Thursday, October 25, 2012
Peisistratus and Mid-6th Century Athens
Peisistratus was the first tyrant of Athens and the founder of the Peisistratid line. At a time when the state faced 1. factional dispute based on regionalism and 2. continuing economic problems based on debt, he gained control of the state in the third of three coup attempts (560, several years later, when he attempted a coup with a women dressed as the goddess Athena, 546). Before that, he had allied temporarily with the regional leader Megacles but they had fallen out over a marital issue; P. had married Megacles' daughter but wanted no more children. He had spent multiple years in exile and seized power through Theban and Argolid support, defeating the loyalist forces at the Battle of Pallenis.
Peisistratus' rule included:
-Consistently keeping at least one supporter in an archonship to retain a power base in legitimate government
-Exacting a 5% tax policy on all citizens, as opposed to taxing only the higher classes
-Patronage of poets, decorating the acropolis with a temple of Athena
-Panathenaea celebrated annually, with ritual recitation of Homer and rhapsodic competitions
-institution of traveling judges called dicasts, which enabled people without means to travel to city easily to seek access to legal system
-may have performed some land redistribution
-settled citizens in the Chersonese
After the death of Peisistratus in 528, his sons Hippias and Hipparchus shared power until the assassination of Hipparchus by Harmodius and Aristogeiton in an abortive coup attempt in 514. The aftermath involved a more severe rule on his part and an alliance with the tyrant of Lampsacus.
Athenian tradition held that the Alcmaeonidae were associated with the overthrow of Hippias in 510, although the real initiative was a supporting force from Sparta under Cleomenes. Hippias surrendered and fled into exile into, eventually, Persia.
After the change in government, the next large political development was the rivalry between the pro-Spartan Isagoras and the anti-Spartan Alcamaeonid Cleisthenes, who led a successful defense against a Spartan-orchestrated alliance c.510.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Solon the Lawgiver
Solon is the central figure in early Athenian history, remembered as the individual that created the Athenian law code (retaining only Draco's law on homicide) and made the first changes toward a democratized government.
Solon came to power as the state was facing an economic crisis, symptoms of which included the loss of many workers into the ranks of hektemoroi (debt-slaves), the displacement of many lower-class citizens, and the greater concentration of landed wealth. In his poetry he claimed to have ransomed/bought back many citizens who had been sold into slavery abroad, and to have restored exiles who fled because of financial need. He also forbade the practice of offering a person as credit for debt and forgave both private and public debt in the seisachtheia (although its precise nature is not exactly known). Solon explains these actions as taking up a middle ground between the conflicting interests of the rapacious rich and oppressed poor.
What was the nature of the crisis? It is currently debated: Sealey believes that the model of pure class conflict is likely inaccurate, and that it was mostly conflict between powerful clans, with the added danger that some clans might exploit the grievances of the poor. The poor themselves would have been unable to compete with the wealthy in terms of arms, training, and resources.
Solon reduced the laws to writing, and the penalties within were mostly negative; that is, they removed rights from the convicted, the greatest punishment being making him an outlaw or exile. He also is said to have divided the Athenians into four property classes, via which are the pentakosiomedimnoi, hippeis, zeugitai, and thetes. The divisions were based on measures of agricultural produce (500/300/200/lower); it made property the qualification for political privilege. Treasurers could come from the first class, archons from the first two, etc. Ideas about classifications before this one occur in fragments of Aristotle, but may be fanciful speculation; there was a nobility known as the eupatridae, but specifics about it are unclear - it may have been the ruling class during the unification of Attica in the seventh century.
According to Ps. Aristotle, Solon carried out a reorganization of weights, measures, and coinage, although this may result from a later practice of attributing all customary institutions to him.
Solon is commonly credited with creating the Council of Four Hundred, with 100 members taken from each tribe. Its job, according to Plutarch, was to set the business for the assembly. Solon himself does not mention it, and its term limits et al. are unknown.
Solon was archon in 594/3
Solon is thought to have carried out his reforms in around 580-570; they might have been a reaction to periodic anarchies and unstable government, evidence of which is seen in Aristotle's archon list for the 580s.
Solon came to power as the state was facing an economic crisis, symptoms of which included the loss of many workers into the ranks of hektemoroi (debt-slaves), the displacement of many lower-class citizens, and the greater concentration of landed wealth. In his poetry he claimed to have ransomed/bought back many citizens who had been sold into slavery abroad, and to have restored exiles who fled because of financial need. He also forbade the practice of offering a person as credit for debt and forgave both private and public debt in the seisachtheia (although its precise nature is not exactly known). Solon explains these actions as taking up a middle ground between the conflicting interests of the rapacious rich and oppressed poor.
