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System and politics offers interesting facts about the system of government, state institutions, and mechanisms of governance in ancient Rome. This category includes lesser-known facts and interesting details related to the functioning of the republic and empire, offices, political decisions, and the behind-the-scenes public life of the Roman Empire.
During the time of the Republic, the Roman procedure for declaring war was extremely complex and involved several stages. It contained numerous rules, the strict observance of which was of paramount importance. Declaring war also involved numerous religious rites.
In 51 BCE, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rome’s greatest orator and one of its leading intellectuals, was reluctant to travel east to assume the office of governor of Cilicia. For a man whose entire life revolved around the political intrigues of the Roman Forum, a year’s administration of a remote province in Asia Minor was tantamount to exile. He wanted to participate actively in the political life of the capital and had successfully avoided any governorship in previous years. This time, he couldn’t refuse.
In ancient Rome, the water supply system was managed by officials known as curatores aquarum. These were senators of consular rank, appointed by the emperor, responsible for overseeing the construction, maintenance and operation of the city’s aqueducts and water distribution networks. Their duties also included enforcing water laws, preventing illegal connections and resolving disputes related to access to water.
Optimates were a political faction in the late Roman Republic that emerged from conflicts between the senate and the populares, a faction that sided with the people. The term “optimates” comes from the Latin optimates, which means “the best”, “the most distinguished”, and their goal was to defend the traditional values and interests of the senate and the aristocracy.
Foedus, i.e., covenant or treaty, was one of ancient Rome’s most important diplomatic tools. During the early Republic, Rome used the foedera to secure alliances and stabilize its political influence in Italy and on the outskirts of the growing state. These were formal agreements concluded with other cities, states and peoples that regulated the obligations, privileges and relationships between the parties.
In the works of Cicero (106 – 43 BCE), one of the most important philosophers and politicians of ancient Rome, the state (res publica) was primarily a community of citizens. His approach to politics and the state was firmly rooted in the concept of the common good, which he called res populi – the cause of the people.
In the Roman Republic, the Senate was one of the most important political bodies, playing a key role in shaping law and policy. It was headed by princeps senatus. This title did not mean formal power but brought enormous prestige and political influence. Who was princeps senatus, what functions did he perform and why was this title so important in the republican system of Rome?
Roman republic is famous for its rich political system, which has developed a complex power structure over the centuries. At the heart of this system, various political parties competed with each other, the most famous of which were the optimates and the populares. While the optimates represented the interests of the aristocracy, the populares became the spokesman for the plebeians and those who were marginalized by the traditional elites.
Cato the Elder, a tenacious defender of Roman values, became famous, among others, for his opposition to the repeal of lex Oppia. It was then, in one of the first mass demonstrations by women in Roman history, that Roman women gathered on the Capitoline Hill to demand an end to restrictions on luxury. Cato, faithful to ancient traditions, headed the camp of opponents.
The battle of Philippi (43 BCE) in the far north of Greece, lost by the optimates, put an end to dreams of restoring the republic. Brutus and Cassius were dead, and soon after Cicero’s beheaded head was hung on a Roman rostra. The road to the empire led through Actium (31 BCE) and the victory of Augustus, or perhaps Gaius Octavian, over Antony and Cleopatra.
