
In the republic, members of the patrician class served as advisers to the other governing bodies of the republic.


The Senate advised on matters pertaining to rules governing the city and population. Over a period of nearly 200 years, however, the plebeians fought for and gained power within the government.Īt the heart of the Roman Republic was the Senate. Everyone else was considered plebeian, and no member of this group could hold office. Initially, Rome’s wealthiest families, the patricians, held power and only they could hold political or religious offices. Rome’s next government served as a representative democracy in the form of a republic.

after the last Etruscan king that ruled Rome was overthrown. The Roman Republic was founded in 509 B.C.E.
