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Chapter 7 - Rituals of Integration in the Roman Republic

On the Integrative Force of the Popular Assemblies

from Part II - Translations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2025

By
Martin Jehne
Edited by
Amy Russell  and
Hans Beck
Translated by
Kathrin Lüddecke
Amy Russell
Affiliation:
Brown University, Rhode Island
Hans Beck
Affiliation:
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
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Summary

Martin Jehne looks at the Roman comitia through the lens of their rich symbolism. Set in a demarcated space and sanctioned by the auspices of the gods, the popular assemblies were, in general, integrative: they symbolized the belonging of the citizens to the community as a whole. But the assemblies (comitia centuriata, comitia tributa, and comitia curiata) were far from uniform. Each one, argues Jehne, wielded a different type of integrative force upon its participants. The centuriate assembly emphasized hierarchy and vertical integration; the tribal assemblies had an essentially egalitarian structure. In light of a rapidly expanding body of citizens, the integrating capacities of the popular assemblies ought to have shrunk. Creating a climate of consensus and communality, those capacities were preserved in the assemblies’ roles as referential quantities that embodied ideas of hierarchy and equality vital to the libera res publica.

Keywords

Roman RepublicRoman politicspolitical cultureRoman historypopular assembliesdemocracycomitia centuriatacomitia curiatacomitia tributa
Type
Chapter
Information
The Roman Republic and Political Culture
German Scholarship in Translation
 , pp. 200 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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