The Last Senators In The West

[Gini]

The last of the senate and their families (Rome) were taken hostage by the Goths (around 560 AD) and when Beliisarius took Rome and killed thier king Theudel?, the families were massacred in retaliation. this was the end of the Senate in the West. Does anyone know anythng about the Senate in those times how it stil operated and the patrician life in general?

[Neos Dionysos]

The best advice I can offer would be took look at Theodoric in Italy by John Moorhead, or A History of the Ostrogoths by Thomas S. Burns. They would cover the period directly after the final disposition of the Western Emperor and also of the death of the last recognized Western Emperor in 480.

 

From most accounts it seems that there was not much interruption and that the Senate continued to operate and meet like they always did and to continue to run affairs in Rome. This was finally disrupted and destroyed when the armies of Iustinian under Count Belisarius invaded Italy to re-conqueor in the name of the Roman Empire.

[Neos Dionysos]

I came across some info. I don't think the execution of those Senators was the death of the Roman Senate, though it did help it along. The last recored acts of the Senate seem to be dispatches sent to Constantinople and in 580, which was after the Gothic Wars had ended. Also, a report that the last recorded Senator in Rome died in 640 and his name was Petronius, a consul and the father of Pope Honorius. I am trying to verify this information, but if accurate, it shows that the Ostrogothic executions were not the end of the Senate in Rome.

[Gini]

Thanks so much for that. (I have started to write a novel with those executions in it) I will leave it that those characters THINK that it is the end then. Where did you fijnd that material I would be be very interested to read it This is a fantastic site! Other people enthralled with Rome as well I wish I'd discovered it before

[Northern Neil]

Thanks so much for that. (I have started to write a novel with those executions in it) I will leave it that those characters THINK that it is the end then. Where did you fijnd that material I would be be very interested to read it This is a fantastic site! Other people enthralled with Rome as well I wish I'd discovered it before

 

Another good source for your novel is the by now quite old book 'Rome in the Dark Ages' by Peter Llewellyn. This dates from about the '70's, but it does indirectly shed some light on the last days of the Senate, and (in my view ) suggests that the Roman Church achieved its definitive status as a result of a fusion between church and senate.

[Philhellene]

Roman Middle Age senate was city council. You can find some information about it in "The History of Florence" of Machiavelli.

[DecimusCaesar]

I had always known that the senate had survived the traditional fall of Rome (476 AD) to survive as a city council but I had no idea that the entire senatorial families were killed, I was always under the impression that they had withered away (after reading the Oxford Guide to Medieval Europe). This is fascinating stuff, is there any more info on the internet about it?

[Ludovicus]

I'm on the road at the moment, away from my books on Rome. I believe that shortly after the Senate ceased to function the Senate building in the Forum, the Curia, became a church, Saint Hadrian's or San Adriano. Thanks to its conversion to a Chrisitan religious building, the Curia was saved.

 

 

The book "Rome in Late Antiquity" has lots of very readable information about the City in its last days. Pity I can't recall the author.

[Ludovicus]

In regard to the last days of the Roman Senate I have this from the Oxford Archaeological Guides: Rome, Amanda Claridge.

 

"Though in AD 630 the Senate House was converted into the church of St. Hadrian, the people of Rome were still being called to assembly in front of it in AD 767. " Page 65.

 

What I love about this book is that it gives you the history of important monuments in Rome throughout their entire history. Likewise, we learn that the Forum of Trajan was fairly intact until the earthquake of 801, page 168.

 

If you are going to tour Rome, I strongly advise that you buy this book. Read it before hand and take it with you.

While in Rome one summer, I noticed that the private residence down the street from our hotel on Via San Martino ai Monti was listed in the book as having an Augustan era altar in its basement. Thanks to my Roman cousin, we made contact with the owners of the home who graciously allowed us to see the very well preserved altar in their sub-basement. They were astounded that anyone would know of the monument.

Edited September 14, 2006 by Ludovicus

[DecimusCaesar]

That book sounds fantastic Ludovicus, I will have to buy it eventually, even if I never get a chance to go to Rome.