The last of the Roman kings, the tyrannical Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (’the Arrogant’), was expelled by a revolt of some of the leading Roman aristocrats in 509 BCE. Vowing never again to allow a single person to amass so much authority, the revolutionaries established in place of the monarchy a republican system of governance, featuring a senate composed of aristocratic men and a series of elected political and military officials. The Roman Republic was a remarkably stable and successful polity, lasting from 509 BCE until it was transformed into an imperial state under Augustus in 31 BCE (though the exact date is debated, as this was not a formal transformation). We divide the Republic into an early (509-264 BCE), a middle (264-133 BCE), and a late (133-31 BCE) period. The early period is notable for the establishment of the governing institutions of the new Republic, a lingering tension between the wealthy, senatorial elites and poorer members of society (the ’plebeians’), and the establishment of Rome as the preeminent power in the Western Mediterranean.
In 390 BCE, just over a century after the establishment of the Republic, Rome suffered a near-fatal defeat at the hands of Gallic tribes, who invaded Italy from southern France and breached the city walls. Rome quickly recovered, however, and throughout the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE proceeded to conquer all of their neighbours in Italy, notably the larger and more populous Sabine, Etruscan, Samnite, and Graeco-Italian peoples.
[1]
Over the course of this dramatic expansion, Rome established colonies of Roman citizens throughout Italy and gained access to important sources of natural wealth in the process.
[2]
The rise of Rome in the west eventually caught the attention of other Mediterranean powers, notably the Punic peoples of North Africa. Indeed, the central narrative of the Middle Republic period is the continued expansion of Roman hegemony into the eastern Mediterranean.
Population and political organization
Rome during the Republican period possessed no written constitution, but was governed largely through the power and prestige of the Senate, with a clear respect for precedent and for maintaining Rome’s traditions.
[3]
A primary goal of the early Republic was to establish clear checks on the power of any single ruler - the military office of chief commander was in fact split between two generals (consuls), while the chief priestly and legislative posts were split among different people (individuals were restricted from holding multiple offices at once) - and popular assemblies voted on new laws. The first codification of Roman law was laid down in this period (mid-4th century BCE) in the form of the Twelve Tables, a series of legal proclamations establishing certain penalties and procedures for enforcing ritual and customary practices.
[4]
Consuls were drawn from the senatorial elite - Rome’s wealthy aristocratic families - until 367 BCE, when plebeians were first entitled to stand for this prestigious office.
[5]
This change followed a period known as the ’Conflict of the Orders’, a time which poses intractable problems for historians because most sources date from after 367 BCE.
[6]
The conflict essentially pitted Rome’s wealthy elite, who enjoyed nearly all of the prestige and power of political office as well as controlling most of the city’s agricultural land, against the poorer members of society (plebeians), mainly small-scale or tenant farmers who had contributed to Roman territorial expansion by serving as soldiers during the wars of the early Republic.
[7]
Early on in the Republican period, in 494 BCE, the plebeians essentially went on strike, refusing to march to war against a coalition of tribes from central Italy.
[7]
A settlement was reached when Rome’s aristocrats extended to the plebeians the right to vote for certain magistrates, known as the Tribunes of the Plebs (essentially the ’people’s magistrates’). This was an important office charged with looking after the needs of Rome’s poorer citizens, who held veto powers against decisions made in the Senate. Nevertheless, tensions between the aristocrats and the plebeians lingered throughout the 4th century BCE.
Romans of this period did not distinguish between what is today termed ’secular’ and ’sacred’ authority; although individual magistracies had distinct functions, the same person often held both religious and political offices over the course of their lifetime, as they were thought to be part of essentially the same sphere of governance. The Republic featured a substantial array of religious offices and institutions intended to determine the will of the gods or to please them through the proper performance of rituals and the maintenance of large public temples.
[8]
These public auspices were the basis of magisterial power in the Republic.
[8]
Auspices were sometimes taken by consuls and other officials, for example before important military engagements,
[8]
but were mainly managed by specialist elected priests and full-time priestesses (such as the Vestal Virgins) and other priestly offices supported by the state.
[9]
As Rome defeated nearly all other powers in the region during this period, establishing colonies and turning many former enemies into new allies and confederates, the territory it claimed increased dramatically until it included nearly all of central and southern Italy. This amplified its agricultural wealth and access to other natural resources, leading to a period of economic and demographic expansion. Rome grew from around 100,000-200,000 people at the beginning of the period to perhaps as many as 1,000,000 by the start of the Middle Republic.
[10]
[1]: (Cornell 1995) Tim J. Cornell. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC). London: Routledge.
