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• The term “republic” comes from the term “res publica” which means “affair”.
• The Roman Republic was replaced by the Roman Empire in 510 - 27 BC.
• After the last Roman king Tarquinius Superbus was driven away, his powers had been divided between officials or magistrates.
• Officials in the Roman Republic were for 1 year; rich Romans had better opportunities to become officials, because they had enough money.
• The chief officials of the Roman Republic were the consuls, who controlled each other and had the right to overrule the other’s decision by saying Veto.
• A dictator was a leader with absolute power in time of crisis, appointed for 6 months.
• A praetor was a judge.
• Questors were responsible for the
• Censors were tax officials, who kept a record of each individual’s property.
• Tribunes had absolute veto power.
• Some of the chief officials became members of the Senate, which was an advisory board with big political influence in the times of Roman Empire.
• The Senate had 300 members and it controlled the Roman treasury and foreign policy.
• There were 4 types of assembly that had the legislative power in the Roman Republic: Curiate assembly, Centuriate Assembly, Assembly of Tribes, and Council of Plebeians.
• The Curiate assembly was organized on the basis of the early Roman family, or, more specifically, on the basis of the thirty original Patrician clans, and it elected higher officials such as consuls.
• The Centuriate Assembly was created in the times of Kingdom, when Romans were divided into wealth classes, and it had special powers in critical times to decide about peace or to declare war; it elected consuls, censors and praetors.
• The Assembly of Tribes existed in the times of kingdom and it included all citizens based on their residence, they elected minor officials.
• The Council of Plebeians was the principal popular assembly, first they elected the tribune, since 3.century BC they had legislative powers, other assemblies only elected officials.
• In the early republic, two groups (classes) of Romans existed: Patricians, landowners, members of the old aristocratic families, who held important government offices and had all the privileges, and Plebeians, common farmers, artists, merchants, majority of the population.
• Plebeians fought for greater political representation, first they formed their own assembly: the Council of Plebeians, they could elect their own representatives who protected their rights from unfair acts of patrician officials.
• In 451 BC the first written Roman Code, the Code of Twelve Tables, was created.
• Soon the plebeians and patricians were allowed to marry each other, the struggle for equality ended in 3.century BC.