People
103-405: The gens Sextia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome , from the time of the early Republic and continuing into imperial times . The most famous member of the gens was Lucius Sextius Lateranus , who as tribune of the plebs from 376 to 367 BC, prevented the election of the annual magistrates , until the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia , otherwise known as the "Licinian Rogations," in
206-555: A nomen distinguished by a cognomen . There existed an aristocracy of wealthy families in the regal period, but "a clear-cut distinction of birth does not seem to have become important before the foundation of the Republic". The literary sources hold that in the early Republic, plebeians were excluded from magistracies , religious colleges , and the Senate . Those sources also hold that they were also not permitted to know
309-477: A republic . The details of the event were largely forgotten by the Romans a few centuries later; later Roman historians presented a narrative of the events, traditionally dated to c. 509 BC , but it is largely believed to be fictitious by modern scholars. The traditional account portrays a dynastic struggle in which the king's second son, Sextus Tarquinius , rapes a noblewoman, Lucretia . Upon revealing
412-703: A bridgehead to invade Latium . But after the Etruscan defeat at the Battle of Aricia in 504 BC, Porsenna is forced to withdraw and leave the Romans to face Latin attempts to restore Tarquin as king. When the Latins are unable to prevail by force of arms at Lake Regillus, Tarquin then goes into exile in Cumae, leaving the republic standing. If this theory is true, it also would explain the appointment of Brutus and Collatinus: Porsenna would want to install someone to govern
515-471: A nascent republic. Not all modern scholars, however, accept a revolutionary new government as emerging so dramatically, and instead suggest that the kingship faded away into the attested and largely ceremonial rex sacrorum over decades, which the Roman republican historians compressed into a single dramatic event. There are many different theories about what happened at the start of the republic. The evidence
618-432: A republic and thereafter elected two consuls annually to rule the city. Many modern scholars dismiss this narrative as fictitious. There does not exist, however, any concrete evidence for or against it. Various scholars have dismissed aspects of the traditional story, from the historicity of almost all of its major characters to the overthrow's entire existence. Scholars and the ancient sources themselves disagree on when
721-470: A source for some of the stories transmitted via Livy. The sources we have today for the monarchy and the earliest parts of the republic are "notorious[ly] unreliable" literary sources: Livy , Dionysius of Halicarnassus , along with some supporting work from Plutarch 's Life of Poplicola . The first literary history in Rome was written by Quintus Fabius Pictor c. 200 BC , centuries after
824-402: A succession of Roman writers in light of the conditions in the third and second century. This was true even before [133 BC and] a new political climate in which historians had more urgent motives to project the [contemporaneous] political concerns and conflicts [on] earlier Roman history. The stories that were written down by the time of the second century BC were done so by a time
927-507: A triumph for victory over the Etruscans. Tarquin then requests aid from Lars Porsenna , the king of Clusium , who marches on Rome but is stopped by Horatius Cocles who defends a bridge alone against Porsenna's forces until it can be demolished. The heroism of the republic's youths and Rome's force of arms persuade Porsenna to give up his campaign. Tarquin then appeals to his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum , who mobilises
1030-574: A variety of jewelry. Since meat was very expensive, animal products such as pork, beef and veal would have been considered a delicacy to plebeians. Instead, a plebeian diet mainly consisted of bread and vegetables. Common flavouring for their food included honey, vinegar and different herbs and spices. A well-known condiment to this day known as garum , which is a fish sauce, was also largely consumed. Apartments often did not have kitchens in them so families would get food from restaurants and/or bars. One popular outlet of entertainment for Roman plebeians
1133-412: A whole comprised a very small portion of the whole population. The average plebeian child was expected to enter the workforce at a young age. Plebeians typically belonged to a lower socio-economic class than their patrician counterparts, but there also were poor patricians and rich plebeians by the late Republic. Education was limited to what their parent would teach them, which consisted of only learning
SECTION 10
#17327661263061236-441: Is a major class divide. The rich and educated live in safeguarded facilities while others live in dilapidated cities referred to as the "pleeblands". Overthrow of the Roman monarchy The overthrow of the Roman monarchy was an event in ancient Rome that took place between the 6th and 5th centuries BC where a political revolution replaced the then-existing Roman monarchy under Lucius Tarquinius Superbus with
1339-432: Is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen Sextus , meaning "sixth". It is frequently confounded with that of the patrician gens Sestia , and in fact the two families may originally have been the same; however, Roman authors treated them as distinct gentes. The plebeian gens Sextilia was derived from the same praenomen. The main praenomina of the early Sextii were Marcus , Lucius , and Gaius ,
