Reviewing the Roman Senate

Let’s look
at the period

of Roman
History

called the
Roman

Republic.

The What to do They
rich now? decide the
Romans have rich families
risen up. The rich will rule
They have families
chased the elect the Rome.
Etruscan members of
king out of the Senate
Rome. which rules

Rome.

They create an
Assembly for
those not rich,
but it has little

power.

The real power is Yeah
the Senate. It’s guys. We
patricians run
in the hands of the Roman
the rich Republic.

patricians.

And as long as the Rich do a
good job, things are fine.
At first, the rich are
willing to sacrifice for the
success of the city-state
of Rome.

Just
wanted you to
know Lucius, I’ll
be off serving
with the Army for

the next 6
months.

Let’s look at the Senate and
see how it works.

Senators sitting in The longest
the first row are the serving senator in
ones that have served the first row gets to
the longest and are speak first. And so it
goes to the very back
the most important
members of the of the Senate.
Senate.
The two men sitting
Tmhoe sctoinminspuoRlorstmaaenr.et the up front are the
men consuls. They
preside over the

Senate. They rule
Rome on a day-to-day

basis and command
the Roman Armies.

The Old Roman Senate The Roman Senate
Building.
1. was Elected by the
Under the patricians
Roman Senate,
Roman power 2. approved all
spending of tax
increased monies.
over hundreds
3. Determined the
of years. taxes Romans would
Rome came to pay.

rule all of 4. Created all Roman
Italy and then Laws.

all of the 5. Declared War
Mediterranean
6. Made peace and
World. approved treaties.

7. Declared a state of
Emergency and chose a
dictator for 90 days.

8. Represented the
power and might of
Rome to the Roman
people.

Still, there were problems
during the Republic.

As the years passed,
the Rich became

greedy, lazy, and
arrogant.

They stop The patricians spend more
putting the and more time fighting
well-being of
Rome first and among themselves about
the well-being whose family will gain the
of their families
most from new laws.
second.
The poor react!

They stage a mass walk
out. They pick up and leave
the city with only the Rich

left living there.

Let the
Rich clean their
own tunics. Let
them wash their own
dishes. Let them
scrub their own

floors.

Perhaps
we better
reconsider

how we
treat the
plebeians.

That’s bloody
right. We demand

reforms.

The plebeians get reforms.
The most important of
these is the creation of the
new office of Tribune of
the People.

The Tribunes are elected
by the plebeians. They are
supposed to work for the
poor.

We tribunes have the
veto. It allows us to
block any law or action

of the senate.

Our persons are sacred.
It’s an instant death

penalty to lay hands on
a tribune.

but the election of
tribunes soon leads to
corruption in the Roman
government as tribune
candidates will promise
anything to get elected.

Power in the Republic falls into
the hands of the richest of the
rich. Men like Crassus, Pompey,
and Caesar battle for control of
the office of consul.

Julius Caesar AS Rome’s consul, members
of the Senate, I tell you
Caesar’s Rome needs political
enemies in the Senate
respond. The stability. You must act now
assassinate him on the and appoint me dictator.
steps of the Roman
Senate building. But it must be dictator for
life.

Die
rotten
tyrant!

And that is the end or
the Roman Republic.

It is replaced with an
empire ruled by a Roman
Emperor.