Ancient Rome, while nowhere near the biggest empire in world history, was arguably one
of the most successful, as attested to by its sheer power, influence, and longevity.
The Mongol Empire for instance may have been more than four times larger, but it didn’t
last anywhere near as long as Rome.
Granted the Roman Empire had a very different style of government, one that would influence
contemporary governments from that of the United States to the KhAnubis Discord Server,
and we’ve already talked about how powerful Rome was in its hey-day, but how did Rome
govern its vast holdings for all the centuries it did?
First, let’s go over a bit of history, since as anyone who knows Roman history knows, Rome
changed quite a bit over the centuries, starting as just another Latin-speaking city-state
in the 8th century BC called the Roman Kingdom, to having a king so bad they turned it into
the Roman Republic, gradually starting to expand by the 3rd century BC, and finally
reaching its territorial height as the Roman Empire, later dwindling down as… well technically
still the Roman Empire, but it didn’t have Rome and spoke Greek so many historians call
it the Byzantine Empire.
In this video of course, we’ll be focusing on Rome at the height of its power and influence.
To truly explain Rome’s central institutions though, let’s start off with how the Senate
was made up.
First, Roman society was generally divided into different classes, aside from slaves
(who really didn’t have any say whatsoever in politics), Roman citizens were divided
into the super-wealthy Patricians and the Plebeians, who were basically everyone who
wasn’t super rich, so mainly the working class.
The Patricians were generally noble families and successful businessmen and large landholders
(and of course I say businessMEN here because… ancient Rome).
Though the Patricians were a minority of the population, they generally had the most say
in Roman government, making up the Senate as a whole, comprised of patricii, from where
we get the word Patrician, who generally served for life unless charged with a criminal offense.
The Senate was originally made up of 100 members, with that number increasing to 300 under the
Gracchi brothers, then 900 with Sulla, and then 1,000 through Julius Caesar, and finally
being capped at 600 under Augustus.
The Senate however wasn’t the final authority on the passing of new laws, though they did
manage the treasury and foreign policy, and advised the two consuls, each elected by the
Roman citizenry for fixed one-year terms.
Consuls were the highest political office in the Republic, and were elected by the Centuriate
assembly (comitia centuriata), a military assembly also tasked with electing Censors
and Praetors.
The eight Praetors were judges of Roman law, whereas the two Censors were responsible for
maintaining public morality, as well as the official census.
The Tribal Assembly (comitia populi tributa) was an assembly of all Roman citizens, divided
into one of many different tribes, and which elected Aediles (responsible for public buildings
and games, and government business) and Quaestors (who managed financial and administrative
affairs).
The Plebeian Council (concilium plebis) was the principal assembly of the Plebeian class,
and elected the Plebeian Tribune (tribunus plebis).
With the two Consuls being the highest ranking members of Roman government, there were always
two at a time as a way to limit each consul’s power.
During a military emergency however, the consuls could appoint a dictator for the next six
months or until the emergency had been taken care of, whichever happened first.
Dictator was very much an actual position in the Republic-- not the name for an autocratic
leader-- and a very powerful one, though one that still had plenty of checks and balances
on it.
Then came the Emperors, who of course couldn’t be seen as kings, they were merely a kind
of “first among equals” (but totally not a king, no definitely not).
When Augustus first took power in 27 BC in fact, the Senate didn’t just dust off some
old crown they had lying around in storage for the last five centuries for some reason,
rather the powers and responsibilities of “emperor”-- derived from the existent
title “imperator”, which was more equivalent to a supreme commander of sorts-- were more
cobbled together from many different titles.
Augustus for one did not consider himself a “king” of any sort, but he was the so-called
princeps civitatis (First Citizen), and the Senate granted him the powers of supreme military
command, tribune, and censor, in an arrangement that just so happened to be lifelong, and
that upon death he would pass onto someone named Tiberius, who just so happened to be
his stepson.
The popular assemblies were also disbanded and the Senate, while still holding political
power, slowly became more and more ceremonial.
In a sense, it was kind of like what countries like the United Kingdom have been going through
in the last century or so, just in reverse.
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That’s all well and good, but of course Rome wasn’t the only area held by Rome,
not for a longshot.
The Roman Republic and later Empire were both divided into provinces, much like most of
the countries of the modern world, but these weren’t necessarily provinces in our modern
sense.
Originally, back when Rome only controlled the southern part of the Italian peninsula,
a “provincia” was merely an area that was the responsibility of a particular general,
guarding the towns and trade routes within the area.
Eventually though, as the Romans conquered more land outside the peninsula, the Senate
would draw up new special charters (lex provinciae) based on reports sent back by the generals
who conquered the region.
These special charters defined the borders of the province and what towns and cities
they would include, as well as the rights and duties of the inhabitants.
The Senate would then appoint a magistrate to rule as governor, alongside a quaestor
and three lieutenants (legati).
Or at least that’s how provinces were administered during the Republic, this system was rife
for abuse however, and no surprise this would be reorganized under the Empire.
During the Republican era, governors had near-complete control over the provinces, which often led
to widespread extortion of those within said provinces.
Emperor Augustus reorganized the provinces under two different categories, Senatorial
and Imperial.
The Senatorial provinces were led by governors known as proconsuls, who were former consuls
or praetors who served year-long terms; whereas the Imperial provinces were ruled by propraetorian
legates, representatives of the emperor who served indefinitely.
However, due to the sheer size of the empire and lack of any internet, most of the provinces
generally ruled themselves, largely keeping their old ruling structures, provided they
were still friendly to the imperial government in Rome.
Further down, cities often governed themselves and the countryside around them, though were
organized into different categories depending on if the residents had citizenship rights,
from Roman coloniae at the top with full rights, to municipia made up of non-Roman Latins,
and cities with no citizenship rights that either had to pay tribute to Rome or had special
treaties.
This system allowed the Empire to have actually quite a simplified governmental system for
the amount of land and people it governed.
The Roman government was clearly not one that would exactly be praised in the modern day,
but it did help the empire stay in shape and led to a two-century period of internal peace
and stability called Pax Romana, lasting from Augustus’ ascension as Emperor in 27 BC
to Marcus Aurelius’ death in 180 AD.
Over time though, this system would in a way collapse under the pressure of the very empire
it supported, its administrative and military lines stretched too far and too thin, and
rival groups all fighting over the illusive title of Emperor.
Even though technically the Roman Empire didn’t really fall in 476 AD, the lessons from the
3rd through 5th centuries in Western Roman history cannot be ignored in the modern…
and future eras.
I mean, I suppose that’s kind of why it’s so important to learn history.
Thank you as always for watching.
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