1442-485: Is an Etruscan corruption of Latin magister (as in magister populi , one of the Roman dictator's other titles). The survival of a vestigial dictatorship, normally replaced by two consuls, also suggests similarity to other Latin towns which were ruled by dictators, including Alba Longa , which supposedly had replaced its king with two annually elected dictators before its destruction. Alternatively, another theory also accepted among scholars, including Gary Forsythe,
1545-500: Is built on a methodology of accepting Roman tradition as correct in terms of broad events, but discarding the narrative details themselves as fictitious. This theory was presented in its most complete form in Tim Cornell's 1995 book, Beginnings of Rome , and has some support among scholars. Accepting those broad events, a domestic crisis provides a spark which causes a revolution in Rome c. 500 BC which overthrows
1648-508: Is hotly debated. The historian Tim Cornell makes the point that "as a dynastic history[,] the bare catalogue of events within the Tarquin family is, in itself, perfectly credible". Yet, it is only that dynastic history which is credible. The parts around it are less compatible: a palace coup orchestrated by possible royal claimants "sits rather uncomfortably with the notion [that the uprising was] inspired by republican ideals". The hatred of
1751-577: Is little middle ground between a critical reading of the sources and blind acceptance of self-contradictory and unsatisfactory sources: reconstructing the earliest parts of the republic based on a critical reading "runs the risk of simply producing [a] modern narrative with no basis at all in the evidence". Much of the traditional narratives given from the ancient sources are distrusted by modern scholars, who especially note how ancient sources borrowed literary tropes to embellish sparse details – even if those details are accepted in terms of basic events such as
1854-420: Is profoundly unclear: "many aspects of the story as it has come down to us must be wrong, heavily modernised... or still much more myth than history". Substantial portions of the rhetoric put into the mouths of the plebeian reformers of the early Republic are likely imaginative reconstructions reflecting the late republican politics of their writers. Contradicting claims that plebs were excluded from politics from
1957-412: Is sufficiently sparse that many stories can be plausibly put forth. Modern views range from a semi-traditional account accepting the general facts of Roman tradition to hyper-critical accounts which argue that basically all of Rome's early history are the result of "artificial numerological exercises" and almost pure invention from association with other historical events. The semi-traditionalist approach
2060-476: Is that the Capitoline temple is older than the republic and that the republic's fasti were artificially lengthened to make the foundation of the temple and the republic line up. Robert Werner argued this in a 1963 monograph. He believed that some of the names of the fasti , mostly Etruscan ones, were fake, dismissing plebeian names under the assumption they could not hold the consulship. Doing so brings
2163-526: Is that the republic arose from Lars Porsenna's invasion itself. This theory was first presented by Andreas Alföldi in 1965. Accepting the tradition – specifically in Tacitus and Pliny the Elder – that Porsenna was successful in capturing Rome, he either abolishes the monarchy directly or puts the existing king to flight. Tarquin flees to other Latin cities for support while Porsenna uses Rome as
SECTION 20
#17327661263062266-418: The fasti ]". Roman tradition held that there were seven kings of Rome who reigned from the city's founding (traditionally dated to 753 BC) by Romulus up to the reign of Tarquin. Archaeological evidence indicates there were kings in Rome; but most scholars do not believe that the traditional narrative is historical, ascribing its characters and details to later literary invention. According to
2369-399: The plebs urbana , while those who lived in the country and were part of the 31 smaller rural tribes are sometimes differentiated by using the label plebs rustica . In the annalistic tradition of Livy and Dionysius , the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by Romulus ' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became
2472-643: The Latin League against Rome, until they too are defeated at the Battle of Lake Regillus (with the Romans receiving divine assistance from Castor and Pollux ). With no more allies willing to attack the Romans, Tarquin leaves for a more permanent exile in Cumae before dying in 495 BC. The Roman government then falls into the hands of a group of aristocratic families, the patricians , who then elect magistrates from among their number, setting up conditions for
2575-569: The Vitellii , the Aquilii , and relatives of Collatinus are discovered plotting to restore the monarchy. After the conspiracy is exposed by a slave, Brutus orders the death of his own sons and relatives. Meanwhile, Tarquin flees to Etruria and persuades various cities there to attack Rome and restore him to the throne. They are unsuccessful and defeated at the Battle of Silva Arsia , where Brutus falls in battle; Poplicola then returns to celebrate
2678-490: The census , or in other words " commoners ". Both classes were hereditary. The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, plēthos , meaning masses. In Latin, the word plebs is a singular collective noun , and its genitive is plebis . Plebeians were not a monolithic social class. Those who resided in the city and were part of the four urban tribes are sometimes called
