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The Roman Senate was the highest assembly and constitutional platform of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. It functioned as an advisory council of elders to Rome's magistrates, and survived kings, the Roman Republic, the imperial era, and even the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The Senate wielded an enormous degree of power over the civil government in Rome. It controlled money, day-to-day administration, and foreign policy. Ultimately, it served as the governing and advisory council that proved to be the most permanent element in the Roman constitution.
So, how exactly did the Senate come into being, and what ultimately made it politically irrelevant? Click through this gallery for a fascinating look into the politics of Rome.
The Roman Kingdom was the earliest period of Roman history, when the city and its territory were ruled by monarchs. It was during this period, around 753 BCE, that the Roman Senate was established.
The Senate was formed by the patriarchs of the most powerful families. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means "old man," the word thus means "assembly of elders."
During the days of the Roman Kingdom, the Senate was little more than an advisory council to the king. Where it did hold sway, however, was its power to elect new Roman kings. According to tradition, Rome's founder Romulus created the first 100-member senate as an advisory body to the sovereign.
The last king of Rome, the tyrannical Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown following a coup d'état led by Lucius Junius Brutus.
With the monarchy abolished, Lucius Junius Brutus founded the Roman Republic, in 509 BCE. The Senate survived, but was politically weak.
Crucial to the Republic's foundation and its legitimacy was an emphasis on forming a representative democracy that allowed Romans to exercise shared power.
In its earliest form under the new Republic, the Senate—consisting only of members of the patrician class—served more as an advisory council to other governing bodies.
Meanwhile, the various executive Roman magistrates who appointed the senators for life (or until expulsion by Roman censors) wielded considerable power and influence.
The transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was gradual. It therefore took several generations before the Senate acquired the authority it needed to exert power over the magistrates.
By the Middle Republic, around 241 BCE, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican strength, with senators exercising decisions on both domestic and foreign policy.
Senators usually kept their role for life unless they had committed a dishonorable act. For example, in 70 BCE, no fewer than 64 senators were omitted from the members list, compiled every five years by censors, for undignified conduct.
The Roman Senate represented a new and powerful political class that would dominate Roman government for centuries. But it was repeatedly tested by both internal and external forces.
In the 3rd century, there were 300 senators. By 81 BCE, this number had swelled to 500. When Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar became Rome's dictator in 49 BCE, he increased the number of serving senators to 900 men. Furthermore, he rather fancied himself as king. This provoked one of the most infamous assassinations in history.
Fearing that Caesar was on the way to genuinely becoming a king, 60 conspirators decided to do away with him. On March 15, 44 BCE (the Ides of March), Julius Caesar was stabbed to death by dozens of senators. His body was displayed to crowds outside the Senate building in Rome.
The murder of Julius Caesar was justified by the perpetrators as a victory against tyranny undertaken by a righteous group of men to protect the essence of the Republic.
Instead, the ruthless act plummeted Rome into further chaos and triggered the fall of the Roman Republic.
The Roman Senate was always a functionary body. The magistrates would be summoned to it and asked for their opinions about the decisions taken, and their proposals considered.
A senator was an honorific position—they didn't get paid. But theirs was a high influential appointment, voting on political, social, and economic issues.
The Senate met in the Curia, the true political center of Rome. Senate members were divided by rank, with the assembly governed by two elected consuls. They commanded the army and had executive power.
The praetor administered justice and helped the two consuls with legal advice. A councilor managed local administration and the supplying of the whole city (for example, with food and other commodities), while the quaestor was in charge of the public purse.
But things were changing. The late Republic had already seen a decline in the Senate's power. And out of the ashes of the Republic, the Roman Empire was born.
A civil war had followed Caesar's murder, with Octavian founding the Roman Empire. Augustus, the first emperor of the imperial period, formed the Principate.
The Principate was the form of imperial government of the Roman Empire. Under it, the Senate, though weakened, was still an influential body.
In fact, senators continued to debate and sometimes disapprove of the emperor's actions while the Senate itself retained important prerogatives in military, fiscal, and religious matters.
In a break with tradition, Augustus would sometimes chair Senate debates. His successor, Tiberius, was also a keen attendee.
While real political power was still in the hands of Rome's leaders, it was the Senate that formally gave emperors their power of office and, therefore, legitimacy to rule.
The Senate could also have the ultimate last word on an emperor's reign by declaring them a public enemy or officially erasing their memory, a move known as damnatio memoriae.
Reforms by the Roman emperor Diocletian (pictured) and later Constantine eventually eroded the power of the Senate.
When the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate became nothing more than a municipal body.
The Senate finally became politically irrelevant when the Late Empire witnessed the momentous decision to split the Senate into two bodies, one in Rome and the other in Constantinople.
Ironically, the Roman Senate did in fact outlast the Roman Empire, but it never regained the power and prestige it enjoyed during the middle centuries of the Republic. Pictured is the Curia Julia (right), the seat of the imperial Senate in Rome and one of a handful of Roman structures that survive mostly intact.
The interior of the Curia Julia. Its colorless and rather austere veneer belies the momentous role it played in world history.
Sources: (World History Encyclopedia) (History.com) (National Geographic) (PBS)
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The Roman Senate was the highest assembly and constitutional platform of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. It functioned as an advisory council of elders to Rome's magistrates, and survived kings, the Roman Republic, the imperial era, and even the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The Senate wielded an enormous degree of power over the civil government in Rome. It controlled money, day-to-day administration, and foreign policy. Ultimately, it served as the governing and advisory council that proved to be the most permanent element in the Roman constitution.
So, how exactly did the Senate come into being, and what ultimately made it politically irrelevant? Click through this gallery for a fascinating look into the politics of Rome.