[2]: (Bispham 2006) Edward Bispham. 2006. ’Coloniam Deducere: How Roman Was Roman Colonization during the Middle Republic?’, in Greek and Roman Colonization: Origins, Ideologies and Interactions, edited by Guy Bradley, John-Paul Wilson, and Edward Bispham, 73-160. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
[3]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. ’Power and Process under the Republican "Constitution"’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 46) Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[5]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 42) Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[6]: (Beck et al. 2011, 5) Hans Beck, Antonio Duplá, Martin Jehne and Francisco Pina Polo. 2011. ’The Republic and Its Highest Office: Some Introductory Remarks on the Roman Consulate’, in Consuls and Res Publica: Holding High Office in the Roman Republic, edited by Hans Beck, Antonio Duplá, Martin Jehne and Francisco Pina Polo, 1-16. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7]: (Raaflaub 2005) Kurt A. Raaflaub. 2005. ’The Conflict of the Orders in Archaic Rome: A Comprehensive and Comparative Approach’, in Social Struggles in Archaic Rome, edited by Kurt A. Raaflaub, 1-46. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
[8]: (Brennan 2004, 37) Corey T. Brennan. 2004. ’Power and Process under the Republican "Constitution"’, in The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 31-65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[9]: (Culham 2004, 131) Phyllis Culham. 2004. ’Women in the Roman Republic, in The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Harriet I. Flower, 139-59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[10]: (Scheidel 2008) Walter Scheidel. 2008. ’Roman Population Size: The Logic of the Debate’, in People, Land, and Politics: Demographic Developments and the Transformation of Roman Italy, 300 BC-AD 14, edited by L. de Ligt and S. J. Northwood, 17-70. Leiden: Brill.
| alliance with [---] |
| Latin States |
| Middle Roman Republic |
| [50,000 to 75,000] km2 |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Middle Roman Republic (it_roman_rep_2) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Roman Kingdom (it_roman_k) [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| 30,000 people | 500 BCE |
| 30,000 people | 400 BCE |
| [50,000 to 60,000] people | 300 BCE |
| 1,300 km2 | 500 BCE |
| 1,300 km2 | 400 BCE |
| [5,000 to 30,000] km2 | 300 BCE |
| 100,000 people | 500 BCE |
| 150,000 people | 400 BCE |
| [500,000 to 1,000,000] people | 300 BCE |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| present |
| unknown |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| absent | 509 BCE 300 BCE |
| unknown | 299 BCE 264 BCE |
| present |
| Year Range | Early Roman Republic (it_roman_rep_1) was in: |
|---|---|
| (509 BCE 265 BCE) | Latium |
Turchin and Nefedov suggest a Republican cycle 350-30 BCE with "stagflation" around 180 BCE
[1]
[2]
which implies expansion throughout this period and a late peak date.
During the 343-241 BCE period during which Rome was at war "in almost every year" and Latin colonies that were frequently established "allowed those who were impoverished the chance to make a new life... it may be no accident that between 342 and 287 we hear little about indebtedness and social unrest" in Rome.
[3]
[1]: (Baker 2011)
[2]: (Turchin and Nefedov 2009)
[3]: (Oakley 2004, 27) Oakley, Stephen P. The Early Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
km squared.
Indo-European, Italic. Latin and Greek, Italic languages within Italy itself, such as Etruscan or Oscan. Map of languages in pre-Roman Italy which shows the then distribution of Etruscan and Oscan languages: [1] . Latin, Osco-Umbrian, Venetic, Messapian (Stearns 2001).
Inhabitants.
500 BCE = same as polity population
same area as 600 BCE
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
400 BCE = same as polity population
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
300 BCE
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
Rome
[1]
100: 500 BCE
150: 400 BCE
250: 300 BCE
Rome (reported census tallies)
[2]
DH: NB - these censuses refer to polity pop, not pop of the city (and are highly problematic!). Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
"The pressure on space encouraged the development of multi-storey housing blocks in Rome as early as the third century BC; high prices for building plots also resulted in tall buildings being constructed in relatively narrow spaces and additional floors being added to already existing buildings."
[3]
;
[1]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
[2]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
[3]: (Holleran 2012, 1) Holleran, Claire. 2012. Shopping in Ancient Rome: The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Inhabitants.
500 BCE = same as polity population
same area as 600 BCE
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
400 BCE = same as polity population
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
300 BCE
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
Rome
[1]
100: 500 BCE
150: 400 BCE
250: 300 BCE
Rome (reported census tallies)
[2]
DH: NB - these censuses refer to polity pop, not pop of the city (and are highly problematic!). Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
"The pressure on space encouraged the development of multi-storey housing blocks in Rome as early as the third century BC; high prices for building plots also resulted in tall buildings being constructed in relatively narrow spaces and additional floors being added to already existing buildings."
[3]
;
[1]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
[2]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
[3]: (Holleran 2012, 1) Holleran, Claire. 2012. Shopping in Ancient Rome: The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
Inhabitants.
500 BCE = same as polity population
same area as 600 BCE
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
400 BCE = same as polity population
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
300 BCE
Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
Rome
[1]
100: 500 BCE
150: 400 BCE
250: 300 BCE
Rome (reported census tallies)
[2]
DH: NB - these censuses refer to polity pop, not pop of the city (and are highly problematic!). Cornell has a population of ca 30,000 for Rome in 4th c, then at most 60,000 in 300 BCE
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
"The pressure on space encouraged the development of multi-storey housing blocks in Rome as early as the third century BC; high prices for building plots also resulted in tall buildings being constructed in relatively narrow spaces and additional floors being added to already existing buildings."
[3]
;
[1]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
[2]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
[3]: (Holleran 2012, 1) Holleran, Claire. 2012. Shopping in Ancient Rome: The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
At the beginning of the Republic, Roman territory comprised about 500 square miles, and by 338 BCE the territory controlled was 2000 square miles of Latium, expanding north and south. [1]
[1]: (Noble 2010: 121) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/PZWRGX5H.
At the beginning of the Republic, Roman territory comprised about 500 square miles, and by 338 BCE the territory controlled was 2000 square miles of Latium, expanding north and south. [1]
[1]: (Noble 2010: 121) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/PZWRGX5H.
