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Roman Republic
ACTIVITY CARD
In 509 BC, a group of Roman nobles upset with the abuse of power by King Tarquin the
Superb overthrew the Roman monarchy and founded the Roman Republic. Students are often
taught that this government served as the model for the United States’ representative
democracy today. However, the Roman Republic was a complicated political system that was
very different from America’s modern government. Most of the Roman Republic’s political
history is defined by a power struggle between the noble classes of patrician senators and
knights, and the crowd of lower class plebeians that made up the “People of Rome.” This
division is represented in the very motto of the Roman Republic: SPQR, which is the Latin
abbreviation for “the Senate and the People of Rome.” Today, we are going to investigate how
much power the “People of Rome” had in the Roman Republic.
Directions: In your group, please READ each primary source document
ONE AT A TIME. For each document, DISCUSS each question on the
document AS A GROUP and ANSWER the questions in complete
sentences on a separate piece of paper. Each person must write down
answers to the questions.
Once you have read all the documents and answered each question,
EACH MEMBER of your group is to prepare a “GET OUT THE
VOTE” POSTER for an election in the Roman Republic.
Task: Your group is to work together to gain a common understanding
of the political power of the average citizen in the Roman Republic. To
demonstrate this, your group will create a “Get out the Vote” Poster for
the Roman Republic. This is a type of political poster used in
democracies to encourage voting. The poster should show what groups
of people were encouraged or discouraged to vote, and how much
power these people really had.
POSTER EVALUATION CRITERIA
 Poster demonstrates clear understanding of the key features of the Roman Republic
 Poster includes information from all FIVE documents, and includes at least TWO
QUOTATIONS from the documents.
How much power did “the People” have in the Roman Republic?
Roman Republic
DOCUMENT 1 OF 5
The Roman Constitution
SOURCE: The following excerpt is the description of the Roman constitution provided by the Greek
historian Polybius in his book “The Histories” written between 167-119 BC. Polybius was captured in
northern Greece during a war with the Romans, but went on to befriend his Roman captors. Polybius greatly
admired the Romans and the purpose of his work was to describe how Rome came to dominate the world. His
account is the most detailed description of the Roman constitution that we have.
“The Roman constitution has three elements (branches). Each of them possesses independent
powers, and their share of power has been so well-regulated that no one can say for sure
whether the constitution is an aristocracy or democracy or monarchy.
The Consuls lead the legions (military) and are the supreme masters of the government. They
bring matters requiring debate before Senate. They also call together the assemblies of the
People, and carry out whatever the majority of the People decide. Seeing these powers would
justify our describing the constitution as a monarchy.
The Senate proposes decrees (recommended laws) and has the control of the treasury (money). In
addition, if it is necessary to send diplomats to a foreign country to make peace or to
proclaim war, this too is the business of the Senate. As a result, many foreign kings imagine
the constitution is a complete aristocracy because nearly all the business they had with Rome
was settled by the Senate.
After all this, someone would naturally ask what part is left for the People in the constitution.
There is, however, a part left to the People, and it is a most important one. It is the People
who grant office to those that deserve it through the elections. The People also has the final
say in passing or repealing laws, and most important of all it is the People who make the final
decision on the question of peace or war. These considerations would lead one to say that the
chief (main) power in the state was the People's, and that the constitution was a democracy.
ANSWER the following questions:
1. Based on the source information, how might Polybius’ background have influenced
what he said about the Roman constitution?
2. What are the three elements of the Roman constitution? What powers does each one
have?
3. Which one of the three parts does Polybius see as most important? Explain
How much power did “the People” have in the Roman Republic?
Roman Republic
DOCUMENT 2 OF 5
The Century Assembly
SOURCE: The Century Assembly was the major voting assembly of the Roman Republic. It elected the
Consuls and other high ranking magistrates, and approved or rejected the decrees of the Senate on law and
war. It organized the Roman people by social class into 193 different voting groups known as Centuries.
Each Century received one vote, so a social class had as many votes as it had Centuries. A simple majority of
Century votes was enough to elect officials or approve decrees. Below is a table of the different Roman social
classes and their Centuries recorded by the Roman historian Livy between 27 and 25 BC.
Wealth
Patrician
First
Second
s and
Class
Class
Knights
Hereditary 100,000 75,000
nobility
assarii
assarii
Number of
18
82
Centuries
Number of
18
82
Votes
Total Number of Centuries:
193
Third
Class
Fourth
Class
Fifth
Class
Sixth
Class
50,000
assarii
25,000
assarii
11,000
assarii
20
20
20
32
Below
11,000
assarii
1
20
20
20
32
1
Votes Needed for a Majority:
96
 Assarii: copper coin that was the basis for the Roman currency
 Patricians/Knights and the First Class made up the Upper Classes and usually
voted together.
ANSWER the following questions:
1. What is the Century Assembly? How does it work?
2. How many combined votes did the two wealthiest classes get? How many combined
votes did everyone else get?