What was the nature of the crisis? It is currently debated: Sealey believes that the model of pure class conflict is likely inaccurate, and that it was mostly conflict between powerful clans, with the added danger that some clans might exploit the grievances of the poor. The poor themselves would have been unable to compete with the wealthy in terms of arms, training, and resources.
Solon reduced the laws to writing, and the penalties within were mostly negative; that is, they removed rights from the convicted, the greatest punishment being making him an outlaw or exile. He also is said to have divided the Athenians into four property classes, via which are the pentakosiomedimnoi, hippeis, zeugitai, and thetes. The divisions were based on measures of agricultural produce (500/300/200/lower); it made property the qualification for political privilege. Treasurers could come from the first class, archons from the first two, etc. Ideas about classifications before this one occur in fragments of Aristotle, but may be fanciful speculation; there was a nobility known as the eupatridae, but specifics about it are unclear - it may have been the ruling class during the unification of Attica in the seventh century.
According to Ps. Aristotle, Solon carried out a reorganization of weights, measures, and coinage, although this may result from a later practice of attributing all customary institutions to him.
Solon is commonly credited with creating the Council of Four Hundred, with 100 members taken from each tribe. Its job, according to Plutarch, was to set the business for the assembly. Solon himself does not mention it, and its term limits et al. are unknown.
Solon was archon in 594/3
Solon is thought to have carried out his reforms in around 580-570; they might have been a reaction to periodic anarchies and unstable government, evidence of which is seen in Aristotle's archon list for the 580s.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Athens in the Seventh Century BC
Our sources:
1. The fragmentary Atthis works of Hellanicus of Lesbos, Cleitodemus and Androtion in the fourth century, and the mostly lost ones of Phanodemus, Demon, and Melanthius.
2. Pseudo-Aristotle(?)'s Athenaion Politeia, which covers the historical development of the state and its form in in Aristotle's time.
Athens was a continuously inhabited site from before the Dark Age, although if it had any hegemony before them, it was lost as Attica devolved into towns and villages. The legendary kings Theseus and Erechtheus are less than helpful in historical time. Athen's control of Eleusis to the west and the eastern plain of Attica was complete by the middle of the seventh century, but not much earlier.
By the time of Cylon (after 650) the kings (monarchs who ruled for life) had been replaced by a board of annual magistrates, the Nine Archons. According to Ps. Aristotle, the functions of the king were reduced over time by the creation of the Polemarch (war commander), Archon (various civic functions), and then by the reduction of the term of the king from life to ten years and eventually one year. There were also six judicial officials known as thesmothetai.
The Athenian council was known as the Council of the Areopagus, since some of its meeting were held on the hill. It served as an advisory body to the archons. Some assembly existed since much earlier times, and the Areopagus nominally consisted of all the past archons. Ps. Aristotle says the archons were elected by the council before Solon replaced the process with selection by lot from candidates approved by tribe.
Strong households held much of the power in society coming out of the dark ages. Consolidated houses came to be known as a genos (clan) and humbler dependents and clients of great houses were grouped in organizations called phratries. All Athenian citizens belonged to phratries, and membership in demes and phratries was the earliest criterion of citizenship.
In 632 Cylon, an Olympic victor, seized the acropolis during an olympic festival, but was pushed out by forces under the nine archons. His coup attempt seemed no to be motivated by popular discontent; those who murdered his followers, specifically the Alcmaeonidae, were said to have fallen under religious pollution.
In 621 Draco wrote down the first set of Athenian laws, laws which were later revised by Solon, who kept intact only Draco's homicide law. His law posits at least five courts in different places for different crimes, of which the Areopagus council was one; these likely predated Draco in some form.
1. The fragmentary Atthis works of Hellanicus of Lesbos, Cleitodemus and Androtion in the fourth century, and the mostly lost ones of Phanodemus, Demon, and Melanthius.
2. Pseudo-Aristotle(?)'s Athenaion Politeia, which covers the historical development of the state and its form in in Aristotle's time.