2781-402: The comitium . The royal sanctuary near Sant'Omobono at the foot of the Capitoline hill also was destroyed and abandoned for around a century. Cornell argues that the abandonment of the site at Sant'Omobono "contributes to the general impression... of an oligarchic coup against a populist tyranny" which was then forced to concede power to the army represented in the comitia centuriata . If
2884-465: The curiae and the tribes; they also served in the army and also in army officer roles as tribuni militum . The Conflict of the Orders ( Latin : ordo meaning "social rank") refers to a struggle by plebeians for full political rights from the patricians. According to Roman tradition, shortly after the establishment of the Republic, plebeians objected to their exclusion from power and exploitation by
2987-518: The ephors of Sparta were ruled by kings but still gave their names to the years; nor was the eponymous magistrate abolished during the Pisistratid tyranny in Athens. This hypothesis, proposed by Krister Hanell, argues that the fasti have nothing to do with the republic at all, which in his view emerged gradually when royal power faded away into the hands of the eponymous magistrates who became
3090-399: The nobiles were patricians, patrician whose families had become plebeian (in a conjectural transitio ad plebem ), and plebeians who had held curule offices (e.g., dictator, consul, praetor, and curule aedile). Becoming a senator after election to a quaestorship did not make a man a nobilis , only those who were entitled to a curule seat were nobiles . However, by the time of Cicero in
3193-539: The Gallic sack of Rome, the surviving ancient historians disagreed at what occurred in what years. For example, Alexander Koptev argued in 2010 that the placement of dates in early Roman history was rooted in a single source by Timaeus of Tauromenium , which "as chronological urvater ... shaped the chronological skeleton of Roman history, basing it on a comparison with the Hellenistic world", directly influencing
Sextia gens - Misplaced Pages Continue
3296-442: The Latins, but suffer a decisive defeat at Aricia. This story also has the added benefit of being supported by a Dionysius of Halicarnassus' history of Aristodemus of Cumae which confirms a defeat of Lars Porsenna and a date of 504 BC for the battle of Aricia from a separate Greek historical tradition. Also suggesting anti-royal sentiment, around 500 BC, there is evidence in the archaeological record of destruction around
3399-470: The Roman story. Shakespeare 's 1594 poem Lucrece "enjoyed immense acclaim when it was first published... telling the story of Lucretia in melodramatic rather than narrative fashion". His play Macbeth also borrowed elements from the ancient stories of Tarquin's fall: Attilio Mastrocinque argues Macduff , Malcolm , and Siward of Northumbria are modelled on Brutus, Lucretius, Collatinus, and Poplicola. Nathaniel Lee , an English playwright, dramatised
3502-436: The Romans had lost any reliable sources on the fall of the monarchy; the purpose of that history as well was not to record the past in its terms, but for senators to describe and celebrate the republic as it existed in their time. Senatorial historiography served to advertise and embellish writers' families rather than describe political or social contexts already lost from memory. For example, T. P. Wiseman argues that many of
3605-518: The Tarquinii is also incompatible with the election of Collatinus (a patrilineal member of the Tarquinii) and of Lucius Junius Brutus (related to the Tarquinii maternally). The intervention and defeat of Lars Porsenna also is questionable; other ancient accounts place him as defeating the nascent republic and imposing harsh peace terms. The specific listing of the consuls in the first year of
3708-594: The U.S. military, plebes are freshmen at the U.S. Military Academy , U.S. Naval Academy , Valley Forge Military Academy and College , the Marine Military Academy , the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy , Georgia Military College (only for the first quarter ), and California Maritime Academy . The term is also used for new cadets at the Philippine Military Academy . Since the construction of Philippine Military Academy ,
3811-480: The Varronian chronology – go back to 509 BC; Livy's list of consuls points to the republic having begun around 502–1 BC. Of course, this would have relied on the lists of consuls being accurate. Later historians reported dates roughly around that time, implying that the republic was founded: A further account is given by Gnaeus Flavius , who asserted his temple to Concordia was dedicated 204 years after
3914-480: The abolition of the kings was commemorated by the later Romans with a statue on the Capitoline Hill – holding an unsheathed sword – in front of the statues of the seven kings of Rome. The story of his overthrow was also referenced by the public as part of a campaign to convince one of his descendants, Marcus Junius Brutus , to organise the assassination of Julius Caesar . Praise of Brutus, both
4017-611: The actual fall of the monarchy. These ancient historians read the fragmentary evidence from early Rome and reconstructed it such that it reflected their present and the surviving accounts of Livy and others are based on these writers rather than the original evidence. Thus: Most scholars now agree that as a result of this process the details of Livy's political and military narrative are unreliable, amounting to reconstruction or plausible invention by Livy himself or by his sources. Similarly, Few can now doubt that earlier times tended, both consciously and unconsciously, to be re-created by
