Twelve Tables of Roman Law (451 BCE) Commentary by Eric May, M.A.

Context

Republican Rome during the period called the Conflict of the Orders (494–287 bce) was rife with social unrest. The constant struggle between the interests of two groups, the patricians and the plebeians, was the primary impetus behind many of the events during this period. Like many elements of very early Roman history, the origins of this class hierarchy are uncertain. According to tradition, the founder of Rome, Romulus, created the first Roman Senate, and from the descendents of those original hundred men, termed patres (fathers), the patrician class came into being. Modern historians are skeptical of that explanation and believe that the patrician class may have come about during the rule of the monarchy and included aristocratic clans from peoples that migrated into or joined with Rome during the regnal period— the time under which Rome was ruled by a series of kings, from the date of the mythical founding of Rome in 753 bce by Romulus to the overthrow of...