Was the Roman Republic the best form of government?

This video was made in collaboration with Timothy Erik Sarma, who also runs a hosts the great podcast ‘Rome Retold’. Please consider showing them some support!

[thedudefromrobloxx]

I don't know if anyone was under the assumption that the roman republic was actually democratic. I think most people equate with oligarchy, so that unlike the empire more than one rich guy was able to make decisions

[Carlo-zkcy]

It took 482 years for the Roman Republic to be transformed into a Principate.

Still an amazing feat.

[nixielee]

Modern scholars zzz. The classic "wealthy people had more power, so it must be bad", even though Rome created new wealth on a daily basis. They clearly had a great system going. Didn't end well, but that's true for all civilizations. They held on for a really long time.

[Makrangoncias]

My daily dose of Rome! Thank you very much!

[srleplay]

It doesn't come even close to the Ancient Athenian democracy, that stuff was wild. If you don't believe me look at the government position charts side by side

[yakumoyukarina]

Who the hell even equates Republic to Democracy. Those two are totally different things...

[gulli]

And here I am. Again. A straight, white man, thinking about the Roman Empire.

[t.b.cont.]

“Why revolt against the government when the government does such a good job revolting against itself?”
~Pompey

[Pan_Z]

The American Founding Fathers were inspired by the Roman Republic. It's why so many of their political papers are signed under the pen names Publius, Cicero, etc..., and why the US Capital buildings adhere to classical architecture.

[mortem-tyrannis]

Voting was just theater in Rome... Huh. That sounds familiar.

[Steven-dtnu]

Thanks for the video, I enjoy them very much

[ronrozen]

That was very interesting, thank you!

[AloneComes]

thank you for being such an important part of my learning journey! ️

[micahistory]

very interesting explanation of the Roman Republic

[samym]

So when's the continuation of the Greek Warfare like the famous "Macedonian Phalanx"?

Some records say their Sarissas pointing Upwards protects the whole unit in the front from projectiles like Arrows which doesn't even make sense considering how thin the pikes were

[insanemakaioshin]

What about the different types of Assembles? ex. Curiate Assembly & Calate Assembly

[Mareczekw]

Those are so nice I watch them more than once

[gregrenox]

I think with the Rome move from Agriculturral based city states into a large spanning dominion in late republic. Is what droves Republic to fall, the ellites gaining more and more wealth and glory by each expansions and thus creates a huge economy gaps between the Elites and Populace. As seen in City of Rome lack of Infrastructure and bad sewage system before Agrippa times.

This culmunated in death of Gracci brothers. Where even the land reforms that was badly nedded for populace were turn down and even the Gracci were assasinated because of it. Even when Caesar lead the populares factions and giving a compromise on a land reform by the expense of his own wealth so that the Elites will not lost their wealth. They still refuse, and that is why Roman Republic is failing, for the system only benefits the elites and people with connections, no wonder Octavian hated it and abbuse those sytem abd make an Empire of it.

[alaskabeachboy]

Compared with many of the civilizations of its time, Rome showcased a number of prominent features and innovations in the structure of its government. There, how hard was that to say?

Try looking at history through the lens of the period rather than criticizing how a historian from antiquity didn’t see things from our perspective two thousand years on.

[kipl]

I have a few questions about the senate, you tell us it had basically no formal powers but in fact dominated political life and in other video's I have been told they basically passed laws and ratified treaties. I believe though there have been instances where the senate could simply be bypassed by the people's assembly and that happened a few times. Populist politicians presented their proposals to the people's assembly and ignored the senate. And law apparently did not require the senates consent to be turned into law.
What was the balance between the peoples assembly and the senate? I never really understood that

How did that work with the senatus consultum ultimum? (apparently gave the consuls the free reigns to do whatever was needed to protect the republic?) and the dictator? Did those things require the consent of one of the assemblies?