Athens was a continuously inhabited site from before the Dark Age, although if it had any hegemony before them, it was lost as Attica devolved into towns and villages. The legendary kings Theseus and Erechtheus are less than helpful in historical time. Athen's control of Eleusis to the west and the eastern plain of Attica was complete by the middle of the seventh century, but not much earlier.
By the time of Cylon (after 650) the kings (monarchs who ruled for life) had been replaced by a board of annual magistrates, the Nine Archons. According to Ps. Aristotle, the functions of the king were reduced over time by the creation of the Polemarch (war commander), Archon (various civic functions), and then by the reduction of the term of the king from life to ten years and eventually one year. There were also six judicial officials known as thesmothetai.
The Athenian council was known as the Council of the Areopagus, since some of its meeting were held on the hill. It served as an advisory body to the archons. Some assembly existed since much earlier times, and the Areopagus nominally consisted of all the past archons. Ps. Aristotle says the archons were elected by the council before Solon replaced the process with selection by lot from candidates approved by tribe.
Strong households held much of the power in society coming out of the dark ages. Consolidated houses came to be known as a genos (clan) and humbler dependents and clients of great houses were grouped in organizations called phratries. All Athenian citizens belonged to phratries, and membership in demes and phratries was the earliest criterion of citizenship.
In 632 Cylon, an Olympic victor, seized the acropolis during an olympic festival, but was pushed out by forces under the nine archons. His coup attempt seemed no to be motivated by popular discontent; those who murdered his followers, specifically the Alcmaeonidae, were said to have fallen under religious pollution.
In 621 Draco wrote down the first set of Athenian laws, laws which were later revised by Solon, who kept intact only Draco's homicide law. His law posits at least five courts in different places for different crimes, of which the Areopagus council was one; these likely predated Draco in some form.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Various Early Roman Leges
EX TEMPORE/DOCTUS
The Lex Canuleia was passed in 445 BC and permitted intermarriage between plebeians and patricians, a practice earlier disallowed by the Twelve Tables.
The Licinio-Sextian Laws were passed in 367 BC and had the following parameters:
1. Citizens were limited on the amount of the ager publicus they could own (because of the phenomenon of senators purchasing huge amounts through proxies).
2. It allowed for one consul to be patrician and one consul to be plebeian every year, although this did not always occur in practice.
3. It restored the consulship after the period of the military tribunes.
The Lex Poetalia Papiria was passed in 326 (or 313, re: Varro) BC and prohibited imprisonment for debt, as well as prohibiting loans made on the credit of the borrower's liberty. (Nexum)
The Lex Ogulnia was passed in 296 BC and allowed access for plebeians to the highest priesthoods and were well represented in the college of the augurs.
The Lex Villia Annalis was passed in 180 BC and established minimum age limits for the curule magistracies. Consuls had to be 42 or older. It may also have imposed a minimum two-year interval between holding offices.
The Lex Canuleia was passed in 445 BC and permitted intermarriage between plebeians and patricians, a practice earlier disallowed by the Twelve Tables.
The Licinio-Sextian Laws were passed in 367 BC and had the following parameters:
1. Citizens were limited on the amount of the ager publicus they could own (because of the phenomenon of senators purchasing huge amounts through proxies).
2. It allowed for one consul to be patrician and one consul to be plebeian every year, although this did not always occur in practice.
3. It restored the consulship after the period of the military tribunes.
The Lex Poetalia Papiria was passed in 326 (or 313, re: Varro) BC and prohibited imprisonment for debt, as well as prohibiting loans made on the credit of the borrower's liberty. (Nexum)
The Lex Ogulnia was passed in 296 BC and allowed access for plebeians to the highest priesthoods and were well represented in the college of the augurs.
The Lex Villia Annalis was passed in 180 BC and established minimum age limits for the curule magistracies. Consuls had to be 42 or older. It may also have imposed a minimum two-year interval between holding offices.
Monday, October 8, 2012
The Roman Tribunes
EX TEMPORE
In the city-state of Rome the tribunes were created in 494 BC (or so the story goes) because of the harsh enforcement of debt laws and the plebeians' lack of a voice in civil government. The tribunes were members of the patrician (?) class assigned to watch over the Senate in order to ensure that the Senate took no actions contrary to the well-being of the other class(es).
The powers of the tribune were thus:
1. He had the power of veto, that is, he could nullify any act of the Senate that went against the well-being of the plebs.
