gregory Taronites also rebelled with the aid of the Sultan of Cappadocia, but he was defeated and imprisoned, only to be made governor once more. Another successor to Theodore was Constantine Gabras, whom Niketas describes as ruling Trebizond as a tyrant, although that effort came to nothing, this was the last rebel governor known to recorded history prior to the events of 1204. Henceforth, the links between Trebizond and Georgia remained close, but their nature and extent have been disputed, both men were the grandsons of the last Komnenian Byzantine emperor, Andronikos I Komnenos, by his son Manuel Komnenos and Rusudan, daughter of George III of Georgia
29.
Principate
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This reflects the principate emperors assertion that they were merely first among equals among the citizens of Rome. The title itself derived from the position of the princeps senatus, although dynastic pretences crept in from the start, formalizing this in a monarchic style remained politically unthinkable. Afterwards, Imperial rule in the Empire is designated as the dominate, initially, the theory implied the first citizen had to earn his extraordinary position by merit in the style that Augustus himself had gained the position of auctoritas. Large distributions of food for the public and charitable institutions were also means that served as popularity boosters while the construction of public works provided employment for the poor. With the fall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the principate was redefined in formal terms under the Emperor Vespasian, the position of princeps became a distinct entity within the broader – formally still republican – Roman constitution. Under the Antonine dynasty, it was the norm for the Emperor to appoint a successful, in modern historical analysis, this is treated by many authors as an ideal situation, the individual who was most capable was promoted to the position of princeps. Of the Antonine dynasty, Edward Gibbon famously wrote that this was the happiest and most productive period in human history and this first phase was to be followed by, or rather evolved into, the so-called dominate. Richard Alston, Aspects of Roman History, henning Börm, Wolfgang Havener, Octavians Rechtsstellung im Januar 27 v. Chr. und das Problem der „Übertragung“ der res publica. Gedanken zur Periodisierung der römischen Kaiserzeit, kurt A. Raaflaub, Mark Toher, Between Republic and Empire, Interpretations of Augustus and his Principate. Berkeley / Los Angeles / Oxford 1990
30.
Dominate
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The Dominate or late Roman Empire was the despotic later phase of imperial government, following the earlier period known as the Principate, in the ancient Roman Empire. In form, the Dominate is considered to have been more authoritarian, less collegiate, the term Dominate is derived from the Latin dominus, which translates into English as lord or master. Augustus actively discouraged the practice, and Tiberius in particular is said to have reviled it as sycophancy, the Dominate system of government emerged as a response to the 50 years of chaos that is referred to as the Crisis of the Third Century. Further, not all the changes resulted in the Dominate were complete by the time of Diocletian’s abdication in AD305. Consequently, just as the Principate emerged over the period 31 BC through to 14 AD and these bureaucratic machines worked moderately well, and their success might have been extraordinary if the monarchs who directed them had always been men of superior ability. Blots of course and defects there were, especially in the fields of economy, the political creation of the Illyrian Emperors was not unworthy of the genius of Rome. Under the Principate, the position of emperor saw the concentration of various civil and this role was almost always filled by a single individual, and the date that the Potestas tribunicia was conferred onto that person was the point when imperial authority could be exercised. Over the course of the Principate, it common for the emperor to nominate an heir. Further, it was their absence which caused usurpations to occur in response to a local or provincial crisis that traditionally would have dealt with by the emperor. Under the Dominate, the burden of the position was increasingly shared between colleagues, referred to as the Consortium imperii. This original power sharing model lasted from AD289 through to AD324, with Constantine I’s death in AD337, the empire was again shared between multiple augusti, lasting until AD350. The model became a permanent feature of the empire in AD364 with the accession of Valentinian I, barring the 3-year period of solitary rule by Theodosius I from AD 392–395, this approach would last until the overthrow of the last western emperor in AD476. While each augustus was autonomous within each portion of the empire they managed, during the Roman Republic, the office of Consul was the highest elected magistry in the Roman state, with two consuls elected annually. It was a post that would be occupied by a man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, if they were especially skilled or valued, they may even have achieved a second consulate. Prior to achieving the consulate, these already had a significant career behind them. This had the effect of seeing a suffect consulship granted at an age, to the point that by the 4th century, it was being held by men in their early twenties. As time progressed, second consulates, usually ordinary, became far more common than had been the case during the first two centuries, while the first consulship was usually a suffect consulate, II when they were later granted an ordinary consulship by the emperor. One of the key changes in the management of the empire during the Dominate was the large scale removal of old-style senatorial participation in administrative, the process began with the reforms of Gallienus, who removed senators from military commands, placing them in the hands of the Equites
31.
