Was the Roman Republic a democracy?

To properly understand how democratic the Roman Republic was, it is necessary to first understand how ancient scholars understood democracy as a political system. One can find a cohesive answer in the writings of the 2nd century Greek historian, and Roman captive, Polybius. read more

The Romans called their system a rēspūblica, or republic, from the Latin rēs, meaning thing or affair, and pūblicus or pūblica, meaning public—thus, a republic was the thing that belonged to the Roman people, the populus romanus. Like Athens, Rome was originally a city-state. read more

The Roman Republic was never intended to be a democracy. Instead, as acknowledged by Polybius, it was an experiment that sought to fuse democracy, aristocracy and monarchy into the perfect socio-political system. read more

6a. The Roman Republic. The Romans established a form of government — a republic — that was copied by countries for centuries In fact, the government of the United States is based partly on Rome's model. read more