Origins
The Roman Senate emerged as the governing council of the Roman Republic following the overthrow of the monarchy in 509 BCE. According to tradition, Romans expelled the last king, Tarquinius Superbus, after his son’s rape of the noblewoman Lucretia. The new republic replaced royal authority with elected magistrates advised by the Senate, an assembly of elder statesmen whose Latin name (senatus) derives from senex, meaning “old man.”
The Senate’s origins actually predated the Republic. Roman tradition held that Romulus himself established the first Senate as a council of 100 elders (patres) to advise the king. Under the monarchy, the Senate served as a consultative body representing the aristocratic families. The Republic transformed this advisory council into the dominant institution of Roman government, though technically the Senate remained advisory rather than legislative—its decisions (senatus consulta) were recommendations that magistrates were expected to follow.
The founding of the Republic represented a victory for Rome’s aristocratic families, the patricians, who monopolized Senate membership and the major magistracies. Over the following centuries, wealthy plebeians (commoners) fought for political equality, eventually gaining access to the Senate and all offices through the Conflict of the Orders. By the middle Republic, the Senate comprised both patrician and plebeian members, though it remained an elite body of wealthy, prominent citizens.
Structure & Function
The Senate functioned as Rome’s primary deliberative and policymaking body, despite lacking formal legislative authority. Membership was not elected but based on having held magistracies—former consuls, praetors, and other officials joined the Senate for life. The censors periodically reviewed and revised the membership roll, potentially expelling members for moral or financial reasons. Membership ranged from 300 in the early Republic to 600 under Sulla and 900 under Caesar.
Senate meetings were convened by magistrates with the right to summon the body—consuls, praetors, and tribunes. Sessions took place in consecrated spaces, most famously the Curia Julia in the Forum. Debates followed elaborate procedures: the presiding magistrate presented the question, then called on senators by rank to speak. Senior ex-consuls (principes senatus) spoke first, establishing the framework for debate. After discussion, the Senate voted, with members physically moving to different sides of the chamber to register their positions.
The Senate’s powers were extensive: it controlled public finances, assigned military commands, conducted foreign policy, administered provinces, and supervised religion. Its senatus consulta guided magistrates on virtually all important matters. While technically advisory, Senate recommendations carried enormous weight—magistrates who ignored them risked political isolation and prosecution after their term ended. The Senate represented accumulated experience, prestige, and the continuity of the Roman state.
Historical Significance
The Roman Senate shaped Western political thought and institutional design for two millennia. Its combination of collective deliberation, accumulated experience, and restrained aristocratic leadership impressed ancient observers and modern political theorists alike. The mixed constitution that Polybius described—combining monarchical (consuls), aristocratic (Senate), and democratic (assemblies) elements—became a model for balanced government.
The American founders explicitly drew on the Roman model. The word “senate” itself was adopted for the upper house of Congress. The concept of republican government—rule by elected officials rather than kings, with limited terms and separation of powers—came largely through Roman channels. Madison’s discussion of faction in the Federalist Papers engaged Roman history. The architecture of Washington, D.C., with its Capitol Hill and neoclassical buildings, consciously evoked republican Rome.
The Senate also demonstrated the vulnerability of republican institutions. As Rome expanded, the strains of empire proved too great for the Republic’s constitutional arrangements. Military commanders like Marius, Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar accumulated personal power that overshadowed senatorial authority. The civil wars of the first century BCE ended with Augustus establishing the Principate, preserving the Senate’s forms while concentrating real power in the emperor. The Senate continued for centuries more, but as an increasingly ceremonial body. Its decline illustrated how institutions could persist in form while losing substance—a warning that later republicans took seriously.
Key Developments
- 509 BCE: Traditional founding of the Republic and transformation of Senate
- 494 BCE: First secession of the plebs; tribunes established
- 367 BCE: Licinian-Sextian laws open consulship to plebeians
- 287 BCE: Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites binding; “Conflict of the Orders” ends
- 264-146 BCE: Punic Wars establish Rome as Mediterranean power
- 133 BCE: Tribune Tiberius Gracchus challenges Senate; killed in riot
- 88 BCE: Sulla marches on Rome; first civil war
- 82-81 BCE: Sulla’s reforms expand Senate to 600
- 49-44 BCE: Caesar’s dictatorship; assassination in Senate
- 27 BCE: Augustus establishes Principate; Senate retains formal authority
- 284 CE: Diocletian’s reforms marginalize Senate
- 476 CE: Western Roman Empire falls; Senate continues
- 603 CE: Last recorded Senate meeting in Rome