Download History, Political Structure and Legacy of the

History, Political Structure and Legacy of the
Roman Empire
By Josh Neuhaus
Game Theory and Democracy
Professor Hubert Bray
Duke University
September 21 2014
Introduction
The Roman Empire paved the way for modern civilization in a plethora of ways.
In addition to their advanced system of government, which will be the focus of the
following essay, the Romans furthered our knowledge in the fields of medicine,
law and warfare. To this day we use the calendar created by Julius Caesar as
well as public toilets, newspapers and the magnifying glass to name a few of the
miscellaneous advancements pioneered by the Romans. With regards to the
political structure of the Empire, it began as a kingdom however became
increasingly democratic; there was a complex hierarchy of officials that oversaw
the direction of the Republic. Then in 27BC this Republican system of elected
officials was discarded and instead Ancient Rome was to be led by one,
omnipotent individual known as the Emperor- the first being Gaius Octavius (or
Augustus Caesar) who was the great-nephew of the infamous assassinated
politician Julius Caesar. In the following essay, I will start off by tracking the
growth and demise of the Roman Empire starting from its foundation by Romulus
in 753BC to the end of the Republic in 27BC and briefly onwards to 476CE when
the last emperor of Rome, Romulus Augustus, was defeated by the Germanic
King Odoacer. I will then analyze in detail the political skeleton of the Republic
and the role that particular individuals played in influencing certain policy
decisions. Finally, it is important to realize the relevance of the Roman Empire to
today’s society and our notion of democracy- the US government is based on the
model established by Rome; for this reason the final part of my essay will revolve
around the legacy left behind by the Romans, arguably the greatest ever empire
to grace this earth.
History of the Roman Empire
Where did it all begin? The Etruscans had ruled the Romans for centuries until
509 B.C.E when the Romans overthrew their conquerors and established a form
of government where every citizen could and should play a role in the overall
path taken by the state- this is what we refer to nowadays as a republic. It should
be noted that a republic differs from a democracy in a number of ways. The most
important difference is that in a republic there exist a set of written rules (known
as a constitution) that constrain the government and protect the rights of the
individual. This ensures that the majority cannot overpower individuals, as is the
case in democracies. All republics are arguably democratic however the reverse
is not necessarily true. Back to the narrative, Kings originally governed Rome but
after seven of them, this system was deposed of and replaced by a senate in 509
B.C.E. This governmental system would last 500 years.
The Carthaginians, an impressive people who controlled their own empire in
North Africa, represented the greatest threat to the Roman Republic and the fight
between the two powers was an ongoing feature of this early period. The sides
fought three wars known as the Punic Wars from 264 BC to 146BC over disputes
surrounding trade in the Mediterranean Sea. Tensions reached a climax when
Hannibal crossed the Alps into Italy in 218 BC in what became known as the
Second Punic War. It was a great military achievement as more than 94,000 men
and war elephants navigated treacherous terrain to establish a base of
operations in Italy. Hannibal crushed the Roman army but could not sack the city
itself and after a decade of siege warfare, the Roman general Scipio defeated
Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. In the end Rome was victorious, killing
68,000 troops in the process. The Romans were by now fed up and were ready
to defeat the Carthaginians for good thus they burned the entire city to the
ground and allegedly poured salt into the ground to make the land uninhabitable
in the future. This military defeat was enough to nullify the threat of Carthage for
good and allow the Roman Republic to conquer the known world without a
surrounding challenge to its immense power.
With the unopposed expansion of the empire, the rich continued to get richer and
more powerful while the average citizen suffered more and more. Tiberius and
Gaius, politicians and brothers, attempted to reform the declining system but the
aristocrats vehemently opposed their proposed changes and they were
murdered. Slavery had become an accepted practice and slave revolts were
becoming more commonplace. The most famous revolt was that of Spartacus in
what became known as the Third Servile War. Spartacus led a small band of
escaped slaves in 73 BC by battling his way out using kitchen utensils; slaves
from all across the empire rushed to join his growing rebel army and after it
defeated a significant militia at Mt. Vesuvius the Senate took note and was
sparked into action. There is historical evidence to demonstrate that as many as
120,000 slaves joined the rebellion. It was not until 71 BC, two years later, when
the rebel army had started to unravel due to disputes between different factions,
that Spartacus was defeated; the general Marcus Lucinius Crassus led eight
legions and cornered Spartacus, killing the man himself in battle. 6,000 slaves
were publicly and painfully crucified in the aftermath in a ruthless move to deter
future potential revolters.