At the beginning of the Republic, Roman territory comprised about 500 square miles, and by 338 BCE the territory controlled was 2000 square miles of Latium, expanding north and south. [1]
[1]: (Noble 2010: 121) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/PZWRGX5H.
Inhabitants.
500 BCE
same area as 600 BCE
400 BCE
same area as 600 BCE
300 BCE
polity territory of 25,000-30,000 at this time. Rome had a reported census population of perhaps 250,000.
[1]
The new territory conquered did not have a city as large as Rome and may not have been especially densely population - for example, no large river basin/delta etc. Would a reasonable estimate would be a range [500,000-1,000,000]? Population of 3,750,000 around 220 BCE
[2]
when Rome had most of Italy and some overseas possessions so it unlikely will be more than 1,000,000 based on these estimates.
Rome
[3]
100: 500 BCE
150: 400 BCE
250: 300 BCE
Rome (reported census tallies)
[1]
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
[1]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
[2]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[3]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
Inhabitants.
500 BCE
same area as 600 BCE
400 BCE
same area as 600 BCE
300 BCE
polity territory of 25,000-30,000 at this time. Rome had a reported census population of perhaps 250,000.
[1]
The new territory conquered did not have a city as large as Rome and may not have been especially densely population - for example, no large river basin/delta etc. Would a reasonable estimate would be a range [500,000-1,000,000]? Population of 3,750,000 around 220 BCE
[2]
when Rome had most of Italy and some overseas possessions so it unlikely will be more than 1,000,000 based on these estimates.
Rome
[3]
100: 500 BCE
150: 400 BCE
250: 300 BCE
Rome (reported census tallies)
[1]
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
[1]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
[2]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[3]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
Inhabitants.
500 BCE
same area as 600 BCE
400 BCE
same area as 600 BCE
300 BCE
polity territory of 25,000-30,000 at this time. Rome had a reported census population of perhaps 250,000.
[1]
The new territory conquered did not have a city as large as Rome and may not have been especially densely population - for example, no large river basin/delta etc. Would a reasonable estimate would be a range [500,000-1,000,000]? Population of 3,750,000 around 220 BCE
[2]
when Rome had most of Italy and some overseas possessions so it unlikely will be more than 1,000,000 based on these estimates.
Rome
[3]
100: 500 BCE
150: 400 BCE
250: 300 BCE
Rome (reported census tallies)
[1]
c250,000: 300 BCE
c210,000: 200 BCE
c400,000: 100 BCE
[1]: (Scheidel http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/070706.pdf
[2]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[3]: (Modelski 2003, 49)
"much of central Italy remained without cities down to the age of Cicero. Here the pattern was of scattered villages and farmsteads, often within reach of a fortified hill-top, where it was possible to take refuge in time of war, but which was never built up or lived in, indeed which did not even fulfil the political or religious functions of a city."
[1]
Detailed descriptions of different types of communities in the Peninsula and their relations
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
1. Rome
2. Satellite village
1. Capital ’Rome’
By 300 BC had expanded to include all of southern Italy.
2.municipia3.coloniae4. Village/vici5. Pagirural settlements
colonies
338 BC Roman maritime colony at Antium.
334 BC Latin colony at Cales.
329 BC Roman maritime colony at Terracina.
328 BC Latin colony at Fregellae (just in Samnite territory).
[1]: (Crawford 1988, 18) Crawford, Michael. Early Rome and Italy. Boardman, John. Griffin, Jasper. Murray, Oswald. eds. 1988. The Oxford History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Raaflaub 2006) “Between Myth and History: Rome’s Rise from Village to Empire (The Eighth Century to 264).” In A Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein-Marx, 123-46. Malden, MA: Blackwell
[3]: (Eckstein 2006) Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[4]: (Bispham 2006) “Coloniam Deducere: How Roman Was Roman Colonization during the Middle Republic.” In Greek and Roman Colonization. Origins, Ideologies and Interactions, Swansea, edited by Guy Bradley, John-Paul Wilson, and Edward Bispham, 73-160. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
[5]: (Rich 2008) “Treaties, Allies and the Roman Conquest of Italy.” In War and Peace in Ancient and Medieval History, edited by Philip de Souza, 51-75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]: (Hoyer 2012) “Samnite Economy and the Competitive Environment of Italy, 5th - 3rd C. BC.” In Processes of Integration and Identity Formation in the Roman Republic (S. Roselaar, Ed.), 179-96. Leiden: Brill.
[7]: (Rosenstein 2012) Rome and the Mediterranean 290 to 146 BC: The Imperial Republic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
"much of central Italy remained without cities down to the age of Cicero. Here the pattern was of scattered villages and farmsteads, often within reach of a fortified hill-top, where it was possible to take refuge in time of war, but which was never built up or lived in, indeed which did not even fulfil the political or religious functions of a city."
[1]
Detailed descriptions of different types of communities in the Peninsula and their relations
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
1. Rome
2. Satellite village
1. Capital ’Rome’
By 300 BC had expanded to include all of southern Italy.