Roman Constitution
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The Roman Constitution was an uncodified set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. The Roman constitution was not formal or even official, largely unwritten, concepts that originated in the Roman constitution live on in both forms of government to this day. Examples include checks and balances, the separation of powers, vetoes, filibusters, quorum requirements, term limits, impeachments, the powers of the purse, and regularly scheduled elections. Even some lesser used modern constitutional concepts, such as the bloc voting found in the college of the United States. Over the years, the Roman constitution continuously evolved, by 573 BC, the Constitution of the Roman Kingdom had given way to the Constitution of the Roman Republic. By 27 BC, the Constitution of the Roman Republic had given way to the Constitution of the Roman Empire, by 300 AD, the Constitution of the Roman Empire had given way to the Constitution of the Late Roman Empire. The actual changes, however, were quite gradual, together, these four constitutions formed four epochs in the continuous evolution of one master constitution. The Roman senate was the most permanent of all of Romes political institutions and it was probably founded before the first king of Rome ascended the throne. It survived the fall of the Roman Kingdom in 510 BC, the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC, and it was, in contrast to many modern institutions named Senate, not a legislative body. The power of the senate waxed and waned throughout its history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, the tyrant Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat that was planned in the senate. During the early republic, the senate was politically weak, during these early years, the executive magistrates were quite powerful. The transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was more gradual than the legends suggest. Thus, it took a prolonged weakening of these executive magistrates before the senate was able to assert its authority over those magistrates, by the middle republic, the senate reached the apex of its republican power. This occurred because of the convergence of two factors, the plebeians had recently achieved full political enfranchisement. Therefore, they were not as aggressive as they had been during the republic in pushing for radical reforms. In addition, the period was marked by prolonged warfare against foreign enemies, the result was that both the popular assemblies and the executive magistrates deferred to the collective wisdom of the senate. The late republic saw a decline in the senates power and this decline began following the reforms of the radical tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
32.
Constitution of the Roman Kingdom
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The Constitution of the Roman Kingdom was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles originating mainly through precedent. During the years of the Roman Kingdom, the arrangement was centered on the king, who had the power to appoint assistants. The Roman Senate, which was dominated by the aristocracy, served as the council to the king. Often, the king asked the Senate to vote on various matters, the king could also request a vote on various matters by the popular assembly, which he was also free to ignore. The popular assembly functioned as a vehicle through which the People of Rome could express their opinions, in it, the people were organized according to their respective curiae. However, the assembly did have other functions. For example, it was a used by citizens to hear announcements. It could also serve as a court for both civil and criminal matters. The period of the kingdom can be divided into two based on the legends. While the specific legends were probably not true, they were based on historical fact. It is likely that, before the founding of the republic, the first legendary epoch spans the reigns of the first four legendary kings. The city fought several wars of conquest, the port of Ostia was founded, the early Romans were divided into three ethnic groups, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres. The original patrician families belonged to ethnic groups. In an attempt to add a level of organization to the city, the vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their democratic impulses was known as a committee. The two principal assemblies that formed were known as the Curiate Assembly and the Calate Assembly, the two assemblies were designed to mirror the ethnic divisions of the city and, as such, the assemblies were organized according to curia. The vehicle through which the early Romans expressed their aristocratic impulses was a council of town elders, the elders of this council were known as patres, and thus are known to history as the first Roman senators. The populus and the elders eventually recognized the need for a political leader. The populus elected the rex, and the elders advised the rex, the second epoch spans the reigns of the last three legendary kings
33.
Constitution of the Roman Republic
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The constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles by which the Roman Republic was governed. The constitution evolved over time and was largely unwritten and uncodified, nevertheless, the constitution was also shaped by the body of written Roman law. The aristocratic element took the form of the Senate, the monarchical element took the form of the term-limited consuls. The ultimate source of sovereignty in this ancient republic, as in modern republics, was the people of Rome, the Roman people gathered into legislative assemblies to pass laws and to elect executive magistrates, such as consuls. The Senate managed the affairs in Rome, while magistrates presided over the courts. Executive magistrates enforced the law and presided over the Senate and the legislative assemblies, a complex set of checks and balances developed between these three branches, so as to minimize the risk of tyranny and corruption, and to maximize the likelihood of good government. A constitutional crisis began in 133 BC as a result of the Conflict of the Orders, many years later this led to the collapse of the Roman Republic and its subversion into a much more autocratic form of government, the Roman Empire. The republican constitution evolved gradually over time, largely shaped by the Conflict of the Orders between the patricians and the plebs and this lack of evidence poses problems for the reliability of the traditional account of the republics origins. According to this account, Rome had been ruled by a succession of kings. The Romans believed that this era, that of the Roman Kingdom, began in 753 BC, after the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of the Roman Republic, the people of Rome began electing two consuls each year. According to the fasti, the first consuls were chosen in 509 BC. According to historian Andrew Lintott, some doubt this traditional account. They argue that instead of being overthrown, the monarchy evolved into a government led by elected magistrates, remnants of the monarchy, however, were reflected in republican institutions, such as the office of rex sacrorum and the interregnum. In 501 BC, the office of dictator was first created to control popular unrest. In the year 494 BC, the plebeians seceded to the Mons Sacer, the patricians agreed, and the plebeians ended their secession. The plebeians called these new officials plebeian tribunes and gave these tribunes two assistants, called plebeian aediles, in 449 BC, the Senate, in an effort to satisfy the plebeians, promulgated the Twelve Tables, the first and only codification of law during the republic. In 446 BC, quaestors were first elected, and the office of censor was created in 443 BC, in 367 BC, plebeians were allowed to stand for the consulship, and this implicitly opened both the censorship as well as the dictatorship to plebeians. In 366 BC, in an effort by the patricians to reassert their influence over the magisterial offices and these two offices, the praetorship and the curule aedileship, were at first open only to patricians, but within a generation they were open to plebeians as well
34.