The final stage of the story of the Republic is where we first meet Julius Caesar,
the most famous Roman of all time. Soldiers were no longer fighting for the good
of the Republic but instead for the gold and land that was promised them with
each military victory. This meant that these soldiers felt a greater sense of loyalty
to the generals that commanded them instead of towards their representatives in
the senate or other political figures. It was this devotion to the general that Julius
Caesar masterfully exploited to accumulate power. He was born wealthy into the
class of aristocrats known as patricians and possessed all the skills necessary
for a great leader; beyond being a military genius, Caesar was sharp, strongwilled, charming and above everything loyal to those who helped him rise in the
system. In 60BC Caesar allied himself with arguably the second greatest Roman
general of all time Pompey and the wealthiest man in Rome Crassus. This period
of Rome is now known as the First Triumvirate and it is in this atmosphere of
political domination that power began to concentrate itself in the hands of a few
individuals. Fate, skill, a potent combination of the two…however one looks at
the events that followed, Julius Caesar was able to manipulate circumstances to
rise to the very top. Pompey became power hungry after the death of Crassus
and moved to gather power for himself while Caesar was off fighting the Gauls.
The senate, under orders of Pompey, commanded Caesar to return without his
army however he defied them and marched his entire army back with him. On
the 9th of August 48BC an epic battle known as the Battle of Pharsalus took place
in which Caesar and his allies lined up against the army of the republic
commanded by Pompey the Great. Pompey had the backing of the majority of
the senate and a far superior army; Caesar on the other hand commanded a
mere 22,000 men to Pompey’s 50,000. Pompey knew he could outlast the men
across the river as their supplies and will power dwindled and advocated for
waiting it out in a war of attrition. Pompey jumped the gun. He was under
pressure from senators and officers to engage in battle and that is exactly what
he did. Caesar had no right to defeat his opponent but he highlighted the futility
of defeat to his loyal men and instilled in them the mentality that they had
everything to lose and therefore nothing to lose. I will not go into the specifics of
the battle but Caesar inspired the most impressive of victories, relying on his
military knowledge and cunning. Pompey lost 6,000 men and eventually fled to
Egypt where was assassinated; his head was sent to Caesar on a silver platter
by the Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. Julius Caesar advanced his triumphant army into
Rome in 46BC and made himself autonomous, absolute ruler of the Roman
Empire. The Senate resisted his orders to make him a lifelong dictator, as it was
customary for a dictator to serve only six months before giving up the office. His
actions were seen as a threat to the Republic and he was famously murdered by
a group of senators including Brutus and Cassius in a series of events known as
the Ides of March. While the senators tried to save the Republic of Rome, in
killing Caesar they killed the republic and Rome would now become an empire.
Gaius Octavian Thurinius was Caesar’s nephew and took the name of Augustus
Caesar. He was the first emperor of Rome (as his uncle never officially held the
title) and was granted the unlimited power that his uncle had desired as a result
of his military prowess and the stability he brought the empire. Augustus, in his
own words, ‘found Rome a city of clay but left it a city of marble’. Caligula,
Claudius and Nero succeeded him after his death. The five good emperors and
then the Severan Dynasty followed this early period of the Ancient Roman
Empire. The next major shift in the course of the empire came with Constantine
and the shift to Christianity in 312CE. The Edict of Milan in 313 CE stipulated
religious tolerance and Constantine helped collect manuscripts which would
come together to form the most famous book that has ever existed and that will
ever exist- the bible. Finally, in 476CE the Germanic King Odoacer defeated
Emperor Romulus Augustus and the Roman Empire was no more. Some
historians argue it continued on as the Byzantine Empire or even later as The
Holy Roman Empire but in reality these were unrecognizable dynasties
compared to the great Ancient Roman Empire.
Although the above is only a brief overview of the rise and fall of the Romans, it
is the events and individuals described that forged the destiny of the empire,
making it a fascinating and enticing topic for discussion in a variety of academic
realms. I will now look at the political structure of Rome during the republic period
so we can understand how decisions were made and why it remains so important
today, serving as a template for democracies for centuries and millennia in the
future.
Political Structure
To begin with, the constitution of the Roman republic was never codified, never
formally recognized as a solid, material set of guidelines through which the
principles of governing were laid out. Instead it was allowed to grow organically
and develop into something by which one had to adhere to climb the political
rungs and govern effectively. The nature of the constitution eventually led to the
emergence of aristocrats who depended on the structure of society to thrive
instead of strictly the law. The most powerful body was the senate, which
inevitably made decisions favoring the wealthy due to its composition; to become
a senator one had to have been born a patrician as well as having a worth of at
least 100,000 denarii which was a significant enough sum to disqualify many
members of the middle class who may have harbored any political aspirations.
