FROM PLEBEIAN STRUGGLE TO POPULARES: TRANSFORMATION OF POPULAR POLITICS IN ROME DURING IVTH AND IIIRD CENTURIES BC

OpenAlex · Türkçe

The plebeian movement, gaining momentum in the Vth century BC, was a pivotal force in Rome's socio-political evolution. Rooted in economic and social disparities, it was led by rich plebeians but driven by rural plebeians (plebs rustica) demanding political representation, debt relief, and equitable land distribution. Key figures such as Spurius Cassius Vecellinus, Spurius Maelius, and Marcus Manlius Capitolinus championed reforms, culminating in the Licinian-Sextian laws of 367 BC, which granted plebeians access to the consulship and economic relief. However, later laws like the lex de ambitu (358 BC) and electoral restrictions (342 BC) sought to curb reformist movements. Rome’s expansion in the late IVth and early IIIrd centuries BC further shaped plebeian politics. Colonization, debt relief, and the abolition of nexum (326 BC) aimed to ease economic pressures on farmer-soldiers (assidui), while efforts to integrate libertini into politics faced senatorial resistance. The Senate's growing power and Rome’s territorial expansion marginalized plebeian assemblies, shifting the political focus to the newly emerging populares movement. Gaius Flaminius, an early popularis figure, sought to integrate the interests of both rural-urban plebeians and the rising equestrian class against senatorial oligarchy, marking a shift in Roman politics. This transformation set the stage for populares movement that challenged the senatorial oligarchy and reshaped the scope of Roman republican politics in the IInd century BC.