2. He was sacrosanct, meaning that anyone who harmed him was subject to religious pollution.
3. He convened the concilium plebis, that is, the assembly of all the nonpatricians in the state.
There were different numbers of tribunes at other times, increasing in number as time progressed. They are not to be confused with the Military Tribunes, which was an alternate form of the executive branch for a period of Roman history. More on them later.
DOCTUS
The tribunes were created in 494 BC (or so the story goes) because of the harsh enforcement of debt laws and the plebeians' lack of a voice in civil government. The tribunes were members of the plebeian class (no patrician could be tribune, ever, which is why Augustus had the potestas of a tribune but did not serve in the office) assigned to watch over the Senate in order to ensure that the Senate took no actions contrary to the well-being of the other class(es). At the time they were created, they were the only office of high government open to plebeians; the others would only be opened to them in 421 BC.
The powers of the tribune were thus:
1. He had the power of veto, that is, he could nullify any government act that went against the well-being of the plebs. This included elections and acts of the other tribunes. This also means that the tribunes were spectators in the Senate chamber.
2. He was sacrosanct, meaning that anyone who harmed him was subject to religious pollution. He was only sacrosanct during his term of office (1 year) and inside the city of Rome.
3. He convened the concilium plebis, that is, the assembly of all the nonpatricians in the state. Under the tribunes the assembly could enact their own resolutions known as plebiscites.
4. He had assistants in the plebeian aediles.
5. He had the power of intercessio, which was the power to intervene in a legal action being taken against a citizen if he thought justice was being handled unfairly.
There were different numbers of tribunes at other times, increasing in number as time progressed. The original number is variously stated, but it was at least ten by the mid-fifth century. They are not to be confused with the Military Tribunes, which was an alternate form of the executive branch for a period of Roman history. More on them later.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Secessiones Plebis (Or the Plebeian camping trips)
The Secessions of the Plebs
EX TEMPORE
Four (?) times during the early history of the Roman Republic, large amounts of the lower classes (known as the plebs/plebeians because of the split between noble and common classes created by Romulus(?)) voluntarily separated themselves from the Roman state and were able to use their status as the backbone of the Roman agricultural and military base to negotiate from a position of power against the Senate and the aristocracy.
The first secession took place in 494 BC, when the plebs took camp on a nearby hill (because..?) and were only convinced to return due to negotiations carried out by Menenius Agrippa, who used a noteworthy metaphor of the plebs as the "belly" of the state, which should not rebel because a body needed to work together to stay solvent. Part of the terms of the return of the plebs was the creation of the Tribune of the Plebs, a sacrosanct yearly position filled by a member of the patrician class who could veto acts of the Senate, call together the concilium plebis and introduce legislation through it.
The second secession took place in 454 BC in the face of unequal treatment of members of different social classes under the law, and resulted in the creation of the Twelve Tables, a publicly posted law code which attempted to ensure that legal justice would be carried out fairly regardless of the social position of the defendant and prosecutor.
The third secession took place in 387 BC during the war with the Gauls and an end to it was negotiated by Camillus, according to Livy (These are all according to Livy.).
The fourth secession...?
DOCTUS
The number of secessions of the plebs is debated; Cary and Scullard claim five. The lower classes (known as the plebs/plebeians, a split which has obscure origins; Livy traces the patricians to the descendants of Romulus' first senatorial families; the divisions were codified by Servius Tullius' divisions into social classes) voluntarily separated themselves from the Roman state and were able to use their status as the backbone of the Roman agricultural and military base to negotiate from a position of power against the Senate and the aristocracy.
The first secession took place in 494 BC, when the plebs took camp on a nearby hill (Mons Sacer) because of the harsh rule of Appius Claudius because of his harsh enforcement of debt laws. They were only convinced to return due to negotiations carried out by Menenius Agrippa, who used a noteworthy metaphor of the plebs as the other parts and the patricians as the "belly" of the state, against which they should not rebel because a body needed to work together to stay solvent. Part of the terms of the return of the plebs was the creation of the Tribune of the Plebs, a sacrosanct yearly position filled by a member of the patrician class who could veto acts of the Senate, call together the concilium plebis and introduce legislation through it (full explanation of the tribunate later).
The second secession took place in 449 BC in the face of unequal treatment of members of different social classes under the law, and resulted in the adoption of the Twelve Tables (which had been created and debated about by sets of decemviri the previous two years), a publicly posted but not comprehensive law code which attempted to ensure that legal justice would be carried out fairly regardless of the social position of the defendant and prosecutor.
