Mos Maiorum and Res Novae

What is it about?

From a triple perspective —the Greek and Roman political thought and theory, the different practices and various representations of power—, this paper shows, by analysing a few examples from the last century of the Republic to the 4th c. CE, how Romans have interpreted their institutions and body politic as a ‘permanent’ model (i.e. a true exemplum viewed as a mos maiorum) that implied constant changes (res nouae).

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Why is it important?

To consider at the same time tradition, transformation, and innovation, we must take into account what Claudia Moatti (Res publica, 2018, p. 15-18) recently used to present as a system of alteronomy. But we do examine the Roman political system, and the idea of a so-called res publica, as a living and collective body made of gestures, rituals and social memory in permanent re-construction/re-foundation, from the very beginnings of the Republic during the 5th c. BCE.