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The Breakdown of the Late Republic, 88–31 BC

The popular assemblies and the making of law

  • 2 things to know
  • Component Group 2

Overview

Recall questions on the comitia centuriata and why it favoured the rich, its meeting place on the Campus Martius, the comitia populi tributa and tribal voting, city and country voters, the plebeian assembly and the plebiscitum, the law of 287 BC, how a bill was published and voted without amendment, the contio, and the secret ballot.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Which assembly elected the consuls and praetors, and how was it organised?

Key term

Explain why the comitia centuriata favoured the rich.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Which assembly elected the consuls and praetors, and how was it organised?

    Model answer

    The comitia centuriata, divided into one hundred and ninety-three voting centuries graded by wealth.

  2. 2

    Explain why the comitia centuriata favoured the rich.

    Model answer

    The wealthiest classes held a majority of the centuries and voted first, so a decision was often reached before the poorest citizens were called at all.

  3. 3

    Where did the comitia centuriata meet, and why could it not assemble inside the city?

    Model answer

    It met on the Campus Martius outside the sacred boundary, because it was in origin the citizen body drawn up under arms.

  4. 4

    Which magistrates were elected by the comitia populi tributa?

    Model answer

    The quaestors, the curule aediles and the military tribunes.

  5. 5

    How did voting work in an assembly organised by tribes?

    Model answer

    Each of the thirty-five tribes cast a single block vote settled by the majority of its own members present.

  6. 6

    Why did the tribal system favour country voters in theory but city voters in practice?

    Model answer

    There were thirty-one rural tribes against only four urban ones, but a countryman had to travel to Rome to vote, so those actually present were mostly city dwellers.

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