State Elite?

According to a theory developed by Theodor Mommsen (1887: 468-475), Augustus made senatorial rank hereditary. Henceforth, it is claimed, there was an important difference between the 'senate' and the 'senatorial order.' Access to the 'senate' was obtained in the same ways as in the Late Republic, through tenure of the lowest-ranking senatorial magistracy, the quaestorship.

This paper examines the senatorial elite of Rome in light of the so-called Roman Revolution of Constantine (Van Dam 2007). After Constantine’s victory in the civil war of 312, the senatorial elites of Rome faced significant challenges to their prestige and status. Constantine had redefined the ways in which senatorial status was established, making it hereditary but also expanding the number of men with clarissimate (i.e.

This paper examines the relation between Rome’s senatorial elite and Diocletian’s government. More specifically, it reconsiders the reasons for and the nature of the so-called abandonment of Rome as primary residence of emperors.

This paper argues that senatorial women in the early principate, while never holding office, enjoyed significant power individually and were intrinsic to the Senate’s continuing power and prestige.