2.municipia3.coloniae4. Village/vici5. Pagirural settlements
colonies
338 BC Roman maritime colony at Antium.
334 BC Latin colony at Cales.
329 BC Roman maritime colony at Terracina.
328 BC Latin colony at Fregellae (just in Samnite territory).
[1]: (Crawford 1988, 18) Crawford, Michael. Early Rome and Italy. Boardman, John. Griffin, Jasper. Murray, Oswald. eds. 1988. The Oxford History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Raaflaub 2006) “Between Myth and History: Rome’s Rise from Village to Empire (The Eighth Century to 264).” In A Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein-Marx, 123-46. Malden, MA: Blackwell
[3]: (Eckstein 2006) Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[4]: (Bispham 2006) “Coloniam Deducere: How Roman Was Roman Colonization during the Middle Republic.” In Greek and Roman Colonization. Origins, Ideologies and Interactions, Swansea, edited by Guy Bradley, John-Paul Wilson, and Edward Bispham, 73-160. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
[5]: (Rich 2008) “Treaties, Allies and the Roman Conquest of Italy.” In War and Peace in Ancient and Medieval History, edited by Philip de Souza, 51-75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]: (Hoyer 2012) “Samnite Economy and the Competitive Environment of Italy, 5th - 3rd C. BC.” In Processes of Integration and Identity Formation in the Roman Republic (S. Roselaar, Ed.), 179-96. Leiden: Brill.
[7]: (Rosenstein 2012) Rome and the Mediterranean 290 to 146 BC: The Imperial Republic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
"much of central Italy remained without cities down to the age of Cicero. Here the pattern was of scattered villages and farmsteads, often within reach of a fortified hill-top, where it was possible to take refuge in time of war, but which was never built up or lived in, indeed which did not even fulfil the political or religious functions of a city."
[1]
Detailed descriptions of different types of communities in the Peninsula and their relations
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
1. Rome
2. Satellite village
1. Capital ’Rome’
By 300 BC had expanded to include all of southern Italy.
2.municipia3.coloniae4. Village/vici5. Pagirural settlements
colonies
338 BC Roman maritime colony at Antium.
334 BC Latin colony at Cales.
329 BC Roman maritime colony at Terracina.
328 BC Latin colony at Fregellae (just in Samnite territory).
[1]: (Crawford 1988, 18) Crawford, Michael. Early Rome and Italy. Boardman, John. Griffin, Jasper. Murray, Oswald. eds. 1988. The Oxford History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Raaflaub 2006) “Between Myth and History: Rome’s Rise from Village to Empire (The Eighth Century to 264).” In A Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein-Marx, 123-46. Malden, MA: Blackwell
[3]: (Eckstein 2006) Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[4]: (Bispham 2006) “Coloniam Deducere: How Roman Was Roman Colonization during the Middle Republic.” In Greek and Roman Colonization. Origins, Ideologies and Interactions, Swansea, edited by Guy Bradley, John-Paul Wilson, and Edward Bispham, 73-160. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
[5]: (Rich 2008) “Treaties, Allies and the Roman Conquest of Italy.” In War and Peace in Ancient and Medieval History, edited by Philip de Souza, 51-75. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]: (Hoyer 2012) “Samnite Economy and the Competitive Environment of Italy, 5th - 3rd C. BC.” In Processes of Integration and Identity Formation in the Roman Republic (S. Roselaar, Ed.), 179-96. Leiden: Brill.
[7]: (Rosenstein 2012) Rome and the Mediterranean 290 to 146 BC: The Imperial Republic. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
[1]
[2]
[3]
1. Pontifex maximus
2. Colleges (flamines, augurs, pontifices, vestals)Three colleges of religious officials. 1. augurs 2. decemviri sacris faciundis 3. pontifices
3. high priests of imperial cult in provinces4. priests for a deity (running a specific temple or sanctuary)
"Freelance" religious officials (soothsayers, oracles, seers, etc). This hierarchy refers to the state religion only.
Six Vestals, appointd by pontifex maximus. Girls 6-10 with two living parents served 30 years during which time had to remain chaste. After 30 released and free to marry. Duties included: tend sacred fire and sacred objects "on which the survival of Rome depended (such as the ’palladium’)"; making salt cakes used at sacrifices; various rituals and ceremonial appearances. Vestals had unique "old-fashioned and heavy" costumes and impressive hairstyles "which other women only wore on their wedding".
"Because a vestal’s person was sacrosanct, she could not be executed. Instead, she was entombed in an underground chamber with a bed, a lamp, and some food and water, and left to die. Male accomplices were publicly flogged to death."
[4]
"The vestal virgins were responsible for maintaining the temple of Vesta and performing the rites of the goddess. They ensured that her holy flame, said to have been brought from Troy, was not extingished."
[4]
The vestal virgins had many privileges: "Wills and treaties were in their keeping, and they themselves could make a will. They could conduct business in their own name. They could give evidence in court without taking an oath. ... If they accidentally met a criminal on his way to execution, he was spared."
[4]
; "any injury to them was punishable by death; they could own and administer their own property ...; when they went out they were preceded by a lictor and had complete right of way on the streets; they could even drive in carriages within the city limits (otherwise only permitted to empresses)."
[5]
; given prominent seats at games.
[6]
[1]: (Stearns 2001)
[2]: (Rives 2007)
[3]: (North and Price 2011)
[4]: (McKeown 2010, 13) McKeown, J. C. 2010. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[5]: (Claridge 1998, 103) Claridge, Amanda. 1998. Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[6]: (McKeown 2010, 15) McKeown, J. C. 2010. A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
1. King"The earliest contemporary description of a Roman legion was written by the Greek writer Polybius in c.150-120 BC. He describes a military organization that is distinctively Roman, and specifically refers to it as a ’legion’. It consisted of 4,200 infantry (5,000 in times of emergency), subdivided into units of 120 or 60 men called maniples (’handfuls’), and so modern scholars often refer to it as the ’manipular’ legion, to distinguish it from later legions organized in larger subunits called cohorts." "It perhaps emerged in the 4th century BC (as Livy suggests), due to problems the Romans encountered fighting against enemies who fought in looser formations than the phalanx and in rougher terrain, to which the phalanx was unsuited."