Constitution of the Roman Empire
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The Constitution of the Roman Empire was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. After the fall of the Roman Republic, the balance of power shifted from the Roman Senate to the Roman Emperor. Beginning with the first emperor, Augustus, the emperor and the senate were technically two co-equal branches of government, in practice, however the actual authority of the imperial senate was negligible, as the emperor held the true power of the state. During the reign of the second Roman Emperor, Tiberius, the powers that had held by the Roman assemblies were transferred to the senate. The powers of an emperor existed by virtue of his legal standing, the two most significant components to an emperors power were the tribunician powers and the proconsular powers. The tribunician powers gave the authority over Romes civil government. While these distinctions were clearly defined during the empire, eventually they were lost. The traditional magistracies that survived the fall of the republic were the Consulship, Praetorship, Plebeian Tribunate, Aedileship, Quaestorship, any individual of the senatorial class could run for one of these offices. Mark Antony abolished the offices of Roman Dictator and Master of the Horse during his Consulship in 44 BC, in the year 88 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla was elected Consul of the Roman Republic, and began a civil war. While it ended within a decade, it was the first in a series of wars that wouldnt end until the year 30 BC. The general who won the last civil war of the Roman Republic, Gaius Octavian, Octavian was the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar. In the years after 30 BC, Octavian set out to reform the Roman constitution, the ultimate consequence of these reforms was the abolition of the republic, and the founding of the Roman Empire. When Octavian returned to Rome two years after defeating Mark Antony, no one remained to oppose him, decades of war had taken a terrible toll on the People of Rome. The political situation was unstable, and there was a constant threat of renewed warfare, octavians arrival alone caused a wave of optimism to ripple throughout Italy. As soon as he arrived, he began addressing the problems that were plaguing Rome, octavians popularity soon reached new heights, which ultimately gave him the support he needed to implement his reforms. When Octavian deposed Mark Antony in 32 BC, he resigned his position as triumvir, Octavian wanted to solidify his status as master of the state, but avoid the fate of his adopted father. Octavian was allowed to remain Roman Consul, and was allowed to retain his tribunician powers. This arrangement, in effect, functioned as a ratification of his position within the state
35.
Constitution of the Late Roman Empire
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The Constitution of the Late Roman Empire was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. The constitution of the Roman Principate, which was established by the emperor Augustus in the 1st century BC, had governed the Roman Empire for three centuries, Diocletian became emperor in 284, and his reign marked the end of the Principate and the beginning of the Dominate. The constitution of the Dominate ultimately recognized monarchy as the source of power. After Diocletian had reorganized the superstructure of the constitution, he reorganized the administrative apparatus of the government. When Diocletian abdicated the throne in 305, the Empire quickly descended back into chaos, after the chaos had subsided, however, much of Diocletians constitution remained in effect. His division of the Empire into west and east, with each half under the command of a separate emperor, later emperors, especially Constantine the Great, and Justinian modified Diocletians constitution. Under Diocletians new constitution, power was shared between two emperors called Augusti, one Augustus was to rule the western half of the Empire, and the other Augustus was to rule the eastern half of the Empire. Diocletian made Maximian his co-Augustus, and gave him the Western Empire, Diocletian made Nicomedia his capital, and Maximian made Milan his capital. To make the two halves symbolically appear to be one, Diocletian called his territory patres Orientis, while Maximian called his territory patres Occidentis, the Augusti were legally distinct from the old Princeps, because under the Principate, the Princeps took the place of the old republican magistrates. Under the Republic and the Principate, only the Senate and legislative assemblies were continuous institutions, under Diocletians new Dominate, the Augusti took the place of the Senate and the assemblies, and thus any decree of an Augustus remained in force even after that particular emperor left office. Such an act could only be invalidated by a future Emperor, the logical extension of this concept meant that neither a magistrate, the assemblies, nor the senate, could legally restrain the Emperor. The old republican magistrates, as well as the Princeps, both had legal status, under the Republic, the state gave the magistrates the authorization to hold their office, while under the Principate, the state gave the Princeps the legal authorization to be emperor. Any Augusti, in contrast, did not need authorization from the state to be emperor, the higher authority of the Augusti was illustrated by their robes and the imperial diadem, as well as the elaborate ceremony required of anyone who approached them. Unlike the old Princeps, the Augusti were viewed as being more than mortal and these honors had, in the past, been reserved only for the Gods. While emperors had received honors in the past, they only received these honors after their death, and yet. In 293, Diocletian and Maximian appointed two Caesares, which resulted in an arrangement known as the Tetrarchy, the Caesares were subordinate to their Augusti, and the only authority that they had was that which had been given to them by their Augusti. Their status was so inferior to the Augusti that they received a fixed salary, the powers that were delegated to them usually included the right to hear appeals, and a set of provinces were often assigned to them so that they could supervise the governors of those provinces. The reason why Diocletian created the office of Caesar was to create a method by which orderly successions could occur, so that when one Augustus died, when a new Caesar was appointed, his Augustus adopted him
36.