Another barrier was the fact that any new senators had to be approved by the
existing ones thus power was maintained in tight circles. Climbing the rungs of
the political hierarchy was difficult in the Ancient Roman republic however it was
by no means impossible. The senate was composed of the mightiest, most
powerful men in the empire and passed ‘senatus consultum’ onto the
magistrates. Although this ‘senatus consultum’ was officially just advice passed
down to the magistrates, the magistrates in practice had to obey it. The senate
oversaw any issues relating to foreign policy and although they were not
technically in charge of military affairs, the senate had the final say over military
operations too. Senators passed laws in a building in the Roman Forum known
as the ‘curia’. From the senators, two consuls were elected together on the same
ballot and served for a year before stepping down. Holding imperium (basically
having autonomous power) alternated between the consuls every month. War
was the only extraneous circumstance in which the power of the senate was
transferred to one individual, or dictator, so that leadership could take a more
precise direction and the issue could be revolved. The dictator did not have to be
a Roman senator- Cincinnatus was a farmer well versed in the art of war who
was called up by the senate to resolve an issue before stepping down 15 days
later.
Moving away from the senate, magistrates of the state were elected by citizens
who were divided into 193 voting blocks. It is these magistrates who elected
censors (responsible for supervising public morality and government finances)
and praetors (chief officers and overseers of the law courts). There was a
popular assembly or ‘comitia tributa’ that was elected by both patricians and
plebs and voted for measures called ‘leges’ that applied to all citizens. This was a
civilian assembly that met within the city walls unlike the army assembly, which
met outside the walls of Rome. Finally the Plebeian Assembly or ‘concilium
plebis’ consisted of ten tribunes who were only voted into office by the plebs and
had limited scope in their ability to implement effective legislation in reality. They
usually dealt with more local, mundane issues and could veto senate legislation.
Legacy
While it is easy and fascinating to look at the specific details of the political
structure of the Roman Republic, I will now highlight some of the overarching
principles that the Romans helped formulize. The notion of the citizen, which
remains crucial to Western societies today, was first developed by the Romans.
All males over 15 descended from Roman tribes were granted citizenship and
automatic rights. Any full citizen could marry freeborn people, vote, and buy and
sell goods in the local market. There were some citizens who could trade
commerce and vote, however, were not able to marry freely or hold public office.
Slaves were not granted any of these rights and it was only until late in the days
of the republic that slaves that had been granted their freedom could become full
citizens. Another important concept was equality under the law; although I
previously stated the Roman constitution was largely codified, this was not the
case in this instance. The first Roman laws actually put into writing were the
Twelve Tables and guaranteed the rights of citizens; it should be noted that
compared to todays accepted norms they appear harsh and dogmatic however at
the time they were incredibly progressive. Among the Twelve Tables included the
right to gather fruit falling down on another man’s farm and the law to quickly and
painlessly kill a deformed child. There was a set of specifically Roman personal
virtues by which citizens aspired to uphold and which ultimately gave the Roman
Republic the moral strength to match its military strength and conquer the
civilized world. These were matched by a set of public virtues which all of society
shared in common and aimed to share with the rest of the known world. A few of
my favorite personal virtues are ‘firmitas’ (having strength of mind and sticking to
your purpose) and ‘honestas’ (presenting a respectable image to society). With
regards to public virtues, ‘genius’ (the acknowledgement of the spirit of Rome
and its people) and ‘aequitas’ (fairly dealing with government and the people)
rank among my favorites. It is this recognition of the morality of humanity that
allowed Rome to grow and expand to the extent that it did; if every Roman citizen
lived trying to uphold these noble virtues then Rome itself was destined for
greatness.
Summary
The Romans conquered the known world and did so in style. It is true that Rome
was a war-obsessed state hungry on expansion and military prowess however it
was also an inherently moral state that set the precedent with regards to
democracy in the political system, the rights of individuals and the importance of
the law. Many of the most important building blocks of today’s societies we stole
from the ancient Romans. In their 500 years of dominance the Romans
experimented with the notion of a Republic where all citizens had a say in the
political experience before transitioning to the Roman Empire where power
ultimately resided in the hands of a single emperor. Rome gave us countless
battles and countless entertainment as well as epic figures like Julius Caesar and
Constantine the Great. King Odoacer’s defeat of Romulus Augustus marked the
end of the Roman Empire however the legacy of Rome lives on today. The
history, political structure and legacy of Rome discussed in this essay are only
three very small pieces to the puzzle that make Rome the entity it was.
Bibliography
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/how_was_rome_governed.htm
http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Empire/
http://pages.uoregon.edu/klio/maps/rr/const_system.jpg
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6c.asp
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Roman_virtues
http://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Republic/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_censor