3. How much power do you think the average person had in the Century Assembly? Do
you think this assembly was truly democratic?
How much power did “the People” have in the Roman Republic?
Roman Republic
DOCUMENT 3 OF 5
The Tribal Assembly
SOURCE: The Tribal Assembly was another voting assembly in the Roman Republic. It organized the
Roman people into thirty-five “Tribes” based on where people lived. It was a direct democracy where social
class did not matter and all votes counted equally. The assembly originally only had local power to elect minor
magistrates, but later saw its power increase. The excerpt below is from the book “Roman Antiquities”
written by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus around 14 BC.
In the Century Assembly the balance of power in voting was with the wealthiest and most
important men. The People all thought that they had an equal share in the government
because every man was asked his opinion in his own Century. However, they were deceived
because the Centuries of the wealthy men had far more votes than all the others.
But the rebellion of the People was starting up again. The People had received no rewards
from the patricians and did not benefit from the government. The People desired the power
to choose two new magistrates in the Tribal Assembly that could assist them. They also
wanted laws to be voted on in the Tribal Assembly. This meant the overthrow of the Senate
and the dominance of the People.
What the difference was between the two assemblies I will now point out. In order for the
voting in the Century Assembly to happen, the Senate needed to pass a decree first and then
the People could vote on it by Century. In the case of the voting in the Tribal Assembly, a
decree from the Senate was not necessary and a law could be completed and carried through
by the members of the Tribes without leaving any power to the Senate over those laws.
The Consuls, the Senate, and all the patricians tried to prevent the changes from happening.
However, if they attempted to use force they would run the risk of bloodshed and slaughter.
Though there were many objections, the Senate ratified (agreed to) the changes. This was the
end of the tumult (violent chaos) which disturbed the Republic at that time.
ANSWER the following questions:
1. What is the Tribal Assembly? How does it work?
2. Do you think the Tribal Assembly was more or less democratic than the Century
Assembly? Explain.
3. What new powers does the Tribal Assembly gain? How does this impact the power of
the People versus the power of the wealthy elite?
How much power did “the People” have in the Roman Republic?
Roman Republic
DOCUMENT 4 OF 5
Historians Debate
SOURCE: Because of how complicated the Roman government was, historians continue to debate to this day
how democratic the Roman Republic truly was. The following excerpts below are from books written by
Professors Fergus Millar and Saskia Hin. Millar is Professor of Ancient History at Oxford University, and
Hin is Professor of Classics at Princeton University.
The Roman People were at the
center of the Roman system of
government. If we look at
elections, they were competitive,
and the results were unpredictable.
The Republic a striking example of
a political system in which rival
candidates debated rival
conceptions (ideas) of state
(government) and society before the
People in the Forum. The
exclusive right of the assemblies to
pass legislation (laws) is by far the
strongest reason why the Roman
Republic has to be characterized as
a democracy.—Historian Fergus
“How many of the Roman People
might we expect to have been
present at meetings of the Tribal
Assembly? Located far away from
many voters, involvement in
politics took a lot of time and
effort, and many citizens must
have judged it to not be worth it.
The space available to voters was
limited. The forum where the
assemblies were held allowed for
the presence of a maximum of
3,600 people for voting. These
numbers imply a dramatically low
participation rate among voters.—
Historian Saskia Hin
Millar
ANSWER the following questions:
1. What is Fergus Millar’s view of the power of the people in the voting assemblies?
What are two reasons he gives for this view?
2. What is Saskia Hin’s view of the power of the people in the voting assemblies? What
are two reasons she gives for this view.
3. What historian do you find more convincing? Explain.
How much power did “the People” have in the Roman Republic?
Roman Republic
DOCUMENT 5 OF 5
Roman Women
SOURCE: In the Roman Republic, women held no direct political power. They could not vote or run for
office. However, women from wealthy or powerful families could and did have strong political influence behind
the scenes through their husbands and sons. Below is an excerpt from historian Robert Syme on the political
power of women in the Roman Republic, as well as a coin issued by the noblewoman Fulvia, who gained
immense political power through three different marriages to leading Roman politicians during her lifetime.
“Barred (blocked) from political life but enjoying the social prestige (high standing) of family or
husband, the daughters and wives of the nobility (wealthy class) could not be cheated of the
real and secret power of influence. They counted for more than the average senator. By the
quiet exercise of their authority, they might affect nothing less than the authority of the
consul in the presence of his peers.”—Historian Robert Syme
ANSWER the following questions:
1. According to the source information, what political power did women have in the
republic? What power they not have?
2. Who is Fulvia? Why do you think the Romans issued coins with her image on it? What
does this say about how they viewed her?
3. How does historian Robert Syme describe the power of noblewomen? Do you
consider this to be real political power? Explain
How much power did “the People” have in the Roman Republic?