Roman Republic

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the period of ancient Roman history from the overthrow of the last king Tarquinius Superbus in 509 BCE to the establishment of the Principate under Augustus in 27 BCE, during which Rome was governed by annually elected magistrates, a Senate of patrician and plebeian families, and popular assemblies; the Republic expanded from a small city-state to master of the Mediterranean world through a combination of military prowess, disciplined legions, effective administration, and the extension of Roman citizenship to conquered peoples; Republican institutions — consuls, tribunes of the plebs, the Senate — influenced political thought and constitutional design from the Renaissance to the American Founding Fathers; the Republic's end was precipitated by the social and military crises of the late second and first centuries BCE, the rise of populist generals, and the civil wars culminating in Julius Caesar's dictatorship and assassination