Roman Senate
Ancient legislative assembly
The Roman Senate was the governing council of ancient Rome, composed of elder statesmen who advised magistrates and shaped policy.
Originally an advisory body to kings, it became the dominant political institution of the Republic, controlling finances, foreign affairs, and military matters.
Senators held their positions for life.
The Senate's power diminished under the emperors but it retained symbolic prestige.
Today Roman Senate often appears in discussions of republican government and deliberative bodies: The Founders looked to the Roman Senate as a model.
- senatus consultumRoman Senate's official ruling
- Twelve TablesEarly Roman legal code
- Roman RepublicRome before its emperors
- Roman ForumAncient civic plaza
- CiceroAncient Rome's greatest speaker
marble steps · Roman law · patrician class · Pompey · Brutus · et tu Brute · consul · auctoritas · bread and circuses · tribunes · Julius Caesar · laurel · Rome · ancient world · fall of Rome · columns · magistrate · Ides of March
- ancient tribunalsSanhedrin
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- Ancient RomeRome, Julius Caesar, Caesar, gladiator, gladiators
- legislaturebill, senators, state legislature, legislators, representative
- Roman EmpireAugustus, emperors, Roman Empire, Roman emperors, imperial
- ancient diplomacyenvoys, ambassadors, emissaries, peace treaties, alliances
Roman Senateabsolute monarchy
Unrestricted single-ruler government
Augustus · dictatorship · tyranny · one-man rule · monarchy