The third secession is posited to have occurred in 445 BC to force the adoption of the Lex Canuleia, which permitted marriage between patricians and plebeians.
The fourth secession is noted by Livy as a military revolt in 342 BC.
The fifth secession occurred in 287 BC to force the adoption of the Lex Hortensia, which gave plebiscites the force of law.
EX TEMPORE
Four (?) times during the early history of the Roman Republic, large amounts of the lower classes (known as the plebs/plebeians because of the split between noble and common classes created by Romulus(?)) voluntarily separated themselves from the Roman state and were able to use their status as the backbone of the Roman agricultural and military base to negotiate from a position of power against the Senate and the aristocracy.
The first secession took place in 494 BC, when the plebs took camp on a nearby hill (because..?) and were only convinced to return due to negotiations carried out by Menenius Agrippa, who used a noteworthy metaphor of the plebs as the "belly" of the state, which should not rebel because a body needed to work together to stay solvent. Part of the terms of the return of the plebs was the creation of the Tribune of the Plebs, a sacrosanct yearly position filled by a member of the patrician class who could veto acts of the Senate, call together the concilium plebis and introduce legislation through it.
The second secession took place in 454 BC in the face of unequal treatment of members of different social classes under the law, and resulted in the creation of the Twelve Tables, a publicly posted law code which attempted to ensure that legal justice would be carried out fairly regardless of the social position of the defendant and prosecutor.
The third secession took place in 387 BC during the war with the Gauls and an end to it was negotiated by Camillus, according to Livy (These are all according to Livy.).
The fourth secession...?
DOCTUS
The number of secessions of the plebs is debated; Cary and Scullard claim five. The lower classes (known as the plebs/plebeians, a split which has obscure origins; Livy traces the patricians to the descendants of Romulus' first senatorial families; the divisions were codified by Servius Tullius' divisions into social classes) voluntarily separated themselves from the Roman state and were able to use their status as the backbone of the Roman agricultural and military base to negotiate from a position of power against the Senate and the aristocracy.
The first secession took place in 494 BC, when the plebs took camp on a nearby hill (Mons Sacer) because of the harsh rule of Appius Claudius because of his harsh enforcement of debt laws. They were only convinced to return due to negotiations carried out by Menenius Agrippa, who used a noteworthy metaphor of the plebs as the other parts and the patricians as the "belly" of the state, against which they should not rebel because a body needed to work together to stay solvent. Part of the terms of the return of the plebs was the creation of the Tribune of the Plebs, a sacrosanct yearly position filled by a member of the patrician class who could veto acts of the Senate, call together the concilium plebis and introduce legislation through it (full explanation of the tribunate later).
The second secession took place in 449 BC in the face of unequal treatment of members of different social classes under the law, and resulted in the adoption of the Twelve Tables (which had been created and debated about by sets of decemviri the previous two years), a publicly posted but not comprehensive law code which attempted to ensure that legal justice would be carried out fairly regardless of the social position of the defendant and prosecutor.
The third secession is posited to have occurred in 445 BC to force the adoption of the Lex Canuleia, which permitted marriage between patricians and plebeians.
The fourth secession is noted by Livy as a military revolt in 342 BC.
The fifth secession occurred in 287 BC to force the adoption of the Lex Hortensia, which gave plebiscites the force of law.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Nexum (nec sui nec alterius)
Let's start at the beginning with the item that you knew best, with our incipit being the information that you are able to provide right now, a mixture of correct information you provided then and things you've realized since then in the flight of your error.
NEXUM was the Roman term for contractual Debt Bondage. As a means of credit in the face of debt a paterfamilias could sell himself or members of his family into indentured servitude, to be done until the debt had been completely paid off. This practice eventually evolved into a significant social problem, as poor citizens found themselves unable to unburden themselves and the numbers of the free population began to decrease. Nexum was outlawed by the Lex Poetalia Papiria in 321 BC.
All right, let's see where we're wrong. A quick glance at Wikipedia seems to support most of this, except for your date.
Nexum dates back to the 12 Tables and was outlawed by the Lex Poetalia Papiria in 321 BC (Livy) or in 313 BC (Varro). Not that knowing precise author-and-date is the most important, but a nice tidbit to offer. While nexum as a contract no longer existed after that date, there were still situations where insolvent debtors could be taken in bondage.
