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Caesar Augustus, first autocratic ruler of the Roman Empire

History of Roman Authoritarianism

Authoritarian rule is principally defined by limited political pluralism for the election or elevation of a small group of legislators or an executive operating within non-codified limits, such as a constitution, but authoritarian regimes will often additionally be characterized by a lack of civil liberties such as freedom of religion, freedom of the press (and, more generally, open critique of the ruling regime), and economic-social mobility [need to cite].

The governance history of the Roman city-state, encompassing it's founding as a monarchy and subsequent transitions through a republic and empire before its ultimate fall, contains various systems and reforms of government with varying levels of authoritarian rule. Rome's early monarchist history was defined by supreme executive authority held by the monarch, and his appointed officials, which was appointed and received advisory council from the city aristocracy.

Authoritarianism of the Roman Kingdom

The Roman Kingdom lasted from its traditional founding in 753 BC to its subsequent reorganization into a republic in 503 BC. During the time, the kingdom can be naturally divided into two epochs: the early kingdom under the first four kings of Rome saw the foundation and organization of the political and religious institutions of Rome that would carry into the republican period and autocratic rule by a singular king, but was tempered by the counsel of the aristocracy in the important matters of state and authority for succession of the next monarch. The latter kingdom saw a decline in the political power of the aristocracy, as the counsel of the senatorial nobility was disregarded in the election of local nobles to the kingship and the adjudication of civil and criminal court matters. The latter consolidation of power from the aristocracy into the singular king, and the subsequent abuses thereby, ultimately led to the political overthrow and exile of the kings, and the founding of the Roman Republic in their place.

Political Ascension of the Roman Kingdom

The foundation of the Roman political state is surrounded in some legend and based on many accounts from the period coming from Roman writers such as Livy, Dionysius, and Cicero writing many centuries after the fact. Tradition holds that Romulus, the first king (rex) and founder of the city that bares his name, established the first political institutions of the Roman kingdom, including the Roman Senate and the assembly of the people, the Comitia Curiata. Following the death of its first king, and the three subsequent kings, supreme executive power was invested in the Roman Senate, the governing body of tribal aristocracy (patricians), during an interregnum period where individual senators would hold supreme authority for up to five days at a time, under the position of interrex, until a new king was selected from amongst the aristocracy. This proposed king would be submitted from approval to the assembly of the people, whereupon the Senate would confirm the ascension, and the interrex would formally declare the new king. In this way, the authority of rule remained solely within the Roman aristocracy as the king came only from within their own numbers and the confirmation by the people was always a matter of form.

Rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, the final outrage of the Roman kings against the aristocracy precipitating their subsequent revolution

Following the first four kings, the last three, beginning with Tarquinius Priscus and ending with Tarquinius Superbus, ascended through hereditary means to the kingship. The evidence for the political change of ascension comes from both the shared clan name of the regents as well as the passage of kingly authority to the last two kings without an interregnum period. This change in political authority passing through the Senate and the patrician class between kingships undercut the governing sentiment that the Senate aristocracy held ultimate authority for the Roman state and other abuses of autocratic power at the hands of the Tarquin line, the final being the rape of Lucretia at the hands of Sextus Tarquinius, son of Tarquinius Superbus, sparked the Senate to overthrow the Tarquins and, accordingly, the Roman Kingdom.

Political Authority of the Roman King

During the Roman Kingdom, the autocratic political powers of the king were far reaching in matters of civil administration, state diplomacy, and military command: in civil matters, the king would have been responsible for laws and legislature for the community (excluding intra-clan affairs), adjudicating civil and criminal cases, and the managing of state property and public works; in diplomatic, he would have been the official representatives for the Roman people to other communities, as well as the gods, except for issues of a far-reaching importance such as declaring war or the addition of new gods to the pantheon which were the purview of the people's assembly and the priests, respectively; and in military, he would have been the chief executive, having complete and unfettered purview of military affairs after the Roman people declared war, including in raising levies, appointing officers, conducting campaigns, and dispensing conquered territories. Any administrative or military appointees when the king was absent from Rome were chosen by the king, and their authority came delegated from his position.

Except in specific areas such as civil intra-clan affairs, declaration of war, and other specific instances, the political power of the Roman king was more generally limited by the "mos maiorum". The natural understanding of this concept was that authority of kings was delegated from the people and, more specifically, the Roman Senate, so the people, for their quasi-contractual part, would obey the king so long as the king continued the conduct of their forefathers and consider the will of the people (e.g., via consulting with the Senate on matters of importance). Tarquinius Superbus, the final king of Rome, is said to have disregarded the counsel of the Senate during the adjudication of civil and criminal cases, going so far as to exile or execute senators acting as sole judge and plundering their forfeited estates for his own gain, thus breaking the proverbial pact.