4120-609: The annalists, whose works flow forward to the sources we have today. Timaeus performed "artificial numerological exercises" which provided a chronology onto which dimly remembered oral stories, like that of the expulsion of the kings, could be placed. Here, Timaeus' dating the start of the republic was an arbitrary synchronism: it started in merely the same year in which Cleisthenes established democracy in Athens (510–9 BC). This also neatly explains why Roman history accords with Dionysius' discussion of war between Cumae and Etruria: it
4223-474: The assault to some Roman noblemen, she kills herself. The Roman noblemen, led by Lucius Junius Brutus , obtain the support of the Roman aristocracy and the people to expel the king and his family and create a republic. The Roman army , supporting Brutus, forces the king into exile. Despite a number of attempts by Lucius Tarquinius Superbus to reinstate the monarchy, the Roman people are successful in establishing
Sextia gens - Misplaced Pages Continue
4326-467: The aura of nobilitas ("nobility", also "fame, renown"), marking the creation of a ruling elite of nobiles . From the mid-4th century to the early 3rd century BC, several plebeian–patrician " tickets " for the consulship repeated joint terms, suggesting a deliberate political strategy of cooperation. No contemporary definition of nobilis or novus homo (a person entering the nobility) exists; Mommsen, positively referenced by Brunt (1982), said
4429-425: The central figures of the traditional story, Lucius Junius Brutus , "never existed". As to the sources of the early republic generally, scholars usually accept the timing and occurrence of major events such as laws or battles. The narratives and details of the early republic are, therefore, doubtful even as the events are accepted in their most general terms. These difficulties are especially challenging when there
4532-454: The changes that the expulsion of the kings created. More critical historians, like Forsythe, however, believe Cornell's treatment is "too trusting and overly optimistic" about the nature of the source material. Scholars have recognised that many of the traditional stories were invented by injecting into the past many later events and literary tropes with dates likely copied over from other Hellenistic historical traditions. In those traditions,
4635-458: The city and members of the former royal house would lend legitimacy to his occupation and a co-equal pair would check against abuses. In this story, upon Porsenna's withdrawal, the two officials were retained and turned into the classical consuls. This theory could also be plausibly combined with Cornell's semi-traditionalist account above, by proposing that Porsenna's intervention was opportunistically related to Rome's overthrow of its monarchy and
4738-481: The consular fasti , which synthesises both acceptance of the fasti and the argument that the republic's foundation might not coincide with that of the temple's. Gjerstad's theory, however, requires the end of Etruscan rule to coincide with the monarchy's expulsion, for which there is no evidence. Cornell rejects all of these views as overly revisionist and dependent on a "a complex mixture of archaeological and literary data" while having strong assumptions about
4841-428: The consuls. Cornell argues that Hanell's hypothesis only makes sense if one assumes, ab initio, the republic's creation was gradual and that there is little evidence one way or the other. Also alternatively, Einar Gjerstad argued that moving the expulsion of the kings to a cultural break c. 450 BC matches both with archaeological evidence of impoverishment and the disappearance of Etruscan names from
4944-482: The course of many centuries. However, hairstyles and facial hair patterns changed as initially early plebeian men had beards before a clean shaven look became more popular during the Republican era before having facial hair was popularized again by Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century CE. Some plebeian women would wear cosmetics made from charcoal and chalk. Romans generally wore clothes with bright colors and did wear
5047-468: The creation of plebeian tribunes with authority to defend plebeian interests. Following this, there was a period of consular tribunes who shared power between plebeians and patricians in various years, but the consular tribunes apparently were not endowed with religious authority. In 445 BC, the lex Canuleia permitted intermarriage among plebeians and patricians. There was a radical reform in 367–6 BC, which abolished consular tribunes and "laid
5150-543: The cycle. This causes a second peak in the time of Scipio Africanus before Augustus enters as the figure to re-found Rome again and restart the great year, with Livy suggesting that Romulus, Camillus, and Augustus are coequal heroic figures. The critical approach also stresses the extent to which the sources available today were shaped and moulded by contemporary political concerns and ideologies with an emphasis on furthering favourable political narratives on Rome's early history. The putative role of Lucius Junius Brutus in
5253-687: The debate over ratification of what would become the Constitution of the United States , the authors of The Federalist Papers signed with the pseudonym "Publius", a reference to the Publius Valerius Poplicola of the Livian narrative. In the ancient world, the playwright Lucius Accius composed a tragedy depicting the events of the overthrow, titled Brutus , that combined elements from Greek myth and tragic dramas with
SECTION 50
