A219 Block 3: The Roman elite Senate Equites
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Magistracies
- Senate
- Comitia Plebis Tributa
- 35 Tribes Urban 4 = urban plebs Rural 31 = proletarii
- Representing the plebs or the aristocrats Key figures Office held Actions
- Eulogies, inscriptions, commemoration and personal reputation
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A219 Block 3: The Roman elite Senate Equites 300 – 600 members 1800 made up 18 equestrian separate from the magistrates* centuries (see comitia centuriata)
(originally had to own and kit out 1 horse, hence ‘knights’/equites) Judges (treason trials); make/propose laws businessmen/entrepeneurs; judges in lawcourts (no longer had a military role after Punic Wars) largely aristocrats, many of whom were from largely looked down upon by Patrician families > nobiles (hereditary aristocracy) aristocrats; Plebeian families or optimates (lit. ‘the best men’) vs populares [Equites were not populares because populares were politicians]
Censor
Consul 2 Praetor 8 Aedile 4 Tribune (of the plebs) 10 Quaestor* 10>20 Pedarii = junior magistrates, outside the cursus honorum (‘ladder’) *Sulla legislated that quaestors became members of the Senate, so boosting numbers of Senators. Election to the magistracies was dependent on age and property/wealth qualification, so tended to be the domain of the elite Patricians & Plebeians (NB Plebeians could have wealth, hence the Equites). The alternative route was to be elected Tribune. Polybius’ account of the Roman Constitution separates it into 3 groups: Senate (aristocracy/oligarchy), Consuls (monarchy) and People (democracy). So, let’s look at the People aspect, which relates to the Tribune (of the plebs) Note that Polybius sees the constitution as a harmonious whole, each group working as a check on the other two. In practice, at least by the 2nd century BC, what we see instead is rivalries: Senate (Patricians) vs Equites (Plebeians) (Pompey capitalises on this) Senate vs Tribune (of the plebs) representing the People (e.g. the Gracchi) Consuls vs Tribune (of the plebs) representing the People (e.g. Sulla reduces power of tribunes) Senate vs Consuls (e.g. Caesar) Equites vs the People This all revolves around the Census groups – groupings were decided on the basis of wealth, i.e. landownership. The Census was a public record of wealth and social status. 193 voting assemblies in Comitia centuriata = all of the Roman citizens a ‘century’ was the basic unit of the Roman army based on wealth (i.e. property)- greater wealth = more weight to vote role: to elect magistrates; vote on policy and legislation
role: to approve laws Comitia Tributa + Concilium Plebis so named if the presiding magistrate so named if the presiding magistrate is not a Tribune (of the plebs) is a Tribune (of the plebs) role: to elect Tribunes of the plebs 35 Tribes Urban 4 = urban plebs Rural 31 = proletarii This is the loophole that Tiberius Gracchus exploits. He wins the support of the Concilium Plebis so they elect him Tribune of the plebs. He becomes their presiding magistrate and leads the Comitia Plebis Tributa to approve his land redistribution law, which they do, since this law so clearly benefits them. Thus, they may rise up a census class, and have more voice in the election of magistrates. These people are then quite likely to vote for Plebeians rather than Patricians, (who stole their land in the first place), hence the perceived threat to the blue-blooded aristocracy, the nobiles.
Eulogies, inscriptions, commemoration and personal reputation Think back to the work you have done on funerary monuments, refer to the inscriptions in Block 3, pp54-58 and to the literary sources for funerals, Block 3, p60 (Pliny NH 7.139-40), Reading 3.12 (Polybius 6.53):
Individual and family names, relationship to (son of... wife of...); ancestry and genealogy; achievements; age at death. Polybius tells us how (elite) funerals were conducted.
Characteristics: honour, courage, virtue, wisdom, piety, physical appearanc. Actions and roles: magistracies (censor, consul, praetor, aedile, quaestor), military successes/leadership, religious roles (dedication of temple, priesthood), oratorical skill, gaining wealth by honourable means; lack of achievements, if died young. Values: Status was everything – where you were in the official hierarchy/census group, lineage. Achievements were measured in terms of political and military success and the characteristics valued were related to these. Nothing soft about these Romans! (in due course, compare and contrast Block 4 examples of funerary monuments) Yüklə 134,5 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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