[1]
1. Two Consuls, field commanders.
[2]
2. Quaestors, senior officers.
[2]
"446 BC Creation of office of quaestor (two annually elected)." In 421 BCE quaestors increased to four.
[3]
3. Legion (4,200 men) lead by six Tribunes"Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’)."
[1]
362 BCE "Henceforth Romans annually elect six military tribunes to serve under consuls."
[3]
Legion "headed by six officers called tribunes, who had to have completed a minimum of five or ten years’ military service before appointment."
[4]
4. Maniple (120 or 60 men) commanded by two Centurions"The hastati and principes were divided into ten maniples of 120 men, the triarii into ten of 60 men. The velites were also organized into ten subunits, and assigned to the heavy infantry.
"The officers who commanded the maniples, two for each, were centurions, elected by the soldiers themselves."
[4]
5. Two OptioPage 16 Pollard and Berry (2012): an "optio" is present in graphic but not described in text.
[5]
6. Individual soldiers
[1]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14)
[2]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[3]: (Fields 2011)
[4]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 15)
[5]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 16)
Before the Roman Principate there was no formal bureaucracy. The old Roman treasury - the aerarium Saturni - was housed in the basement of the Temple of Saturn
[1]
The state treasury of the Roman Republic was kept in the custody of the priesthood inside the temple of Saturn, and was managed by elected aristocratic officials called quaestors.
[2]
1. Consuls (two)
presided over the Senate
(minimum 42 years old) both also commanders. Elected by comitia centuriata, an aristocratic assembly.
Until 363 CE consuls may have been called praetors
[3]
.
Two consuls, appointed for one year terms.
[4]
_Governing institutions_
1. Senators in the Senate
Three hundred senators (no minimum age) elected for life, and ten tribunes to represent plebians (created 471 BCE).
2. Quaestors in the State treasuryTreasury called aerarium or aerarium Saturni (treasury of Saturn). This was used for "depositing cash and archives of the Roman state and was situated in the temple of Saturn below the Capitol. It was controlled by the quaestors under the general supervision of the Senate."
[5]
This treasury still existed during the empire period when revenues "were increasingly diverted into the fiscus (imperial treasury). The aerarium eventually became the treasury of the city of Rome."
[5]
elected position. "financial and administrative officials who maintained public records, administered the treasury (aerarium), acted as paymasters accompanying generals on campaigns and were financial secretaries to governors."
[2]
In 2nd century BCE the quaestorship (a provincial appointment?) "was an entry-level office; it had limited powers, and in this period was usually held around age 30."
[6]
3. Assistants or scribes?
3. Equites managerial class who hold public contractsThe equites, the plebeian "middle class", "were also able to take on public contracts, such as road building and supplying equipment to the army."
[7]
4. Workers for Equites
1. Censors (two)
elected position. Two magistrates "that involved some especially important sacral and civic duties".
[8]
The office of the censor (censorship) from 443 BCE but not always present were two officials who enrolled citizens into military service.
[9]
1. Aediles (two)
elected by comitia tributa. "Two plebeian magistrates administered temple of Ceres, function later "extended to public buildings and archives (of the plebiscita and senatus consulta). From 367 BC two curule aediles were elected from the patricians. The plebeian and curule aediles had similar functions at Rome; they were in charge of the maintenance and repair of public buildings (such as temples, roads and aqueducts), of markets (especially weights and measures), of the annona (to the time of Julius Caesar), and of public games and festivals (to the time of Augustus, when games were transferred to praetors)."
[2]
1. Praetors (six?)
elected by comitia centuriata. "In 366 BC the praetor urbanus (city praetor) was introduced, who was almost exclusively concerned with the administration of law at Rome. The praetor ... was the supreme civil judge. By the middle republic the praetors’ powers were restricted to law and justice... By 241 BC a second praetor ... was established to deal with legal cases in which one or both parties were foreigners. ... there were eight by 80 BC. Praetors issued annual edicts that were an important source of Roman law."
[2]
"A third magistracy, the praetorship, was also established in 367."
[10]
The first plebeian praetor was in 336 BCE.
[10]
_ Provincial administration _
2. Municipia/praefecturaeCapua and Cumae had an internal government subject to Roman supervision
[11]
2. ColoniaeFirst Latin coloniae after 338, Cales founded 334 BCE. Latin status not Roman citizenship. Other areas, such as Capua and Arpinum, immediately acquired Roman citizenship
[4]
Colonies of citizens - 8 coastal by 264, Latin colonies established by military (devolved government modelled on Rome). Civitates foederate, socii (allies, contributed troops to Rome).
[11]
2. Autonomous governmentsOld Latin states (Tibur and Praeneste) autonomous government in treaty of 338 (could become Roman citizens and were obliged to provide soldiers)
[11]
[1]: Garrett Fagan. Personal Communication.
[2]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 42) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. New York.
[3]: (Stearns 2001)
[4]: (Crawford 2001)
[5]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 45) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. New York.