#17327661263065356-410: The dedication of the capitol. Because his temple was dedicated in 303 BC, this implies the capitol – which traditionally was held to have been dedicated in the first year of the republic – was dedicated in 507. However, modern scholars are sceptical of much of this traditional chronology, especially that related to the dedication of the capitol. This relates mainly to debate over whether
5459-561: The deposition of a corrupt and ineffective tyrant – from a fragmentary tradition. By the time of Fabius Pictor, it seems the tales of the monarchy and its overthrow were already well developed. Many of the legendary events bear uncanny similarities to Greek tales: the rape of Lucretia perhaps being an adaptation of a similar affair which led to the expulsion of the Peisistratid tyranny in Athens also c. 510 BC . Moreover, sexual violence against innocent and virtuous young women
5562-440: The different plebe knowledges. In British, Irish , Australian , New Zealand and South African English , the back-formation pleb , along with the more recently derived adjectival form plebby , is used as a derogatory term for someone considered unsophisticated, uncultured, or lower class. The British comedy show Plebs followed plebeians during ancient Rome. In Margaret Atwood 's novel Oryx and Crake , there
5665-401: The earlier entries on the consular fasti are fabrications. Many historians have argued that the fasti are an unreliable anachronism of the late republic. Resolution of this topic is difficult, however, due to the absolute paucity of reliable sources such that – as the historian Fred Drogula remarks – "we have no way to prove or disprove most of the information contained [in
5768-447: The earlier period – runs four years behind the actual dates (i.e. Varronian year 344 corresponds to real year 340 BC). The simplest way for the Romans to have inferred the age of their republic would have been to look at the list of consuls, of which two were elected every year, and count the number of consular pairs to impute that the republic had existed for however many years corresponded. The fasti Capitolini – relying on
5871-463: The early empire, the word was used to refer to people who were not senators (of the empire or of the local municipalities) or equestrians . Much less is known about the plebeians than the patricians in Ancient Rome, as most could not write, and thus could not record what happened in their daily life. The average plebeian did not come into a wealthy family; the politically active nobiles as
5974-520: The existing monarchy in the city; Rome becomes involved around this time in a greater conflagration affecting most of Tyrrhenian Italy, as around the same time there were also similar revolutions in other states. Lars Porsenna intervenes in northern Latium as part of this conflagration, though his role in the downfall of the Tarquins or if Tarquin requested his assistance is unknown. Porsenna's Etruscan forces probably take Rome and move south to engage
6077-485: The fall of the monarchy, plebeians appear in the consular lists during the early fifth century BC. The form of the state may also have been substantially different, with a temporary ad hoc "senate", not taking on fully classical elements for more than a century from the republic's establishment. The completion of plebeian political emancipation was founded on a republican ideal dominated by nobiles , who were defined not by caste or heredity, but by their accession to
6180-435: The family to fathers and husbands. Plebeians who lived in the cities were referred to as plebs urbana . Plebeians in ancient Rome lived in three or four-storey buildings called insula , apartment buildings that housed many families. These apartments usually lacked running water and heat. These buildings had no bathrooms and was common for a pot to be used. The quality of these buildings varied. Accessing upper floors
6283-399: The foundation for a system of government led by two consuls, shared between patricians and plebeians" over the religious objections of patricians, requiring at least one of the consuls to be a plebeian. And after 342 BC, plebeians regularly attained the consulship. Debt bondage was abolished in 326, freeing plebeians from the possibility of slavery by patrician creditors. By 287, with
SECTION 60
#17327661263066386-503: The height of the buildings to 18 metres (59 ft) but it appeared this law was not closely followed as buildings appeared that were six or seven floors high. Plebeian apartments had frescoes and mosaics on them to serve as decorations. Rents for housing in cities was often high because of the amount of demand and simultaneously low supply. Rents were higher in Rome than other cities in Italy along with other provincial cities. The owner of
6489-532: The high cost of living in the city of Rome kept the value of real wages down. Some plebeians would sell themselves into slavery or their children in order to have access to wealthy households and to them hopefully advance socially along with getting a chance to have an education. Another way plebeians would try to advance themselves was by joining the military which became easier after the Marian reforms as soldiers were expected to pay for their own weapons. By joining
6592-558: The high offices of state, elected from both patrician and plebeian families. There was substantial convergence in this class of people, with a complex culture of preserving the memory of and celebrating one's political accomplishments and those of one's ancestors. This culture also focused considerably on achievements in terms of war and personal merit. Throughout the Second Samnite War (326–304 BC), plebeians who had risen to power through these social reforms began to acquire
