Censors and society : the Roman censorship, 443-21 BC
The censorship was one of the Roman Republic's most significant magistracies. The range and importance of their duties â the census, the lectio senatus and recognitio equitum, letting public contracts and initiating public works, and the ceremony of the lustrum â meant that the office had a profound impact on Roman society. There is much modern scholarship on the censorship. But some of the arguments and conclusions put forward by earlier scholars, while valuable, need to be updated and certain misconceptions corrected. In particular, what is required is a greater focus on placing the censorship in its political and social context, into the political culture of the Roman Republic, in order to properly analyse the office, its wider function(s), and its influence on Roman society. At the same time, a careful consideration of what precisely the censors' duties involved and how each pair of censors carried these out is necessary. The present work hopes to address both aspects of this important magistracy. To that end, this thesis is divided into seven chapters. Five of which deal with the censors' individual responsibilities. Chapter 1 is a diachronic survey of the censorship across the whole period of its
Welbourn, Michael
DG Italy
Censors and society : the Roman censorship, 443-21 BC. The censorship was one of the Roman Republic's most significant magistracies. The range and importance of their duties â the census, the lectio senatus and recognitio equitum, letting public contracts and initiating public works, and the ceremony of the lustrum â meant that the office had a profound impact on Roman society. There is much modern scholarship on the censorship. But some of the arguments and conclusions put forward by earlier scholars, while valuable, need to be updated and certain misconceptions corrected. In particular, what is required is a greater focus on placing the censorship in its political and social context, into the political culture of the Roman Republic, in order to properly analyse the office, its wider function(s), and its influence on Roman society. At the same time, a careful consideration of what precisely the censors' duties involved and how each pair of censors carried these out is necessary. The present work hopes to address both aspects of this important magistracy. To that end, this thesis is divided into seven chapters. Five of which deal with the censors' individual responsibilities. Chapter 1 is a diachronic survey of the censorship across the whole period of its
society roman censorship censorship roman_republic significant magistracy range importance duty census lectio let public contract initiate public work ceremony meant office profound_impact roman_society much_modern scholarship censorship argument_conclusion put_forward early scholar valuable need update certain misconception correct particular require great focus place censorship political_social context political_culture roman_republic order properly analyse office wide function influence roman_society time careful_consideration precisely censor duty involve pair censor carry necessary present_work hop address aspect important magistracy end divide_seven chapter five_deal censor individual responsibility diachronic survey censorship across whole period