[6]: (Brennan 2004, 36) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[7]: (Adkins and Adkins 1994, 38) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[8]: (Brennan 2004, 34) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[9]: (Oakley 2004, 17) Oakley, Stephen P. The Early Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[10]: (Oakley 2004, 18) Oakley, Stephen P. The Early Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[11]: (Stearns 2001, 79)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
Army pay introduced at the start of a campaign against Veii 406 CE: "According to Livy (4.9.11), the Senate introduced army pay (stipendium) to compensate the men serving in this struggle for the labor they lost on their family farms." For the same reason it is widely agreed that pay was introduced due to prolonged campaigns "from the later fourth century onwards, during the wars against the Samnites, the Etruscans, and Gauls." The tributum tax, which is mentioned "from roughly 400 BC onwards" is thought to have been introduced for citizens to pay for soldiers.
[1]
Professional soldiers were certainly present from the beginning of the Roman Principate. "Augustus’ main military reforms had the effect of turning the army into a standing force of long-service professionals, instead of the part-time citizen force of the Republic."
[2]
It is also argued that a professional corps developed from the reforms of Marius in 105 BCE. Some further maintain that the pre-existing citizen militia was "essentially professional" by 220 BCE.
[3]
[1]: (Erdkamp 2011, 105) Erdkamp, P. 2011. A Companion to the Roman Army. John Wiley & Sons.
[2]: (Fields, 2006, 35)
[3]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
"Rome had no full-time male priests, but the Vestals were supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[1]
Early Roman cults were funded by regular public offerings, large individual donations, and payment for services. The hierarchy could also profit from land ownership. Professionalism of the priesthood likely pre-dates the Roman era as similar patterns are evident in Greek and Egyptian civilization. When the state provided gifts, it was often in the form of a lavish construction, such as a new temple. Examples: priests of Isis were "full-time religious professionals"
[2]
; Vestals were "supported by the state and were full-time professional clergy, along with the Priestess of Ceres and Proserpina."
[3]
Priests "who interpreted the rules surrounding the auspices" were called augurs.
[4]
The augurs worked within two defined areas: a "sacral boundary formed by the circuit of the old city wall (pomerium)" referred to as public auspices and "Outside the city (militae, ’in the field’), another set obtained the ’military’ auspices."
[4]
[1]: (Culham 2014, 131) Culham, Phyllis. Women in the Roman Republic. Flower, Harriet I. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[2]: (Grant and Kitzinger, 1988, 938)
[3]: (Flower ed. 2004, 143)
[4]: (Brennan 2004, 37) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
The highest officers in the Roman military system were usually senators not professionals. There were, however, professional junior officers at least from the Roman Principate.
"Typically the men who commanded armies and legions were senators. There were no military specialists in Roman government and no imperial high command. All senators alternated brief periods of military command with administrative posts, participation in domestic politics and careers as legal advocates. As military commanders they were, to a great extent, amateurs, even though most did a brief spell as a junior officer (tribune) in a legion. They would have depended on the professional junior officers (tribunes and centurions) as well as the training and discipline of the legionaries themselves to win battles.""
[1]
"Tribunes, like the legionary legate (commander), were drawn from Rome’s social and political elite, the senatorial and equestrian orders, and were not professional soldiers. They alternated military service with political, judicial and administrative duties."
[2]
[1]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 38)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 39)
The first senate building, the Curia Hostilia, existed from about 600 BCE.
[1]
The first paving of the Roman Forum occurred around 575-625 BCE.
[2]
The first coin minted in Rome occurred about 269 BCE (one in Neapolis produced coins slightly earlier, around 281 BCE) and the first state archives was created in 78 BCE. Other buildings include: granaries and storehouses.
The Senate also often met in appropriate temples.
[3]
The old Roman treasury - the aerarium Saturni - was housed in the basement of the Temple of Saturn. There were lots of multi-purpose government buildings: basilicas, imperial fora, and porticos, which were utilized for government functions, such as official meetings or court hearings.
[1]: (Cornell 1995, 94)
[2]: (Cornell 1995, 100)
Before the Roman Principate there was no formal bureaucracy. The old Roman treasury - the aerarium Saturni - was housed in the basement of the Temple of Saturn
[1]
The state treasury of the Roman Republic was kept in the custody of the priesthood inside the temple of Saturn, and was managed by elected aristocratic officials called quaestors.
[2]
During the Roman Principate there were salaried officials who worked in the Imperial Bureaux (scrinia)
[3]
but before this time any bureaucrats are thought to have been unpaid aristocrats within a complex administrative structure of five census classes each with its own fiscal and military duties.
[4]
[1]: Garrett Fagan. Personal Communication.
[2]: (Adkins and Adkins 1998, 42) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. New York.
[4]: (Crawford 2001, 32)
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
At this time, lawyers were amateurs. "With a few exceptions, the leading jurists belonged to the Senatorial aristocracy... expert knowledge and ’professional’ in these fields [rhetoric, logic and grammar] were not matters for gentlemen but schoolmasters, frequently Greeks, slaves or freedmen."
[3]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome.
[4]
"Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history."
[4]
"In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form."
[4]
Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE.
[5]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4])
[2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163)
[3]: (Mousourakis, 2007, 61)
[4]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
Law specialists first existed during the Principate when they commanded fees for their expertise. We know this because Emperor Claudius attempted to "limit the fees of advocates, which had become intolerably heavy" to protect "women and other helpless litigants from the rapacity of their lawyers."