NEXUM was the Roman term for contractual Debt Bondage. As a means of credit in the face of debt a paterfamilias could sell himself or members of his family into indentured servitude, to be done until the debt had been completely paid off. This practice eventually evolved into a significant social problem, as poor citizens found themselves unable to unburden themselves and the numbers of the free population began to decrease. Nexum was outlawed by the Lex Poetalia Papiria in 321 BC.
All right, let's see where we're wrong. A quick glance at Wikipedia seems to support most of this, except for your date.
Nexum dates back to the 12 Tables and was outlawed by the Lex Poetalia Papiria in 321 BC (Livy) or in 313 BC (Varro). Not that knowing precise author-and-date is the most important, but a nice tidbit to offer. While nexum as a contract no longer existed after that date, there were still situations where insolvent debtors could be taken in bondage.
Picking up the Pieces
Things I Should Have Known But Didn't
Well, self, given my underwhelming performance on certain portions of my orals today, clearly things need to be done, and now that I've spent the requisite ...seven hours moping about failures that were entirely my fault, time to take action. So, self, let us create a useful and compendious study narrative that will enable us to know our shit cold. Because, as it happened, you did not know the material cold, and when faced with the pressure of an aggressive examiner who wouldn't let you slide on matters of detail, there was panic, which resulted in you not having confidence (or remembering) the details you had studied and offering inaccurate details from hazy memories of two years before. Which, all in all, were fair reasons for you having to take the test again. You've got two months. Better not fuck it up.
Let's start at the beginning: here are topic that you just didn't know the details well enough to regurgitate them like that (snaps fingers):
Greek:
Athenian government pre-Solon
Solon (at least in detail)
The state of the Athenian constitution in the 6th century BC
The full scale of Cleisthenes' reforms (decent job on the assemblies/tribes, but not enough)
Social divisions and the place of the poor in 6th century Athens
(Also, probably best to review tyranny)
Roman, probably the most embarrassing:
The full details of the Struggle of the Orders, including the dates and details of the Secessions of the Plebs
The formation of the tribunate
The powers of the tribunate, not just veto and sancrosanctity
(You did a fine job on nexum, but best to review it, especially considering you failed to identify the right law which ended it. Which was the Lex Poetalia Papiria of 321 BC, not the goddamn Licinio-Sextian Laws of 367 BC. As you should have known.)
Speaking of which, the key social laws of the early Republic.
This is, of course, not to say that these are the only things you need to know, just ones you didn't know well enough to answer.....any...of the questions you were given in detail. The next two months are going to be a grim and bitter road, but you need to put enough effort into not wasting them in order that this last year not be a waste. It's a setback, and I'm not used to those, or failing at things I work hard at. But there's no turning back now.
Well, self, given my underwhelming performance on certain portions of my orals today, clearly things need to be done, and now that I've spent the requisite ...seven hours moping about failures that were entirely my fault, time to take action. So, self, let us create a useful and compendious study narrative that will enable us to know our shit cold. Because, as it happened, you did not know the material cold, and when faced with the pressure of an aggressive examiner who wouldn't let you slide on matters of detail, there was panic, which resulted in you not having confidence (or remembering) the details you had studied and offering inaccurate details from hazy memories of two years before. Which, all in all, were fair reasons for you having to take the test again. You've got two months. Better not fuck it up.
Let's start at the beginning: here are topic that you just didn't know the details well enough to regurgitate them like that (snaps fingers):
Greek:
Athenian government pre-Solon
Solon (at least in detail)
The state of the Athenian constitution in the 6th century BC
The full scale of Cleisthenes' reforms (decent job on the assemblies/tribes, but not enough)
Social divisions and the place of the poor in 6th century Athens
(Also, probably best to review tyranny)
Roman, probably the most embarrassing:
The full details of the Struggle of the Orders, including the dates and details of the Secessions of the Plebs
The formation of the tribunate
The powers of the tribunate, not just veto and sancrosanctity
(You did a fine job on nexum, but best to review it, especially considering you failed to identify the right law which ended it. Which was the Lex Poetalia Papiria of 321 BC, not the goddamn Licinio-Sextian Laws of 367 BC. As you should have known.)
Speaking of which, the key social laws of the early Republic.
This is, of course, not to say that these are the only things you need to know, just ones you didn't know well enough to answer.....any...of the questions you were given in detail. The next two months are going to be a grim and bitter road, but you need to put enough effort into not wasting them in order that this last year not be a waste. It's a setback, and I'm not used to those, or failing at things I work hard at. But there's no turning back now.
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