Roman Senate
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The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat led by Lucius Junius Brutus. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the 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 Senates power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant, when the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople, the Senate in Rome ultimately disappeared at some point after AD603, although the title senator was still used well into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. However, the Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople, until the ancient institution finally vanished there c. 14th century, the senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, the early Roman family was called a gens or clan, and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that power naturally reverted to the patres. The senate is said to have created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class, Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium. Romes seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the men in the senate. During the years of the monarchy, the senates most important function was to new kings. While the king was elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king
37.
Roman assemblies
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The Roman Assemblies were institutions in ancient Rome. They functioned as the machinery of the Roman legislative branch, since the assemblies operated on the basis of direct democracy, ordinary citizens, and not elected representatives, would cast all ballots. The assemblies were subject to checks on their power by the executive branch. Laws were passed by Curia, Tribes, and Centuries, when the city of Rome was founded, a senate and an assembly, the Curiate Assembly, were both created. The Curiate Assembly was the legislative assembly during the era of the Roman Kingdom. While its primary purpose was to new kings, it also possessed rudimentary legislative powers. Shortly after the founding of the Roman Republic, the legislative authority shifted to two new assemblies, the Tribal Assembly and the Centuriate Assembly. Eventually, most legislative powers were transferred to another assembly, the Plebeian Council, ultimately, it was the Plebeian Council that disrupted the balance between the senate, the legislative branch, and the executive branch. This led to the collapse of the republic, and the founding of the Roman Empire in 27 BC, under the empire, the powers that had been held by the assemblies were transferred to the senate. While the assemblies eventually lost their last semblance of political power, eventually, however, the assemblies were ultimately abandoned. The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom were political institutions in the ancient Roman Kingdom, while one assembly, the Curiate Assembly, had some legislative powers, these powers involved nothing more than a right to symbolically ratify decrees issued by the Roman King. The functions of the assembly, the Calate Assembly, were purely religious. During the years of the kingdom, the People of Rome were organized on the basis of units called Curia, all of the People of Rome were divided amongst a total of thirty Curiae. These Curiae were the units of division in the two popular assemblies. The members in each Curia would vote, and the majority in each Curia would determine how that Curia voted before the assembly, thus, a majority of the Curiae were needed during any vote before either the Curiate Assembly or the Calculate Assembly. The Curiate Assembly was an assembly with political significance during the period of the Roman Kingdom. The king presided over the assembly, and submitted decrees to it for ratification, after a king died, the Interrex selected a candidate to replace the king. After the nominee received the approval of the Roman Senate, the Interrex held the election before the Curiate Assembly
38.
Roman magistrate
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The Roman magistrates were elected officials in Ancient Rome. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the King of Rome was the executive magistrate. His power, in practice, was absolute and he was the chief priest, lawgiver, judge, and the sole commander of the army. When the king died, his power reverted to the Roman Senate, during the transition from monarchy to republic, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the executive to the Roman Senate. When the Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC, the powers that had held by the king were transferred to the Roman consuls. Magistrates of the republic were elected by the people of Rome, Dictators had more major powers than any other magistrate, and after the Dictator was the censor, and then the consul, and then the praetor, and then the curule aedile, and then the quaestor. Any magistrate could obstruct an action that was being taken by a magistrate with an equal or lower degree of magisterial powers, during the transition from republic to empire, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the Roman Senate back to the executive. Theoretically, the senate elected each new emperor, in practice each emperor chose his own successor, the powers of an emperor existed, in theory at least, by virtue of his legal standing. The two most significant components to an emperors imperium were the powers and the proconsular powers. In theory at least, the tribunician powers gave the authority over Romes civil government. While these distinctions were clearly defined during the empire, eventually they were lost. The traditional magistracies that survived the fall of the republic were the consulship, praetorship, plebeian tribunate, aedileship, quaestorship, and military tribunate. Mark Antony abolished the offices of Roman dictator and Master of the Horse during his Consulship in 44 BC, while the offices of Interrex, the executive magistrates of the Roman Kingdom were elected officials of the ancient Roman Kingdom. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman King was the executive magistrate. He was the executive, chief priest, chief lawgiver, chief judge. His powers rested on law and legal precedent, and he could receive these powers through the political process of an election. In practice, he had no restrictions on his power. When war broke out, he had the power to organize and levy troops, to select leaders for the army
39.
