Founding Myths
According to legend, this twin founded Rome.
Who is Romulus?
This body, made up of former magistrates, advised on policy and held huge informal authority in the Republic
What is the senate?
Marius recruited this social class into the army, breaking with tradition.
What is 'the landless poor'? (capite censi)
This issue, rampant after the Punic Wars, led to the widespread removal of Roman farmers from their farms.
What are Latifundia?
This term describes the breakdown of unwritten political norms and traditions as ambitious leaders increasingly ignored precedent.
What is the erosion of mos maiorum?
his Latin term describes the unwritten "custom of the ancestors" that guided Roman political behaviour.
What is Mos Maiorum?
This term describes the set order of public offices a Roman politician climbed through his career.
What is the cursus honorum?
This change was the result of Marius' military reforms.
What is loyalty to generals rather than the senate?
Tiberius Gracchus held this office when he pushed his reforms through, bypassing the Senate.
What is the tribune of the plebs?
This shift, beginning with Marius's reforms, meant armies became loyal to individual generals rather than to the Senate and state.
What is the militarisation of politics?
This 5th-century BC law code made Roman law public and limited arbitrary patrician power.
What are the 12 tables?
This term describes the formal legal power to command armies and enforce law, held by senior magistrates.
What is Imperium?
In 88 BC, Sulla took this unprecedented action against Rome itself.
What is marching his army on Rome?
Gaius Gracchus expanded this subsidised food program for Roman citizens.
What is the grain dole?
This became a normalised political tool after the deaths of the Gracchi, used to silence opponents rather than resolve disputes through debate.
What is political violence?
This was the name for the ongoing struggle between plebeians and patricians for political rights.
What is the conflict of the orders?
This office existed specifically to protect plebeian interests and could veto the actions of other magistrates.
What is the tribune of the plebs?
This position gave Sulla the power to rewrite Roman law.
What is dictator?
Gaius Gracchus empowered this social group by giving them a role on juries, challenging senatorial control of the courts.
This term describes leaders' growing willingness to seize extraordinary or extra-constitutional power to achieve their aims.
What is the 'rise of strongmen?'
This woman's assault and suicide is said to have sparked the overthrow of the monarchy and the founding of the Republic.
Who is Lucretia?
This term describes the informal moral authority and prestige of a leading Roman, distinct from his actual legal power.
What is auctoritas?
Sulla used this violent practice to eliminate political enemies and seize their property.
What are proscriptions?
This term describes politicians who appealed directly to the people rather than working through the Senate — a label historians apply to both Gracchi brothers.
What are populares?
This is the term used to describe new ways of conducting politics or behaviour, set as standard by previous crises/ individuals.
What is precedent?