Talk:Senate of the Roman Empire

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Update on the Roman constitution series[edit]

I just wanted to show that i was ok and that mention my plans for my series on the Roman constitution. There was simply too much information to put on my original page, Constitution of the Roman Republic. There is also a significant amount of information available on the constitutions of the Roman kingdom and empire. Therefore, I am going to give this series somewhat of a matrix structure. Roman Constitution will be the main page of the series. Underneath this page will be Constitution of the Roman Kingdom, Constitution of the Roman Republic and Constitution of the Roman Empire. It surprised me, but apparently there actually was a constitution during the time of the kingdom and then again during the time of the empire.

Underneath the constitution pages, I will have pages on the Senate of the Roman Kingdom, Senate of the Roman Republic, Senate of the Roman Empire, Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom, Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic, Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Empire, Executive Magistrates of the Roman Kingdom, Executive Magistrates of the Roman Republic, and Executive Magistrates of the Roman Empire.

When this is done, I will create a new page called Roman Executive Magistrates, and then populate this page, along with Roman senate and Roman assemblies. All three pages will be condensed versions of their respective sub-pages. Right now, Roman senate and Roman assemblies consist almost exclusively of facts about the republic. Neither page has many citations. They also use a discussion format, and my revisions to these pages will use more of a discussion and analysis format. I am going to be more cautious with my revisions of these pages, because I assume that people will want to restore the original versions for whatever reason.

My hope is to use a discussion and analysis format for the entire series. My overall goal will be to produce a series that doesn't just discuss the facts associated with these offices and institutions. I want the series to tie everything together, and illustrate how everything operated under the overall constitutional system. Right now, the entries on these individual topics (such as roman consul and praetor) simply list facts without providing any deeper analysis or context. It is difficult to truly understand these topics unless you know how they all worked together under the constitutional system.

Also, I am not surprised that there hasn't been more work done on Wikipedia on this topic. It seems as though there are very few books on this subject, and many of those books are quite old. This is unfortunate because this subject is actually quite relevant to modern politics. Many modern governments are designed around a similar constitutional superstructure as was the Roman government. RomanHistorian (talk) 07:24, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Misstatement[edit]

In practice, however, the actual authority of the imperial Senate was negligible, as the Emperor held the true power of the state.

This does not reflect the truth of the situation. While it is true that an Emperor could force the Senate to agree to any policy or decision he wanted by means legal or extralegal, since its membership was drawn from the richest, most experienced & most powerful people in the Empire, the Senate could exert its will in a number of other ways. Then there was the issue that no Emperor could be effective unless his subordinates -- the legates who led his legions & administered his provinces -- were in agreement, most of whom were members of the Senate. Further, due to its prestige as an institution the Senate served as a possible center for any resistance or revolt against an Emperor. For example, following the assassination of Caligula, there was a period of a few days where Claudius' succession was in doubt. The Senate could draw on the Urban cohorts to support its candidate -- as opposed to the Praetorian Guard, whose loyalty to Claudius was not complete or assured -- & it wasn't until the Senate leaders & Claudius came to an understanding allowing him to assume Tribunican powers & the Imperium. Events like this is why every competent Emperor from Augustus forward kept a careful eye on the mood of the Senate & maintained good relationships with some -- if not most -- of its members. (It wasn't until Diocletian that the Emperor was able to fully free himself of the threat the Senate posed to his authority, & even then it had considerable power as a sleeping giant who was best kept appeased & happily disengaged.) -- llywrch (talk) 19:39, 14 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

All the articles on the Roman constitutional system should be rewritten. They rely on Frank Abbott and Robert Byrd; the former is outdated, the latter not a reliable source. T8612 (talk) 21:29, 14 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Roman Senate[edit]

What is the difference between this page and the Roman Senate? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ΑνδρόνικοςΠαλαιολόγος (talk • contribs) 05:31, 15 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]