The Competing Nature of Roman Elites

Paper Summary:

The paper highlights the manner in which Rome's elites competed with one another, and in doing so, looks at a variety of issues. The first such issue is the constitutional basis on which Roman politics rested. The paper discusses the distribution and separation of political power combined with the elitist forces of money and patronage, so essential to the system, which fostered the necessary climate for competing influence. The paper states that such competition usually took the form of political argument and manoeuvre. The intrinsic role of the military as a breeding ground for future political leaders meant that an unequivocal link remained between the two forces of state. The paper states that wherever the ultimate power of ancient Rome rested, it was always the elite that were in the position to utilise it.

From the Paper:

"However, it was on this basis the Roman elite completely dominated the functions of government. Moreover, the perquisites required to be a member of the elite were largely financial (Le Glay, 1996, p. 125). As such, Roman politics was organised and directed on the foundation of family wealth and as a consequence, small numbers of very wealthy families enjoyed predominance within the political system. It is therefore unsurprising that the business of politics and the culture that flourished from it was formed on the feuds that existed between leading members of the elite. The fact that the system itself was exclusionary in its very nature inevitably resulted in power struggles between elitist families. Although those seeking election to public office required the consent of the voting populace, the methods adopted to acquire such consent centered solely on the ability to marshal financial might and family loyalties in support of an election bid. As such, differing families and interests had to seek and establish ties and alliances between one another for mutual gain (Kelly, 2004; p. 84). This naturally caused consternation and hostility between competing groups within the elite."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Grant, Michael. "History of Rome" London: Weidenfeld, 1978.
• Kelly, Christopher. "Ruling the later Roman Empire" Cambridge: Belknap, 2004.
• Le Glay, Marcel. "A History of Rome" Cambridge: Blackwell, 1996.
• Lintott, A.W. "The constitution of the Roman Republic" Oxford: Clarendon, 1999.
• Santangelo, Federico. "Sulla, the Elites and the Empire: A study

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