Latest / The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History / The Roman Senate: 1,000 Years of Power and Decline
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, earlier episodes have covered the Republic's wars, the emperors, even the bureaucracy of the Church. But I've been thinking we've never really done a deep dive on the institution that was at the heart of Rome for almost a thousand years — the Senate. Luna: The Senate? I always think of it as this old-guard thing that got steamrolled by the emperors. But I guess it must have been more than that. Lucas: Much more. It started under the kings, around the 8th century BC, as a council of elders — the word 'senate' comes from 'senex', meaning old man. Romulus supposedly appointed the first hundred senators. And for most of the Republic, it was essentially the steering committee of the Roman state. Lucas: The Senate didn't pass laws — that was the people's assemblies, the comitia centuriata. But it controlled foreign policy, finances, and the administration of provinces. It declared war, ratified treaties, and decided which governors went where. If you were a Roman magistrate, you almost always followed the Senate's advice. Luna: So it was like an executive branch with no formal veto, but huge clout. Lucas: Exactly. And membership was for life, initially only patricians, but by the fourth century BC, plebeians could join too. By the late Republic, there were about 600 senators, all former magistrates who had passed through the cursus honorum — the ladder of offices. The most respected senator was called the princeps senatus, the 'first man of the Senate'. Lucas: The Senate met in a dedicated building called the curia. The most famous one is the Curia Julia, built by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus. You can still see it in the Roman Forum — it's remarkably well-preserved. Earlier ones were the Curia Hostilia and the Curia Cornelia. Luna: I've seen pictures of that building. It looks surprisingly modest — not like the grand temples around it. Lucas: Right, it's a simple brick-faced hall. But inside, senators sat on marble benches arranged in a semicircle. They would stand to speak, and there were rules of order. A senator couldn't speak after sunset, and no one could interrupt. Cicero was famous for his oratory there, delivering speeches like the Catilinarian orations. Lucas: That brings up a key moment: the senatus consultum ultimum — the 'final decree of the Senate'. It was a crisis measure that told the consuls to do whatever it took to protect the state, essentially suspending normal legal protections. It was first used against Gaius Gracchus in 121 BC, and later against Catiline in 63 BC. Luna: That sounds like a blank check for violence. Lucas: It was. It led to the execution of Roman citizens without trial, something that troubled people even then. But the Senate saw it as a necessary tool against internal enemies. During the late Republic, the Senate became a battleground between optimates — the conservative faction — and populares who appealed directly to the people. Lucas: The optimates wanted to preserve the Senate's authority; populares like Julius Caesar wanted to bypass it. Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon was a direct challenge to the Senate's authority. After he won, he packed the Senate with his supporters, and its independence began to erode. Luna: So that's when the decline starts — with Caesar. Lucas: It accelerates under Augustus. He created a new elite of senators loyal to him, reduced the Senate's control over provinces by taking the key frontier provinces for himself, and forbade senators from leaving Italy without permission. But he also tried to maintain the fiction of partnership — he called the Senate 'my good and great colleague'. Luna: But it was a sham, wasn't it? They could debate, but they couldn't decide. Lucas: More or less. Emperor Tiberius famously hated the Senate's sycophancy. He once left a session muttering, 'Oh men ready for slavery!' By the 3rd century AD, the Senate had lost almost all practical power. Emperors like Septimius Severus and later Diocletian ruled through a military and bureaucratic apparatus that didn't need the Senate. Lucas: But it's a mistake to think the Senate became completely irrelevant. In 68 AD, after Nero's death, the Senate briefly reasserted itself during the Year of the Four Emperors. And in 96 AD, after Domitian's assassination, the Senate chose Nerva as emperor — one of the last times they actually elected a ruler. Luna: So the Senate picked one of the Five Good Emperors. Did they ever do anything like that again? Lucas: Not really. Nerva's adoption of Trajan set the pattern for hereditary succession. By the 4th century, the Senate in Rome was largely a municipal council, managing the city of Rome while the real power was with the emperor in Milan or Ravenna. There was also a second Senate in Constantinople after 330 AD. Lucas: The Senate continued to exist in the West until the 7th century, but it faded away as the city's population shrank and the Byzantine governors took over. In the East, the Byzantine Senate lasted until the Fourth Crusade in 1204, though it was mostly ceremonial by then. Luna: So it went from ruling the Mediterranean to a powerless club that eventually just dissolved. Lucas: Yet its legacy is enormous. The very idea of a deliberative body that advises the ruler — that's the Senate's shadow. The US Senate, the British House of Lords, and many other upper houses trace their lineage back to that old curia. The word itself is still used. Lucas: If today's episode has given you a new way to think about Rome's political DNA, I'd like to mention something. The reason we can do these deep dives without ads is that listeners who find value in the show sometimes choose to support it. You can buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — that's 'fexingo' with an 'f'. It's a small way to keep this history free and accessible. Luna: Yeah, it really helps. And for anyone who's been following along episode by episode, it's an easy way to give a little back. Okay, so back to the Senate — you mentioned the Curia Julia. Can you describe what it was like to be a senator walking in there? Lucas: Sure. The Curia Julia was a rectangular hall about 75 feet long and 60 feet wide. Senators entered through a bronze door, and there were three steps leading up to the presiding magistrate's chair. The floor was marble, originally from Africa. The building was designed by Caesar and completed by Augustus, and it still stands today because it was converted into a church in the 7th century. Lucas: Inside, senators sat on wooden benches covered with cushions. There was no raised podium — everyone spoke from the floor. The acoustics were apparently good enough that a strong voice could carry. And there were statues, including the famous Victory of Samothrace, which Augustus brought to the Curia. Luna: What happened to the Senate's records? Did they keep minutes? Lucas: They did. The acta senatus were official records of debates and decisions. They were stored in the Tabularium, the state archives. But they were not published for public consumption — only summaries were released. Augustus did allow some senators to keep copies, but it was never as transparent as we'd expect today. Lucas: One of the most dramatic moments in the Senate came in 44 BC, when Caesar was assassinated not in the Curia — he was actually stabbed in the Theatre of Pompey, where the Senate was meeting that day because the Curia was being rebuilt. The senators fled in panic, and the body lay for hours before anyone dared to move it. Luna: That's incredible. The Senate chamber itself was a stage for history. Lucas: Absolutely. And even in its decline, the Senate remained a symbol of Roman tradition. When the emperor Aurelian built his walls in the 270s, he included the Senate as a nominal partner in the dedication. As late as the 5th century, senators in Rome still wore the toga with the broad purple stripe, the latus clavus, as a mark of rank. Lucas: So the Senate's story is really the story of Rome itself — from a small council of elders to the master of an empire, then to a ceremonial relic. It shows how institutions can bend and survive, but eventually they either change or fade. The Roman Senate chose to bend, and it lasted longer than almost any political body in history. Luna: I never thought of it as that central. I always focused on the emperors or the generals. But you're right — the Senate was the constant in the background. Lucas: And it's a good reminder that power isn't always where you think it is. For centuries, the Senate was the voice of the Roman elite, and even when it lost its voice, it still had a presence. Next time you see a legislative chamber, think of those old men in togas arguing about Carthage or Caesar. Luna: I will. Thanks, Lucas.