What was the importance of ancient rome being a republic?

Answer 1

The significance of the Roman Republic to the Romans is that to them it represented liberty. It was established in 509 BC following a rebellion against the last king of Rome who was a tyrant. The Romans decided to do away with the monarchy to prevent the return of tyranny. The Republic was headed by two annually elected consuls. Having two men in charge meant that the two could counterbalance each other and the short term of office ensure that power would not become concentrated in their hands. The Romans also swore not to allow anyone to try to become a king ever again. One man was executed and another was forced to commit suicide because of charges of trying to become a king in the Early Republic. Despite being represented as liberty and despite having some democratic features, such the officers of state being elected by the popular assemblies and bills being voted on by some of these assemblies, the Republic was actually an oligarchy. Initially power was monopolised by the patrician aristocracy. Later the rich plebeians (commoners) were given access to power and were co-opted into a patrician-plebeian oligarchy.

The significance of the Roman Republic in later times was that it provided an inspiration for several political thinkers. It provided a model for self-governance for the Italian city-states of the High and Late Middle Ages after they gained independence for the medieval Holy Roman Emperor. These cities were usually headed by elected consuls and in case of emergencies they appointed a Podesta, an officer of state with extraordinary powers which was modelled on the dictators of the Roman Republic.

The prominent 18th century French philosopher Montesquieu adopted the interpretation of the constitution of the Roman Republic by Polybius, an ancient Greek historian. Polybius, following the models of the political theory of Aristotle, argued that the Republic was a "mixed constitution" which combined element of three different political constitutions: monarchy (the consuls were like monarchs) aristocracy (he saw the senate as being aristocratic) and democracy (the vote of the popular assemblies). These three constitutions complemented each other and provided checks and balances on each other. They made up for the weakness on the others, balancing them, and also checked the power of the others, providing for stability and fairness. Montesquieu developed his concept of separation of powers from Polybius' theory. A stable and fair state should be divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that no branch has more power than the other branches and each one provided checks and balances on the others. The separate branches were to be a legislative, an executive, and a judiciary. These kinds of branches were modern concepts which were not derived from the Roman Republic, whose arrangements were different.

The concepts of mixed constitution and separation of powers became popular among US scholars, who argued that mix government was the key characteristic of a republic. This led to the United States Constitution embodying the doctrine of separation of powers and the federal government being divided into three branches: the legislature (the bicameral Congress) the executive (the President) and the judiciary (the Supreme Court and other federal courts). James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Say, the authors of the Federalist papers, were admirers of the Roman Republic and wrote their papers under the pseudonym "Publius" in honour Pulbius Valerius Publicola, one of the founders of the Roman Republic.

Answer 2

The importance of the Roman republic was that it was established with the overthrow of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, who was a tyrant, and the abolition of the monarchy. Its purpose was to prevent the return of tyranny.