[1]
The first law school in Rome, for persons who wished to pursue career in the Imperial civil service, was established late second century CE. "Professional" lawyers replaced orators during the Roman Dominate period.
[2]
At this time, lawyers were amateurs. "With a few exceptions, the leading jurists belonged to the Senatorial aristocracy... expert knowledge and ’professional’ in these fields [rhetoric, logic and grammar] were not matters for gentlemen but schoolmasters, frequently Greeks, slaves or freedmen."
[3]
Brennan (2004) refers to "specialists in jurisprudence" during Republican Rome.
[4]
"Certainly by c. 200 B.C. the Roman elite was taking an academic interest in the city-state’s legal history."
[4]
"In the developed Republic ... some important colleges of priests maintained books of precedents; the senate’s part decrees could be consulted in written form."
[4]
Latin legal literature began to develop c.200 BCE.
[5]
[1]: (Allcroft and Haydon 1902, 121 [4])
[2]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163)
[3]: (Mousourakis, 2007, 61)
[4]: (Brennan 2004, 31) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Brennan 2004, 32) Brennan, Corey T. Power and Process Under The Republican ’Constitution’. Flower, Harriet I ed. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press.
Professional judges did not exist until the Roman Dominate although at that time their precise role vis-a-vis that of Imperial officials is a matter of debate. [1] Before this time there were no judges as a distinct profession in the Roman system of law. Local magistrates dealt with local matters, provincial governors dealt with provincial matters, and the praetors often dealt with cases in Rome. The Roman people could be duly convened as a final court of appeal in cases involving citizens.
[1]: (Mousourakis 2007, 163)
A formal legal code was first founded in the Twelve Tables of 450-449 BCE. Law thereafter was based on precedent. Our sources of knowledge of Roman law include the forensic speeches of Cicero; the Institutes of Gaius textbook (from 160 CE); and, much later, the sixth century CE Corpus Ius Civilis of Justinian. Wax tablets and papyri (contracts and wills etc.) also provide information on Roman law. [1]
[1]: (Tellegen-Couperus, 2002, 66)
During the Roman Dominate administration of justice was "thoroughly bureaucratized" and "regular courts, special courts were established to deal with particular matters and categories of persons." [1] Before this time there was no specialised court building. Courts could be held in the basilicas [2] (introduced by the 3rd Century BCE [3] ) where a provincial governor could an hold audience or in the Roman forum. Basilicas were multi-purpose buildings a place for banking and money-changing and town hall activities. The forum was a multi-purpose building which had existed since the Roman Kingdom.
[1]: (Mousourakis 2007, 161)
[2]: (Berger 1968, 742)
[3]: (Stearns 2001)
Rome’s mayoral office which supervised the import of grain, dates back to early days of the Roman Republic.
[1]
"The Republican stages of the Roman attempt to deal with storage problems are to some extent lost, because the material remains of most of the warehouses we have found belong to the Imperial period, but there are some clues."
[2]
From literary sources [Livy] it seems that the major development of Rome’s river port and its attendant warehouses did not take place until the early second century B.C. Earlier the old Forum Boarium and Forum Holitorium in the centre of Rome seem to have coped with the main flow of imports which had probably come down the Tiber from the Italian hills."
[2]
[1]: (Canciello 2005)
[2]: (Rickman 1971, 2)
The Via Salaria, “salt road,” and the Sacra Via in Rome, were in existence from the beginning of the Roman Kingdom. [1] The first paved road was the probably the military road to Capua called the Appian Way commissioned by Appius Claudius Caecus around 312 BCE. [2] In about 450 BCE the laws of the Twelve Tables, dated to approximately 450 BCE, issued regulations for the dimensions of roads. So at least from 450 BCE the pre-paved roads had maintenance work done of them.
[1]: (Cornell 1995, 48, 96)
The first canal is thought to have been built by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 187 BCE) to drain the lower Po region.
The first bridge thought to be the Pons Sublicius possibly in built 642 BCE under Ancus Marcius.
Presence of weights and measures, intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance.
Temple building would have been associated with written outline of beliefs and religious practices.
The Sibyl of Cumae reportedly offered nine books of prophecies to the Roman Kingdom monarch Tarquin. Three books were purchased and kept in the Temple of Jupiter.
Intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance.
Twelve Tables laws 450 BCE.
Intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance.
Slightly later than this period but close enough to suggest presence (noting the intellectual culture and Greek cultural inheritance of the Roman polity): 240 BCE Latin translation of a Greek play. Satires of Lucilius, tragedies of Pacuvias (220-131 BCE). Greek inspired work, Ennius "Annales", Plautus’s comedies, poetry and drame of Naevius (270-200).
[1]
[1]: (Stearns 2001)
Calendar of Numa in use since 713 BCE. Pontifex Maximus determined when an intercalary month was to be inserted.
Spintria may have been used in the Principate to pay prostitutes although it is also argued that these were gaming pieces.
Spintria may have been used in the Principate to pay prostitutes although it is also argued that these were gaming pieces.
gold was used as a store of wealth (cf J.-M. Carrié 2003 "Solidus et Credit") and conceivably was used for payment.
The Romans did not use paper currency in any period.
