Roman+Republic+-+Sean+Taylor+Socio-Political+Structure

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 * Roman Republic Constitution
 * Magistrates || Consuls (2) || * Administered legislation
 * Military generals in military campaigns
 * Rome representatives (foreign affairs)
 * Possibility to serve as dictator for 6 months in a crisis situation
 * Became proconsul when term ended ||
 * || Praetors (8) || * Judges of law
 * Administractive duties of consuls when they were absent
 * Propraetors when term ended ||
 * || Censors (2) || * Elected every 5 years for terms of 1½ years
 * Revised lists of senators
 * Conducted census of citizens and property assessments for tax purposes
 * Granted state contracts ||
 * || Aediles (4) || * 2 aediles were plebians
 * 2 were of a higher status
 * Supervised public places and games
 * Watched grain supply ||
 * || Tribunes (10) || * Exclusively plebians
 * Ability to veto magistrate decisions
 * Sacrosanct - anyone who attacked them (physically) was would be killed outright ||
 * || Quaestors (20) || * Watched finances
 * Could fill spot of the Senate; had to be appointed by censors ||
 * Senate |||| * Made up of 600 magistrates or ex-magistrates
 * Met in the Roman Forum
 * Although technically an advisory council, the Senate held most of the power
 * Controlled public finances and foreign affairs, assigned military commands and provinces, and debated and passed decrees that would be submitted to the assemblies for final ratification ||
 * Assemblies || Assemly of the Curiae || * Oldest assembly
 * Mostly conducted ceremonial and clan activities ||
 * || Assemly of the Centuries || * Proper body to declare war
 * Membership based on wealth
 * 193 centuries in Assembly
 * Elect consuls, praetors, and censors
 * Served as highest court for cases of capitol punishment ||
 * || Assemly of the Tribes || * Elect lower magistrates (tribunes, etc)
 * 35 tribes
 * More frequently used to pass legislations (plebicites) ||

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 * Social Classes
 * **Upper Class** || //Political// || Senatorial class (//senatores)// || * Men who served in Senate and families
 * Dominated by nobles
 * Men of the senatorial class wore a tunic with broad stripes
 * Senators had to prove they had 1,000,000 sesterces of land ||
 * || //Economical// || Equestrian class (equites) || * Had to own at least 400,00 sesterces of propterty
 * Equestrians wore a tunic with narrow stripes ||
 * || //Women// |||| * Classes defined my male activities, not birth
 * Women belonged to social class of father, then husband
 * No special dress for women ||
 * **Lower Class** || //Commons (plebs or vulgus)// |||| * Special attire = toga
 * Every person of this class had //conubium// (the right to marry a Roman citizen) ||
 * || //Latins (latinis)// |||| * Freeborn residents of Italy
 * Also born from vertain Roman municipalities who had some legal rights
 * Not Roman citizens until 89 BC
 * Former slaves who had been informally freed by Roman citizens were a special category, “Junian Latins” ||
 * || //Foreigners (peregrini)// |||| * Other freeborn men and women who lived in Roman territories
 * Not completely a Roman citizen ||
 * || //Freedpeople (liberti or libertini)// |||| * Former slaves
 * Freed by masters
 * Not completely a Roman citizen
 * Owes dues to patron (their former master)
 * Cannot become part of Senate or Magistrate ||
 * || //Slaves (servi)// |||| * People were either born into slavery or bought into it by piracy or defeat of their nation
 * Masters owned slaves by law
 * Could buy their freedom back
 * If they attempted escape, they'd wear a metal collar that had an inscription reading, "I have run away. Capture me. When you have returned me to my master, __, you will receive a reward." ||
 * || //Women// |||| * There was no problem including women in the lower classes
 * Women were born the rank of their parents ||
 * **The Struggle of the Orders** || * Initially, the patricians held the power and the wealth
 * Plebians, who had no say in politics, wanted political equality
 * Plebian tribunes gained enormous power and often manipulated it
 * More info on Elysa'sSocio-Political Structure page ||