Roman consul
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A consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and the consulship was considered the highest level of the cursus honorum. Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term, the consuls alternated in holding imperium each month, and a consuls imperium extended over Rome, Italy, and the provinces. Originally, consuls were called praetors, referring to their duties as the military commanders. By at least 300 BC the title of Consul was being used, in Greek, the title was originally rendered as στρατηγός ὕπατος, strategos hypatos, and later simply as ὕπατος. The consul was believed by the Romans to date back to the establishment of the Republic in 509 BC. These remained in place until the office was abolished in 367/366 BC, consuls had extensive powers in peacetime, and in wartime often held the highest military command. Additional religious duties included certain rites which, as a sign of their formal importance, consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together, each with power over the others actions. It is thought that only patricians were eligible for the consulship. Consuls were elected by the Comitia Centuriata, which had a bias in its voting structure which only increased over the years from its foundation. If a consul died during his term or was removed from office, a consul elected to start the year - called a consul ordinarius - held more prestige than a suffect consul, partly because the year would be named for ordinary consuls. The first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was elected the following year and it is possible that only the chronology has been distorted, but it seems that one of the first consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus, came from a plebeian family. Another possible explanation is that during the 5th century social struggles, during times of war, the primary qualification for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the became the normal endpoint of the cursus honorum. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla regulated the cursus by law, the age of election to consul became. Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a year, a former consul would usually serve a lucrative term as a proconsul. The most commonly chosen province for the proconsulship was Cisalpine Gaul, throughout the early years of the Principate although the consuls were still formally elected by the Comitia Centuriata, they were in fact nominated by the princeps. It was a post that would be occupied by a man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, emperors frequently appointed themselves, or their protégés or relatives, consuls, even without regard to the age requirements
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Praetor
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Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities, the commander of an army, or, an elected magistratus, assigned various duties. The prefix prae is an indication that the title-holder was prior, in some way. Livy mentions that the Latini were led and governed in warfare by two of them and the Samnites by one, a dictator was called the praetor maximus. The use of the adjectives in a number of circumstances testify to a general sense. The leadership functions of any body at Rome might be termed praetorial. The praetoria potestas in Republican Rome was at first held by the consuls and these two officials, elected on a yearly basis, inherited the power of the king. Very likely, the king himself was the first praetor, Let there be two with the authority of the king, and let them be called praetors, judges and consuls from their going before, judging and consulting. Let them have the right of command of the military. This etymology of praetor became and remains the standard, cicero considers the word to contain the same elemental parts as the verb praeire. In exactly what way he goes before did not survive, livy explains that in the year 366 BC the praetura was created to relieve the consuls of their judicial duties. The praetor was, in an English sense, the chief justice, the consuls were his peers, he was elected by the same electorate and sworn in on the same day with the same oath. Until 337 BC the praetor was chosen only from the patricians, from then on, praetors appear frequently in Roman history, first as generals and judges, then as provincial governors. Beginning in the late Republic, a former Praetor could serve as a Propraetor, the elected praetor was a magistratus curulis, exercised imperium, and consequently was one of the magistrati majores. He had the right to sit in the sella curulis and wear the toga praetexta and he was attended by six lictors. A praetor was a magistrate with imperium within his own sphere, the potestas and imperium of the consuls and the praetors under the Republic should not be exaggerated. They did not use independent judgment in resolving matters of state, unlike todays executive branches, they were assigned high-level tasks directly by senatorial decree under the authority of the SPQR. Livy describes the assignments given to consuls or praetors in some detail. As magistrates, they had standing duties to perform, especone principle that limited what could be assigned to them was that their duties must not concern them with minima and they were by definition doers of maxima
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Quaestor
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A quaestor was a public official in Ancient Rome. The position served different functions depending on the period, in the Roman Kingdom, quaestores parricidii were appointed by the king to investigate and handle murders. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials that supervised the state treasury and it was the lowest ranking position in the cursus honorum. In modern usage in Italy and Romania, a quaestor is a ranking officer on the police force. In some organizations, a quaestor is the officer that oversees its finances, the earliest quaestors were quaestores parricidii, an office dating back to the Kingdom of Rome. Quaestores parricidii were chosen to investigate crimes, and may have been appointed as needed rather than holding a permanent position. Ancient authors disagree on the manner of selection for this office as well as on its earliest institution. