Political institutions of ancient Rome

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Various lists regarding the political institutions of ancient Rome are presented.[1] Each entry in a list is a link to a separate article. Categories included are: constitutions (5), laws (5), and legislatures (7); state offices (28) and office holders (6 lists); political factions (2 + 1 conflict) and social ranks (8). A political glossary (35) of similar construction follows.[2]

Laws[edit]

Legislatures[edit]

State offices[edit]

  • aedile – Office of the Roman Republic
  • censor – Roman magistrate and census administrator
  • comes – Latin word for companion, Roman court title
  • comes palatinus – High-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times
  • consul – Political office in ancient Rome
  • consularis – Ancient Roman title, given to those who had served as consuls
  • decemviri – 10-man commission in the Roman Republic
  • dictator – Extraordinary magistrate of the Roman Republic
  • dux – Roman title
  • emperor – Ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period
  • governor – Position
  • imperator – Rank in ancient Rome
  • legatus – High-ranking Roman military officer
  • legatus Augusti pro praetore – position in the Roman Empire
  • lictor – Bodyguard and attendant to ancient Roman magistrates
  • magistrate – Elected official in ancient Rome
  • officium – duties ancient Rome
  • pontifex maximus – Chief high priest in ancient Rome
  • praefectus – Prefect in ancient Rome
  • praepositus sacri cubiculi – court position in the Byzantine Empire
  • praeses – title for the governor of a Roman province in the later Roman empire
  • praetor – Official of the Roman Republic
  • praetor peregrinus – Official of the Roman Republic
  • primicerius
  • princeps senatus – First member by precedence of the Roman Senate
  • proconsul – Governor of a province in the Roman republic
  • procurator – Administrative title in the Roman Empire
  • promagistrates – Ancient Roman office
  • quaestor – Public official in ancient Rome
  • rector – Political function in Rome and in medieval republics
  • rex – Chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom
  • senator – Political institution in ancient Rome
  • tribune – Elected Roman officials
  • triumviri
  • vicarius – Latin word meaning substitute or deputy
  • vigintisexviri – College of minor magistrates of the Roman Republic

Lists of individual office holders[edit]

Political factions[edit]

(also see Conflict of the Orders[3])

Social ranks[edit]

Glossary of law and politics[edit]

  • auctoritas – Roman prestige; contrast with power, imperium
  • civitas – Roman concept of citizenry as an entity united by law
  • collegia – Any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity
  • consilium
  • consortium – Association of two or more individuals and/or organizations to achieve a common goal
  • consuetudo – Legal principle
  • contractus
  • contractus litteris
  • curiae – Assembly where issues are discussed and decided.
  • cursus honorum – The sequential order of public offices held by politicians in Ancient Rome
  • decreta – Edict or proclamation usually issued by a head of state
  • delectum – Civil wrong
  • digest – Roman law digesta
  • edicta – Announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism
  • aequitas – Roman legal concept
  • fiducia
  • gravitas – Ancient Roman virtue
  • imperium – Type of authority in ancient Rome
  • iudex – Official who presides over court proceedings
  • ius – Rights to citizenship virtue in ancient Rome
  • lex
  • libertas – Roman goddess of liberty
  • mos maiorum – Customs and traditions of ancient Rome
  • municipium – Ancient Roman term for a town or city
  • obligatio – Course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral
  • patria
  • pietas – Ancient Roman virtue
  • potestas – Latin word meaning power or faculty
  • responsa – Body of written legal decisions and rulings
  • provincia – Major Roman administrative territorial entity outside of Italy
  • ratio – Relationship between two numbers of the same kind
  • senatus consultum – resolution of the ancient Roman Senate
  • stipulatio
  • First Triumvirate – Alliance between Roman politicians Caesar, Pompey and Crassus
  • Second Triumvirate – Roman political organisation (43–32 BC)

See also[edit]

  • Tarpeian Rock – Steep cliff used for executions in ancient Rome

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Cf., History of Rome (disambiguation).
  2. ^ A. Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1953).
  3. ^ Patricians versus Plebs.