How did the roman aristocracy come into power?

Answer 1

It is thought that two main factors led to the patrician aristocracy to come into power.

One factor was that their clans claimed descent from the original senators of Rome. Romulus, the founder of Rome, was said to have selected 100 pater familias (fathers of the family, heads of the household) form the leading clans of Rome at the time to seat in the senate, which was the advisory body of the king, a council of elders (senate comes from the word senex, old man). This gave the patricians a claim of ancestral entitlement to authority and the prestige of an ancestry which was supposed to go back to the beginning of Rome. The term patrician was derived from pater (familias). They were the 'fathers' (of the city) and were often called paters.

The other factor was that they came to monopolise the priesthoods during the years of their formation. This was very important because religion regulated many aspects of private, public, political and military life. For example, several political process, and even war, had to start after the taking of the auspices (divination of the omens of the gods). The kings of Rome also had priestly functions; they were also augurs (performers of auspices). When the king died, his auspice was reverted back to the senators, who were the ultimate holders of the auspices. The senators also selected the candidate for the next kingship and when the new king was elected, they conferred auspice on the king. In the Republic, the priestly senators conferred auspice on top officers of state. Thus, the priesthoods gave the patricians great authority and political influence.

The very early Roman state was based on religion. The foundation of the rules of public life was religion. There was not a differentiation between private or public law and the religious rules which regulated society. This made the early patricians the legal experts of the city (through their knowledge of religious rules and procedures, which they kept secret) and the holders of legal authority. It gave the patrician aristocracy enormous political authority. Originally, the senators also had the power to overturn laws on the ground of religious technicalities (through the auctoritas senatus, a pronouncement of the senate on laws) This changed over the centuries as the growth secular laws and rules and of secular administrative offices greatly decreased the political importance of religion and religious authority.

Answer 2

The patricians, the Roman aristocracy, originated from the days of the foundation of Rome. Romulus, the founder of Rome and its first king, unified the separate settlements on what were to become the Seven Hills of Rome under his rule. He created a royal advisory council which he called senate. This was like a council of elders (the word senate is derived from senatus, which in Latin means old man). He selected 100 patres familias (fathers of the family/heads of the household) from the leading clans of Rome at the time to sit on this council.

These men of these clans also became the priests of the city as Roman state religion was developed. This gave them a very powerful position in early Roman society. They originally derived their status from their monopoly over the priesthoods and from their claim of being the descendants of the original patres familia of the original senate. They called themselves the patres (the fathers) to imply that they were the fathers of the city. The name patrician is derived from pater (father, singular of patres). The patricians also become the owners of the large landed estates.