6695-435: The insulae did not attend to duties regarding it and instead used an insularius who was most often an educated slave or a freedman instead. Their job was to collect rent from tenants, manage disputes between individual tenants and be responsible for maintenance. Not all plebeians lived in these conditions, as some wealthier plebs were able to live in single-family homes, called a domus . Another type of housing that existed
6798-407: The king had been in the habit of nominating two army officers for the approval from the comitia , "an attractive hypothesis is that... it was they who overthrew their master and took over the state". Cornell also argues that this populist tyranny had for some time reduced the older traditionalist kingship into the ceremonial rex sacrorum , as its existence makes it "easy to speculate" that
6901-407: The kings themselves and figures from the traditional story were ahistorical inventions of the fourth and third centuries BC. Wiseman and the more critical historians similarly dismiss even the earliest Roman historians, such as Fabius Pictor, as having had little knowledge of their own past beyond the fourth century BC. Other scholars go further, such as James Richardson, who believes that one of
7004-696: The large number of events in various societies that lacked firm dates was resolved by assigning the same dates to similar events in those different societies. That early Roman history was reconstructed (or, less generously, in Cicero's description "a forgery") was well known even to the Romans themselves. The primary sources of Roman history to the ancient Romans were lists noting the achievements of family ancestors and priestly notices, all of which lacked chronological significance. Specific years were then assigned by synchronism with various other events under various different reconstructions; for even major events such as
7107-478: The latter year. This law, brought forward by Sextius and his colleague, Gaius Licinius Calvus , opened the consulship to the plebeians, and in the following year Sextius was elected the first plebeian consul. Despite the antiquity of the family, only one other member obtained the consulship during the time of the Republic. Their name occurs more often in the consular fasti under the Empire. The nomen Sextius
7210-482: The laws by which they were governed. However, some scholars doubt that patricians monopolised the magistracies of the early republic, as plebeian names appear in the lists of Roman magistrates back to the fifth century BC. It is likely that patricians, over the course of the first half of the fifth century, were able to close off high political office from plebeians and exclude plebeians from permanent social integration through marriage. Plebeians were enrolled into
7313-439: The length of the hours varied as Romans divided the day into 12 daytime hours and 12 nighttime hours; with the hours being determined based on the seasons. Cicero wrote in the late republican period that he estimated the average laborer working in the city of Rome earned 6 1/2 denarii a day which was 5 times what a provincial worker would make. By middle of the 1st century CE this number was higher because of inflation but however
7416-510: The lower offices. A person becoming nobilis by election to the consulate was a novus homo (a new man). Marius and Cicero are notable examples of novi homines (new men) in the late Republic, when many of Rome's richest and most powerful men – such as Lucullus , Marcus Crassus , and Pompey – were plebeian nobles. In the later Republic, the term lost its indication of a social order or formal hereditary class, becoming used instead to refer to citizens of lower socio-economic status. By
7519-415: The military they could get a fixed salary, share of war loot along with a pension and an allotted land parcel. There was also the reward of getting citizenship for non-citizens. Potential recruits needed to meet a variety of requirements as well which included: being male, at least 172 centimetres (5.64 ft) tall, enlist before one was 35, having a letter of recommendation and completing training. In
7622-455: The monarchy was overthrown and how old the resulting republic was. The most well-known date for the establishment of the republic, and therefore, the expulsion of the kings, is 509 BC. The specific dating to 509 BC emerges from the Varronian chronology , assembled during the late republic by Marcus Terentius Varro and later used by the fasti Capitolini , which likely – in
7725-466: The monarchy; among Brutus' reforms, he proposes the banishment of all members of the Tarquin clan, leading also to the banishment of his co-consul Collatinus, who is replaced in office by Poplicola. Note, however, that the Romans, also report that in this early period, the consuls were initially called praetores (deriving from "leader"). Soon after, Brutus' two sons, brothers of Brutus' wife,
7828-414: The most common names throughout all periods of Roman history. From filiations, we know that some of them also used Numerius and Sextus , of which the former was relatively uncommon at Rome. Later generations of this gens used Publius , Titus , and Quintus , all of which were also common. Epigraphy provides instances of Vibius , a name that was also used by the patrician Sestii, supporting
7931-555: The one who expelled the kings and the one who killed Caesar, was common during the French Revolution ; the name was appropriated as an exemplar of civic republican virtues and citizenship. Boys, and whole towns, were named after Brutus. The leaders of the French Revolution, according to Mona Ozouf , drew on "legendary antiquity... to rise to the level of the events which they were living". Contemporaneously, in
