After the defeat of Praeneste and Velitrae peace returned among the Latin allies, at least for the moment. But Rome still had plenty of other problems to deal with. The war with the Volsci was a never-ending story and these old enemies proved to be exceptionally tough. In the years…
The Greek historian Polybius (ca. 203-120 BCE), who lived in Rome for a long time, has left us a description of the mixed constitution of the Roman Republic. He saw the consuls as the monarchic element of the constitution, the Senate as the aristocratic element and the people and their…
In the late sixth century BCE the Romans traded in their monarchy for a republican system of government. In the century that followed, the Roman Republic was dominated by the class of the patricians, the ancient Roman nobility of which the members had held the most important civil and religious…
The Conflict of the Orders of the Early Republic was not, as is often claimed, a struggle between the patricians and plebeians. It was actually a struggle between, on the one hand, the patricians and the elite among the plebeians, and on the other between the two elites together –…
Towards the end of the sixth century BCE the Romans abolished their monarchy. The precise circumstances leading to this decision will probably remain shrouded in mystery forever, but it seems highly unlikely that anger about a crime committed by the son of the last king was the main reason to…
Affirmative action in favour of minorities or the politically disadvantaged is not a modern phenomenon. It was also known in Antiquity. In the fourth century BCE, a form of affirmative action was introduced in the Roman Republic. The plans to introduce it sparked a heated debate. ‘Positive discrimination’ was just…