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies, the quaestors tasked with financial supervision were also called quaestores aerarii, because they oversaw the aerarium in the Temple of Saturn. The earliest origins of the office is obscure, but by about 420 BC there were four quaestors elected each year by the Comitia Tributa, after 267 BC, the number was expanded to ten. The office of quaestor, usually a former broad-striped tribune, was adopted as the first official post of the cursus honorum, once elected as quaestor, a Roman man earned the right to sit in the Senate and began progressing through the cursus honorum. Quaestors were also given a fasces and were entitled to one lictor, every Roman consul, the highest elected official in the cursus honorum, and every provincial governor was appointed a quaestor. Some quaestors were assigned to work in the city and others in the provinces where their responsibilities could include being recruited into the military, some provincial quaestors were assigned as staff to military generals or served as second-in-command to governors in the Roman provinces. Still others were assigned to oversee military finances, lucius Cornelius Sullas reforms in 81 BC raised the number of quaestors to 20 and the minimum age for a quaestorship was 30 for patricians and 32 for plebeians. There were at that time twenty Quæstors elected annually, some of whom remained in Rome, when a Consul took the field with an army, he always had a Quæstor with him. This had become the case so generally that the Quæstor became, as it were, constantine the Great created the office quaestor sacri palatii which functioned as the Roman Empires senior legal official. The quaestor sacri palatii survived long into the Byzantine Empire, although its duties were altered to match the quaesitor, the term is last attested in 14th century Byzantium as a purely honorific title. Quaestor derives from the Latin verb quaero, quaerere, meaning to inquire, the job title has traditionally been understood as deriving from the original investigative function of the quaestores parricidii. However, this connection has been questioned by modern scholars, in Italy a quaestor heads the police of his province, and his office is called questura
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Promagistrate
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In ancient Rome a promagistrate was an ex consul or ex praetor whose imperium was extended at the end of his annual term of office or later. They were called proconsuls and propraetors and this was an innovation created during the Roman Republic. Initially it was intended to provide military commanders to support the armies of the consuls or to lead an additional army. With the acquisitions of territories outside Italy which were annexed as provinces, proconsuls, a third type of promagistrate were the proquaestors. The first type of promagistrate was the proconsul, in the early days of the Roman Republic, when Roman territory was small, Rome had only two legions, each commanded by one of the two consuls. Rome was continually under attack by neighboring peoples, dionysius of Halicarnassus recorded five instances when a proconsul was appointed between 480 BC and 464 BC. In 480 BC a proconsul led the wing of an army which combined the two consular legions while the consuls led the centre and the other wing. In 478 BC two proconsuls are mentioned, one served under the consul who went to fight the Etruscans in the north. Another one commanded a third legion, an extra legion was deployed so that two enemies in the south could be confronted individually with two armies. In 464 BC a proconsul led a force of volunteers. Dionysius did not specify the role of the proconsuls on the other occasion and it was a temporary measure adopted to deal with an immediate military emergency. In the last of the occasions, the proconsul was appointed by a decree of the senate. It seems that in instances an extra commander was drawn from men who had been previously been consuls because they had prior experience of commanding an army. The concept of promagistracy originally involved the notion of the acting on behalf of a magistrate, pro consule. However, in practice this changed when there was a regular need to create additional military commanders. In 366 BC the office of the praetor was created and this was the citys chief justice. He also had the power to command an army, during the Second Samnite War Rome increased the number of its legions. Several proconsuls were appointed to conduct specific operations, proconsular imperium became an extension of the imperium of a consul
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Aedile
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Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and they also had powers to enforce public order. An aedilis curulis was classified as a magister curulis, the office of the aedilis was generally held by young men intending to follow the cursus honorum to high political office, traditionally after their quaestorship but before their praetorship. It was not a part of the cursus, and hence a former quaestor could be elected to the praetorship without having held the position of aedile. The plebeian aediles were created in the year as the Tribunes of the People. Originally intended as assistants to the tribunes, they guarded the rights of the plebs with respect to their headquarters, subsequently, they assumed responsibility for maintenance of the citys buildings as a whole. Their duties at first were simply ministerial and they were the assistants to the tribunes in whatever matters that the tribunes might entrust to them, although most matters with which they were entrusted were of minimal importance. Around 446 BC, they were given the authority to care for the decrees of the senate, when a senatus consultum was passed, it would be transcribed into a document, and deposited in the public treasury, the Aerarium. They were given power because the Roman Consuls, who had held this power before. They also maintained the acts of the Plebeian Council, the plebiscites, plebiscites, once passed, were also transcribed into a physical document for storage. While their powers grew over time, it is not always easy to distinguish the difference between their powers, and those of the Roman Censors, occasionally, if a Censor was unable to carry out one of his tasks, an Aedile would perform the task instead. Curule Aediles, as magistrates, held certain honors that Plebeian Aediles. Besides having the right to sit on a Curule Chair and to wear a toga praetexta and these edicts often pertained to matters such as the regulation of the public markets, or what