8034-418: The passage of the lex Hortensia , plebiscites – or laws passed by the concilium plebis – were made binding on the whole Roman people. Moreover, it banned senatorial vetoes of plebeian council laws. And also around the year 300 BC, the priesthoods also were shared between patricians and plebeians, ending the "last significant barrier to plebeian emancipation". The veracity of the traditional story
8137-680: The patricians. The plebeians were able to achieve their political goals by a series of secessions from the city: "a combination of mutiny and a strike". Ancient Roman tradition claimed that the Conflict led to laws being published, written down, and given open access starting in 494 BC with the law of the Twelve Tables , which also introduced the concept of equality before the law, often referred to in Latin as libertas , which became foundational to republican politics. This succession also forced
8240-524: The patriciate. Modern hypotheses date the distinction "anywhere from the regal period to the late fifth century" BC. The 19th-century historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr believed plebeians were possibly foreigners immigrating from other parts of Italy . This hypothesis, that plebeians were racially distinct from patricians, however, is not supported by the ancient evidence. Alternatively, the patriciate may have been defined by their monopolisation of hereditary priesthoods that granted ex officio membership in
8343-411: The post-Sullan Republic, the definition of nobilis had shifted. Now, nobilis came to refer only to former consuls and the direct relatives and male descendants thereof. The new focus on the consulship "can be directly related to the many other displays of pedigree and family heritage that became increasingly common after Sulla" and with the expanded senate and number of praetors diluting the honour of
8446-414: The republic is muddled and internally inconsistent. Tradition notes five: Lucius Junius Brutus, Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Publius Valerius Poplicola, Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus , and Marcus Horatius Pulvillus . The sources themselves report inconsistencies: Livy indicates that in older writing, Lucretius' consulship was nowhere to be found. Polybius asserts that a treaty signed in the first year of
8549-472: The republic was dated to the consulship of Brutus and Horatius, even though the two, according to Livy and Dionysius, never held office at the same time. Cicero and Pliny themselves note a consular pair: that of Brutus and Valerius Poplicola, without Collatinus. Cassius Dio – according to a quote in Zonaras – dissents from the consular tradition entirely, saying that Brutus initially ruled alone but
8652-447: The republic's establishment to 472 BC, which coincides with the collapse of Etruscan power in central Italy. Alternatively, the Capitoline temple's foundation may coincide with the introduction of eponymous magistrates – magistrates giving their names to the year – but without the formation of a republic (in which those magistrates held state power). Eponymous magistrates and a Roman kingdom are not necessarily incompatible:
8755-409: The resulting unstable power struggle. There is also substantial archaeological evidence of destruction in central Etruria around at the end of the sixth century, suggesting major inter-state conflict, making the use of military force, even without an internal Roman political crisis, plausible. Some scholars also reject the c. 500 BC dating of the republic's foundation. One hypothesis
8858-477: The senate. Patricians also may have emerged from a nucleus of the rich religious leaders who formed themselves into a closed elite after accomplishing the expulsion of the kings . Certain gentes ("clans") were patrician, signalled by their family names ( nomen ). In the early Roman Republic , there are attested 43 clan names, of which 10 are plebeian with 17 of uncertain status. A single clan also might have both patrician and plebeian branches sharing
8961-405: The so-called Conflict of the Orders . The traditional account is likely derived from an earlier oral tradition. Barthold Georg Niebuhr , in the early nineteenth century, posited that the oral tradition may have been transmitted by poems sung or recited by bards at banquets during the republic. While this "ballad theory" is no longer widely accepted, T. P. Wiseman has more recently argued that
9064-430: The stories were transmitted by means of public performance of plays dramatising historical events. Such plays would be especially important in a society with low literacy, and are perhaps supported by archaeological evidence suggesting circulation of Greek myths and stories in Italy as far back as the archaic period. Attilio Mastrocinque, in A companion to Livy , for example, identifies Lucius Accius 's tragedy Brutus as
9167-454: The story of Lucretia and the overthrow of the Tarquins in a late 17th century play, Lucius Junius Brutus . Voltaire wrote a play, Brutus ( c. 1730 ), dramatising Lucius Junius Brutus' overthrow of Tarquin, which, while not immediately successful, became enormously popular in the 1790s during the French Revolution after abolition of the French monarchy and the establishment of
9270-615: The system and traditions were programmed the same as the United States Military Academy . First Year Cadets in PMA are called Plebes or Plebos (short term for Fourth Class Cadets) because they are still civilian antiques and they are expected to master first the spirit of Followership . As plebes, they are also expected to become the "working force (force men or "porsmen" ) in the Corps of Cadets. They must also know
