POWER GAMES AND POLITICS IN THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

Q: How and when did the Roman Republic first come about?

A: The Roman Republic actually goes through a series of phases, which historians usually refer to as the early, mid and late Republic. The early Republic can be seen to begin in 509 BC, when a group of Roman aristocrats get together and overthrow the last king of Rome – Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud). These aristocrats need the support of the people in order to maintain this new Republic, and so we end up with a rather odd contrast of a democratic republic that’s run by aristocrats. This basically sets the tone for the Roman Republic from then on.

It’s hard to tell which Roman legends from the early Republic are actually based in fact, and which are essentially self-aggrandising stories made up by the Romans to convince themselves about their own history later on. But by the time we get to the mid Republic, which is basically about the time of the Punic Wars [a trio of wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC–146 BC], we start getting what