First secessio plebis

The first secessio plebis was a significant event in ancient Roman political and social history that occurred between 495 and 493 BC. It involved a dispute between the patrician ruling class and the plebeian underclass, and was one of a number of secessions by the plebs and part of a broader political conflict known as the conflict of the orders.[1]

The Secession of the People to the Mons Sacer, engraving by Bartolomeo Barloccini, 1849.

The secession was initially sparked by discontent about the burden of debt on the poorer plebeian class. The failure of the patrician rulers, including the consuls and more generally the Senate, to address those complaints and, subsequently, the Senate's outright refusal to agree to debt reforms, caused the issue to flare into a more widespread concern about plebeian rights. As a result, the plebeians seceded and departed to the nearby Mons Sacer (the Sacred Mountain).[2]

Ultimately, a reconciliation was negotiated and the plebs were given political representation by the creation of the office of the tribune of the plebs.

  1. ^ Livy (25 September 2006). The History of Rome. Hackett Publishing. pp. 122–. ISBN 978-1-60384-058-3.
  2. ^ Edward Greswell (1854). Origines Kalendariæ Italicæ: Nundinal Calendars of Ancient Italy, Nundinal Calendar of Romulus, Calendar of Numa Pompilius, Calendar of Thedecemvirs, Irregular Roman Calendar, and Julian Correction. Tables of the Roman Calendar, from U.C. 4 of Varro B.C. 750 to U.C. 1108 A.D. 355. University Press. pp. 190–.