9373-470: The theory of a common origin. Most of the Sextii under the Republic bore no surname, or else had only personal cognomina , instead of family-names. These included Baculus , Calvinus , Lateranus , Naso , Paconianus , and Sabinus. Plebeian Events Places In ancient Rome , the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians , as determined by
9476-400: The third year of the republic, during Horatius' "second" consulship. Forsythe argues it is more likely that, to have the temple dedicated in the "momentous first year of the republic, later writers moved Horatius back two years and made him one of the first consuls". The details aside, the traditional account supports the abolition of the monarchy c. 505 BC and the creation of
9579-406: The title descended from a real king whose political powers had been reduced to ceremony only (as in the modern British monarchy or the archon basileus at Athens). One suggestion in this vein is that the previous king Servius Tullius ruled as a popular life-magistrate – a "tyranny" in ancient Greek terms – with some speculation that Tullius' supposed original name – Mastarna –
9682-662: The traditional account, a group of aristocrats overthrow the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus , in response to the rape of the noblewoman Lucretia by the king's second son, Sextus Tarquinius ; after revealing the rape to some noblemen, Lucretia commits suicide. The resulting outrage leads to an uprising against the ruling family, led by some of the king's relatives: Lucius Junius Brutus (the king's nephew), Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus (the king's cousin and Lucretia's husband), and Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus (Lucretia's father). They are also joined by an influential friend Publius Valerius Poplicola . During this time, Tarquin
9785-408: The very basics of writing, reading and mathematics. Wealthier plebeians were able to send their children to schools or hire a private tutor. Throughout Roman society at all levels including plebeians, the paterfamilias (oldest male in the family) held ultimate authority over household manners. Sons could have no authority over fathers at any point in their life. Women had a subservient position in
9888-433: Was diversorias (lodging houses) Tabernae which were made of timber frames and wicker walls open to streets with the exception of shutters being one to two floors high with tightly packed spaces. Plebeian men wore a tunic , generally made of wool felt or inexpensive material, with a belt at the waist, as well as sandals. Meanwhile, women wore a long dress called a stola . Roman fashion trends changed very little over
9991-475: Was a common trope characterising tyrants and bad kings in ancient literature. Furthermore, the depiction of Collatinus' exile may be paralleled on the ostracism of Hipparchos , son of Peisistratus, and Tarquinius' war on Rome to retain his crown a parallel to Darius ' attempt to restore the last Peisistratid tyrant to power in Athens. The extent, however, to which these Roman tales are copies of Greek tales or are genuine Roman tales embellished with Greek details
10094-411: Was brought from the second year of the republic into the first so that the character could pass a lex Valeria which is itself fictitious and patterned on a real law from 300 BC. Furthermore, there is disagreement as to when the Capitoline temple, which was firmly associated with Horatius, was dedicated: Livy places it in the first year of the republic, while Tacitus and Dionysius both assign it to
10197-417: Was conducting a war against Ardea , but rushes back to Rome on news of the coup; however, the city is shut before him and the coup leaders convince the army at Ardea to join them, leading to the expulsion of the king's sons. Brutus and Collatinus then become the first consuls , with Brutus administering an oath before the people to never again tolerate a king in Rome and to kill anyone who attempts to restore
10300-468: Was done via a staircase from the street they were built on. Sometimes these were built around a courtyard and of these, some were built around a courtyard containing a cistern. Lower floors were of higher quality while the higher ones were less so. By the beginning of the Roman Empire, the insulaes were deemed to be so dangerous because of a risk to collapse that Emperor Augustus passed a law limiting
10403-399: Was given a colleague to prevent him from declaring himself king. Gary Forsythe, a historian, argues more broadly that the names follow a pattern observed elsewhere in the ancient narrative sources of using names appearing in later years of the consular fasti for characters set in a previous year; he therefore dismisses Valerius and Lucretius' consulships in 509, speculating that Valerius
10506-415: Was placed there deliberately. Similarly, some historians believe that Livy 's account of the early republic is structured by a cyclic approach to history in which a rise in moral virtues precedes their decline, with a period of a great year consisting of 360–365 years. Starting with Romulus , the cycle reaches a peak under king Servius Tullius before a second founding under Camillus , completing
10609-495: Was to attend large entertainment events such as gladiator matches, military parades, religious festivals and chariot races. As time went on, politicians increased the number of games in an attempt to win over votes and make the plebeians happy. A popular dice game among plebeians was called alea . Plebeians who resided in urban areas had to often deal with job insecurity, low pay, unemployment and high prices along with underemployment. A standard workday lasted for 6 hours although
#305694