Work

Choisir le meilleur: la royauté élective à Rome selon Denys d’Halicarnasse

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: According to the historiographers’ unanimous tradition, since Romulus kings in Rome were elected by the populus Romanus after a fixed procedure. In particular, the one who stood as candidate to the votes was preselected by senators for his personal qualities : he had to be «the best » , and that is why Romans would not waver in choosing a foreigner, provided that he should come up to that degree of excellence. Thus the new king was legitimate on a double ground, political and moral. Among all the trustworthy authorities we have, Dionysius of Halicarnassus is one who lays the most significant stress on the part played by personal value in the choice of a king. Using mainly a comparison with Livy, this article intends to bring to light and explain how original Dionysius’s report is on that matter of the royal election.

Source: Ktèma civilisations de l Orient de la Grèce et de Rome antiques

DOI: 10.3406/ktema.2004.2549

Author: Valérie Fromentin

Institution: Ausonius Institut de Recherche sur l'Antiquité et le Moyen age

Language: English

Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W182644229

FWCI:

Cites:

Cited by: 18

Related to: 10