we might call economic regulation. Livy suggests, perhaps incorrectly, that both Curule as well as Plebeian Aediles were sacrosanct, although the curule aediles always ranked higher than the plebeian, their functions gradually approximated and became practically identical. Within five days after the beginning of their terms, the four Aediles were required to determine, by lot or by agreement among themselves, there was a distinction between the two sets of Aediles when it came to public festivals. Some festivals were Plebeian in nature, and thus were under the superintendence of Plebeian Aediles, other festivals were supervised exclusively by the Curule Aediles, and it was often with these festivals that the Aediles would spend lavishly. This was often done so as to secure the support of voters in future elections, because Aediles were not reimbursed for any of their public expenditures, most individuals who sought the office were independently wealthy. Since this office was a stone to higher office and the Senate
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Tribune
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Tribunus, in English tribune, was the title of various elected officials in Ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes, there were also military tribunes, who commanded portions of the Roman army, subordinate to the higher magistrates, such as the consuls and praetors, promagistrates, and their legates. Various officers within the Roman army were known as tribunes. The title was used for several other positions and classes in the course of Roman history. The word tribune is derived from the Roman tribes, the three original tribes known as the Ramnes or Ramnenses, Tities or Titienses, and the Luceres, were each headed by a tribune, who represented each tribe in civil, religious, and military matters. Subsequently, each of the Servian tribes was represented by a tribune. Under the Roman Kingdom, the Tribunus Celerum, in English Tribune of the Celeres, or Tribune of the Knights, was commander of the personal bodyguard. This official was second only to the king, and had the authority to law, known as lex tribunicia. Unless the king himself elected to lead the cavalry into battle, in theory he could deprive the king of his imperium, or authority to command, with the agreement of the comitia curiata. It was Brutus who convened the comitia and asked that they revoke the kings imperium, the ancient sources indicate the tribunes may have originally been two or five in number. If the former, the college of tribunes was expanded to five in 470 BC, either way, the college was increased to ten in 457 BC, and remained at this number throughout Roman history. They were assisted by two aediles plebis, or plebeian aediles, only plebeians were eligible for these offices, although there were at least two exceptions. The tribunes of the plebs had the power to convene the concilium plebis, or plebeian assembly, only one of the tribunes could preside over this assembly, which had the power to pass laws affecting only the plebeians, known as plebiscita, or plebiscites. After 287 BC, the decrees of the concilium plebis had the effect of law over all Roman citizens, by the 3rd century BC, the tribunes could also convene and propose legislation before the senate. Although sometimes referred to as plebeian magistrates, technically the tribunes of the plebs were not magistrates, having been elected by the plebeians alone, and not the whole Roman people. However, they were sacrosanct, and the body of the plebeians were pledged to protect the tribunes against any assault or interference with their persons during their terms of office. Anyone who violated the sacrosanctity of the tribunes might be killed without penalty, citizens could appeal the decisions of the magistrates to the tribunes, who would then be obliged to determine the legality of the action before a magistrate could proceed. This power also allowed the tribunes to forbid, or veto any act of the senate or another assembly, only a dictator was exempt from these powers
45.
Roman censor
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The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the governments finances. The censors regulation of morality is the origin of the modern meaning of the words censor. The census was first instituted by Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome, after the abolition of the monarchy and the founding of the Republic, the consuls had responsibility for the census until 443 BC. It would not be uncommon for the patrician consulars of the republic to intersperse public office with agricultural labour. In Cicero’s words, in agris erant tum senatores, id est senes, ‘In those days senators—that is and this practice was obsolete by the 2nd century. The magistracy continued to be controlled by patricians until 351 BC, twelve years later, in 339 BC, one of the Publilian laws required that one censor had to be a plebeian. Despite this, no plebeian censor performed the solemn purification of the people until 280 BC, in 131 BC, for the first time, both censors were plebeians. The reason for having two censors was that the two consuls had previously taken the census together, if one of the censors died during his term of office, another was chosen to replace him, just as with consuls. This happened only once, in 393 BC, however, the Gauls captured Rome in that lustrum, and the Romans thereafter regarded such replacement as an offense against religion. From then on, if one of the died, his colleague resigned. The censors were elected in the Centuriate Assembly, which met under the presidency of a consul, as a general principle, the only ones eligible for the office of censor were those who had previously been consuls, but there were a few exceptions. At first, there was no law to prevent a person being censor twice, in that year, he originated a law stating that no one could be elected censor twice. In consequence of this, he received the cognomen of Censorinus, the censorship differed from all other Roman magistracies in the length of office. The censors were also unique with respect to rank and dignity and they had no imperium, and accordingly no lictors. Their rank was granted to them by the Centuriate Assembly, and not by the curiae, and in that respect they were inferior in power to the consuls and praetors. Notwithstanding this, the censorship was regarded as the highest dignity in the state, with the exception of the dictatorship, it was a sacred magistracy, to which the deepest reverence was due. In the exercise of power, they were regulated solely by their own views of duty. The censors possessed the official called a curule chair