Political Units of the Roman Kingdom

The Patrician Class

At its founding, the smallest political unit within Rome was the clan, or gens. Membership in a particular clan, signified by carrying the clan name (nomen gentilicium), afforded economic wealth, via access to land, and civil and political rights in the monarchist, and later republican, political institutions. Romulus established the first 100 gens and incorporated a single representative from each as a senator into the newly established Senate, and collections of clans into 30 curia, making up the assembly of the people (the Comitia Curiata). By the time of the fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, there were 300 clans in Rome, gathered from the conquest and forced incorporation of the aristocracy from local Latin cities, such as Alba Longa and Politorium, into the new city-state; the Senate number would be finalized at 300, thereafter creating the first 300 patrician families that would hold exceptional political, economic, and social distinction through hereditary title in Roman society into and through the Roman Empire. As the clans represented the pool from which the Roman King was elected and the only voting constituents of both the Senate and the assembly of the people, the patrician class held supreme power, albeit always concentrated in the person of the king, in Roman Kingdom politics.

The Plebeian Class

The plebeian class denotes the politically unrepresented individuals residing in Rome. While represented in the numbers of the assembly of the people, plebeians had no vote during the regal period in matters where the king would assemble the people for their consideration (e.g., declaring an offensive war or a new king). Individuals of the plebeian originated from Rome's conquered territories, principally by the latter Tarquin conquests. These people were allowed to work the newly conquered land that was incorporated into the Roman state, but were not allowed to own land, or could immigrate to Rome and find additional legal and economic rights as a client of a patrician clan or keep their status as a independent laborer or craftsmen. Until the reign of Servius Tullius, the patrician clans were solely responsible for the military forces of the city-state; however, with the continued expansion of the state, necessitating the need for more manpower to patrol the new territories and defend their expanded borders, Tullius, per his authoritarian prerogative as state and military executive, reformed the army to enroll plebeians in their numbers as well, at the political expense of allowing some plebeians the right of citizenship and, most probably, the ability to own land though, importantly, not the right to vote in state matters.

Authoritarianism in the Roman Republic

[place text - With the fall of the kingship, the authority of new Roman Republic lies solely within the body of the 300-strong Senate, in oligarchic fashion. The senate creates political positions carrying the political powers of the king but to be held by their own and only for a limited time. Political wrestling between the aristocracy and working class individuals originally awards greater political rights and freedoms to the latter, but concentration of wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer elite in the latter republic set the stage for political fighting, civil strife, and, eventually, an authoritarian takeover by leaders appealing to the working class.]

Early Republican Political Structure

[place text - political structures of the Roman Kingdom carry into the new republic with new offices and a decentralization of executive power into two short-serving consuls vice one long-serving king. The power of the aristocracy is still paramount]

Plebeian Concessions

[place text - plebeian military officers use protests and strikes in order to secure new offices and concessions for the plebeian class in order to prevent executive of the aristocracy into the lives of the plebes]

The Office of Dictator

[place text - in times of crisis, the senate may appoint a supreme singular ruler for a short period (up to 6-months) charged with righting the ship; a second officer (master of horse) is assigned to aid and hold their excesses in check. This position, while necessary during early existential Republican struggles, became the backdown entry of tyrants into rule of the Republic]

The Gracchi Brothers

[place text - Poor aristocrats, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchi, push through social and economic reforms focused on improving the lives and dispositions of plebeians against the interests of landed aristocracy. Political violence occurs for the first time in Roman Republican politics and the Gracchi brothers and their political successors are murdered. The Populares and Optimates political factions that emerge play a decisive role in the civil wars and political revolutions that follow in the next century.]

Gaius Marius, Sulla, and the Late Republican Structure

[Cult of personality and military necessity and reforms play a role in elevating Gaius Marius to seven consulships, explicitly against Roman law. He fights a civil war with his contemporary, Lucius Cornelius Sulla; the latter eventually wins and becomes dictator for an extended period. Sulla pushes through political reforms he thought would preclude any future civil strife and would-be dictators, though less than two generations later, the republic would fall to just those.]

The Triumvirates and the Fall of the Roman Republic

[place text - Julius Caesar, riding the political glory and military experience he gains fighting the Gallic Wars, marches on Rome and fights a successful civil war to become first dictator for life of Rome until he is assassinated. His military and hereditary successors, Antony and Octavian, respectively, fight another civil war with Octavian winning and founding a empire based around the vestiges of the Roman Republic (e.g., the senate still continues but loses much political power and Octavian is considered only a "first citizen" vice a king]

Authoritarianism in the Roman Empire

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The Julio-Claudian Dynasty

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The Middle Empire

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Third Century Crisis and the Formation of the Dominate

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