Late fourth century adopted coinage on Greek model. [1] "Around 272 Aurelian attempted a currency reform. In place of the defunct sestertius, he issued a XXI billon (very debased silver) coinage as small change (a reformed antoninianus). ... They were made of copper washed in silver and contained about 5 percent silver." [2] Rome produced its first coin about 281 BCE, a Greek-style silver didrachma, minted in Neapolis (and twelve years later coins were minted in Rome.) Prior to end of Second Punic War (end 201 BCE) many coins were produced by communities other than Rome. Monetary and economic unity from Rome was achieved by the early 1st century BCE. [3]
[1]: (Crawford 1988, 32-33) Crawford, Michael. Early Rome and Italy. Boardman, John. Griffin, Jasper. Murray, Oswald. eds. 1988. The Oxford History of the Roman World. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[2]: (Adkins and Adkins 1994, 307) Adkins, Lesley. Adkins, Roy A. 1998. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[3]: (Crawford 2001, 32, 42)
Slaves were acquired by means of exchange: "we are told that some Gallic chiefs were so fond of Italian wine they would give a slave for a single jar, and there is literary evidence for Gallic slaves in Italy." [1] Salt was used as payment to soldiers from 406 BCE and was an essential commodity with the "Salt Road" being in existence from the start of the Roman Kingdom period.
[1]: (Rawson 2001, 59)
No general postal service until the Cursus Publicus, established by Augustus during the Principate.
No general postal service until the Cursus Publicus, established by Augustus during the Principate.
"Romans were so fond of the texture effect of opus quadratum that they continued to use this technique even after having developed more effective kinds of masonry." [1]
[1] The 392 BCE conquest Veii gave the Romans access to a quality building stone, the Grotta Oscura tufa. In 374 BCE a stone wall constructed around Rome used this stone. [2] opus caementicium - Roman concrete. Servian wall constructed from 378 BCE. [3]
[1]: (http://www.romeartlover.it/Costroma.html)
[2]: (Stearns 2001)
[3]: (Fields 2011)
for the largest armies 20-25 miles per day. Theodore Dodge’s Caesar: A History of The Art of War (1900). EXTERNAL_INLINE_LINK: http://seshat.info/File:DodgeHow.jpg
"By the time of the Roman Republic (c.509-44BC), the use of steel in the manufacture of swords was well advanced and Roman swordsmiths smelted iron ore and carbon in a bloomery furnace (the predecessor of the blast furnace)." [1] However, this source is not very academic, so a better source is needed to be sure.
[1]: (http://www.weapons-universe.com/Swords/Ancient_Roman_Weapons.shtml)
From an earlier period: "Whereas clansmen were best equipped for and accustomed to cattle raids and skirmishes, hoplites were armoured spearmen who fought shoulder to shoulder in a phalanx formation. These citizen-soldiers were now protected by helmet, corselet and greaves, all of bronze, and wielded a long spear and large shield." [1]
[1]: (Fields 2011)
Inferred from flint arrowheads found in earlier period.
Not at this time: "the hand-held crossbow was invented by the Chinese, in the fifth century BC, and probably came into the Roman world in the first century AD, where it was used for hunting." [1] The crossbow also developed after the Syracuse Greek Dionysios I invented a form of crossbow called the gastraphetes in 399 BCE. [2]
[1]: (Nicholson 2004, 99) Helen Nicholson. 2004. Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500. PalgraveMacmillan. Basingstoke.
[2]: (Keyser and Irby-Massie 2006, 260) Paul T Keyser. Georgia Irby-Massie. Science, Medicine, And Technology. Glenn R Bugh. ed. 2006. The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
An aklys isa small club, sometimes with spikes on one end and often attached to the arm with a leather strap, estimated to have been used by the Osci tribes of phrehistoric Italy. [1]
[1]: (Tarassuk and Blair 1982: 17) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/LK8ZLPC7.
Early Roman equipment was Hellenistic and "would not have been out of place in a Hoplite phalanx." The warrior had two spears of different sized heads. [1] "Hastati and principes also carried a pair of pila (singular pilum), heavy (thus armour-piercing) throwing spears with a long iron head set in a wooden shaft. Pila were thrown at short range before the legionaries engaged their enemies at close quarters with the sword." [2] "Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond). [3]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 5-6)
[2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 15)
[3]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press.
Used in clannish period before introduction of Hoplite equipment c600 BCE.
[1] According to Livy, the military citizen army of Servius Tullius (579-534 BCE) was divided into classes. Servian class I used Greek style hoplite equipment together with a round shield called a clipeus. Classes I and II used oval shield called a scrutum. [2] "Legionaries carried a distinctively Roman shield, a long (4 Roman feet, c 1.17 m) oval type called a scutum, of laminated wood and canvas with an iron rim and boss." [3] "Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond). [4]
[1]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[2]: (Fields 2007, 5)
[3]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 15)
[4]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press.
Greaves. [1] "Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond). [2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 5)
[2]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press.
"Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond). [1]
[1]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press.
Possible. Already introduced by Assyria.
[1] Early Roman equipment was Hellenistic which implies helmets and Roman illustrations from the 5th century depict helmets. [2] "Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond). [3]
[1]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
[2]: (Fields 2007, 5-6)
[3]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press.
"Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond). [1]
[1]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press.
The Early Roman Republic did not build specialized military vessels. Rome relied on allies and subject peoples for ships. The First Punic War, from 264 BCE, saw the first systematic attempt by the Romans to make their own ships and for this purpose they copied the Carthaginian quinquireme. To this they added a corvus (bridge) which was used to board enemy ships. [1]
[1]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007)
