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  • Chapter 7 - Rituals of Integration in the Roman Republic

  • from Part II - Translations
  • Edited by Amy Russell, Brown University, Rhode Island, Hans Beck, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
  • Translated by Kathrin Lüddecke
  • Book:
    The Roman Republic and Political Culture
    Published online:
    30 January 2025
    Print publication:
    06 February 2025, pp 200-224

  • Summary

    Martin Jehne looks at the Roman comitia through the lens of their rich symbolism. Set in a demarcated space and sanctioned by the auspices of the gods, the popular assemblies were, in general, integrative: they symbolized the belonging of the citizens to the community as a whole. But the assemblies (comitia centuriata, comitia tributa, and comitia curiata) were far from uniform. Each one, argues Jehne, wielded a different type of integrative force upon its participants. The centuriate assembly emphasized hierarchy and vertical integration; the tribal assemblies had an essentially egalitarian structure. In light of a rapidly expanding body of citizens, the integrating capacities of the popular assemblies ought to have shrunk. Creating a climate of consensus and communality, those capacities were preserved in the assemblies’ roles as referential quantities that embodied ideas of hierarchy and equality vital to the libera res publica.