How was Rome governed

Rome, in its earliest days, was governed by kings. However, Ancient Rome was to develop its own form of government that allowed the Romans to govern themselves. In one sense, for a society that used its feared army to conquer other nations and reduced people to slavery, Rome was remarkably democratic when its own people were concerned. Citi ens of Rome would gather at an assembly to elect their own officials. !he chief officials of Rome were called consuls and there were two of them. !he consuls governed for a year. If they did not live up to e"pectations, they could be voted out of office at the ne"t election. !herefore, competence was rewarded and incompetence punished. In addition to consuls, there were other elected officials # $udges, magistrates and ta" collectors being some of them. !en %!ribunes of the &eople' were also elected to look after the poor of Rome. !he consuls could not be e"pected to know everything. !hey were advised by a (enate. !his was made up of leading citi ens of Rome and when they met, the (enate would discuss issues such as proposed new laws, financial issues affecting Rome etc. !here were about )** men in the (enate. !hey were usually from rich noble families and what they thought went a long way to determining Roman law.

Senators at work in Rome

If elections were reasonably democratic, the role of the (enate was not. +ost, if not all, decisions were in favour of the rich. ,nly the rich were in a position to use their wealth to influence decision-making within the (enate. However, very few people in lower social classes questioned this system. +any felt that the rich were there to do the work of the (enate and that it was not the place for those less well off. Another reason to favour the (enate was the simple fact that while it e"isted, Rome went on to become the greatest power in the +editerranean and in .urope. /rom 0*1 2C to 34 2C, Rome was governed as a republic # this also coincided with Rome5s vast power. +any people logically believed # why change a good thing6 7hen the Roman .mpire started to grow and Rome became a more powerful city, a top government position became more and more attractive. !herefore, more and more ambitious men got involved in government. !hese men believed that Rome would be better served by one man governing the city and empire, as opposed to a group of elected officials. !hese sole rulers were called emperors. !he story behind the first emperor involves one of Ancient Rome5s most famous stories.

8ulius Caesar wanted to control all of Rome and its empire. !his would have led to the end of the system of government used in Ancient Rome for many years. 7hen making a speech in the (enate to support his belief in a one-man rule, Caesar was murdered by 2rutus who wanted to keep the old way going. !his murder did not stop the problem as Caesar5s supporters started a civil war to try to force their wishes onto Rome. !he war was long and costly. ."haustion led to many Romans supporting Augustus, Caesar5s nephew. !o many people he seemed to obvious choice to end the chaos Rome had descended into. Augustus was seen as a strong ruler and he became emperor in 34 2C, bringing to an end the republic of Rome.