Superbus, in 509 BC the Senate formed the main governing body of the Roman Republic. The two consuls, who took the place of the old monarchy, used the Senate as their official advisors and aristocratic (Plebian) supporters. This is the beginning of the Republic, and hence, Senatorial power and domination of the Roman GovernmentThe next series of events that proved to be historically important regarding the Roman Senate occurred during 133 and 27 BC. During this time, the Republic was engaged in a constant series of civil wars, making up what many refer to as the Roman Revolution. Part of the reason for this was because during the Punic and Macedonian wars of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Rome had annexed Spain, Macedonia, Greece, the East, and North Africa. Thus Rome had come to control a vast empire and the Republic with its two consuls, Senate, and small group of magistrates was not an adequate government for an empire of the size. In other words the Roman Republic was a form of government that worked well with a city-state or even a group of powerful city-states in control of a region, not a good government for maintaining a large empire (for this and because of this the empire would eventually rise)By 133 BC Roman politics had become extremely divided around two different factions in the Senate. The first group was the supporters of the aristocracy, the patricians, who supported the wealthy senatorial class. The other group trying to get political power was interested in the interest of the plebeians and known as the Populares. The Populares demanded the redistribution of land to peasants as well as a reform of the voting procedure. The struggle between these two factions resulted in civil war when the Senate ordered the assassination of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC. Gracchus had been elected as a high ranking magistrate and had proposed a law that would divide the land and give it to the plebian citizens of Rome. The Senate...