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Roman governor
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A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire. A Roman governor is also known as a propraetor or proconsul, by the time of the early empire, there were two types of provinces — senatorial and imperial — and several types of governor would emerge. Only proconsuls and propraetors fell under the classification of promagistrate, aside from these financial duties, the governor was the provinces chief judge. The governor had the right to impose capital punishment. To appeal a governors decision necessitated travelling to Rome and presenting ones case before either the Praetor Urbanus, or even the Emperor himself, an expensive, and thus rare, process. An appeal was unlikely to succeed anyway, as a governor wouldn’t generally take the chance of convicting someone contrary to the Emperors wishes, the governor was also supposed to travel across his province to administer justice in the major towns where his attention was required. Finally, and most importantly, he commanded the forces within the province. In the more important provinces, this could consist of legions, as a part of his standing orders the governor had the authority to use his legions to stamp out organized criminal gangs or rebels in the area without need for the Emperors or Senates approval. Every governor had at his disposal a diversity of advisors and staff, who were known as his comites and these comites would serve as the governors executive council, with each supervising a different aspect of the province, and assisting the governor in decision making. In other provinces, governors themselves appointed non-magistrate prefects or procurators to govern a part of the province. During the era of the Roman Republic, the council was in charge of appointing governors to Romes provinces, the governors level of authority was determined by what type of imperium he possessed. Most provinces were governed by propraetors who had served a term in the praetorship the year before. Provinces that lay on the borders, thereby requiring a permanent military garrison, were governed by proconsuls who had served a term as consul the year before their governorship. They were given the authority to command provinces with actual Roman legions and these promagistrates held equality with other magistrates with the same level of imperium and were attended by the same number of lictors. Generally speaking, they had power within their provinces. In imperial provinces, the Emperor would appoint legates to govern in his name, the principate did not totally do away with the system of selecting proconsuls and propraetors. In provinces with one legion, a legate bearing praetorian imperium, thus being a propraetor, not only governed the province in the Emperor’s name, appointment to these governorships was completely at the whim of the Emperor and could last anywhere from 1 to 5 years. While the Emperor had sole authority in provinces with legions, senatorial provinces were provinces where the Senate had the right to appoint governors
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Roman dictator
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A dictator was a magistrate of the Roman Republic, entrusted with the full authority of the state to deal with a military emergency or to undertake a specific duty. All other magistrates were subordinate to his imperium, and the right of the tribunes to veto his actions or of the people to appeal from them was extremely limited. The office was abolished after the death of Caesar. With the abolition of the Roman monarchy in 509 BC, the imperium, or executive power, in time they would come to be known as consuls, although probably not until the creation of a third, junior praetor in 367 BC. Neither consul was superior to the other, and the decisions of one could be appealed to the other, according to most authorities, the first dictator was Titus Lartius, who appointed Spurius Cassius his magister equitum. His lieutenant, the magister equitum, was the master of the horse, however, the use of dictator to refer to the magister populi seems to have been widespread from a very early period. The appointment of a dictator involved three steps, first, the Senate would issue a decree known as a senatus consultum, technically, a senatus consultum was advisory, and did not have the force of law, but in practice it was nearly always followed. Either consul could nominate a dictator, if both consuls were available, the dictator was chosen by agreement, if they could not agree, the consuls would draw lots for the responsibility. Finally, the Comitia Curiata would be called upon to confer imperium on the dictator through the passage of a law known as a lex de imperio. A dictator could be nominated for different reasons, or causa and these reasons could be combined, but are not always recorded or clearly stated in ancient authorities, and must instead be inferred. In the earlier period it was customary to nominate someone whom the consul considered the best available military commander, often this was a former consul, however, from 360 BC onward, the dictators were usually consulares. Normally there was only one dictator at a time, although a new dictator could be appointed following the resignation of another. A dictator could be compelled to resign his office without accomplishing his task or serving out his term if there were found to be a fault in the auspices under which he had been nominated. Like other curule magistrates, the dictator was entitled to the toga praetexta, in a notable exception to the Roman reluctance to reconstitute the symbols of the kings, the lictors of the dictator never removed the axes from their fasces, even within the pomerium. Symbolizing their power over life and death, the axes of a dictators lictors set him apart from all other magistrates, in an extraordinary sign of deference, the lictors of other magistrates could not bear fasces at all when appearing before the dictator. As the kings had been accustomed to appear on horseback, this right was forbidden to the dictator, unless he first received permission from the comitia. In addition to holding a command and carrying out the actions decreed by the Senate. The full extent of the power was considerable, but not unlimited
Italy
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