# Did Senators in Ancient Rome represent states? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263 "2007-03-16T21:44:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/1 "2007-03-16T21:44:21Z")
Similar to our Senators in the U.S. today, did they represent states? Territories? What? Also, how many were in the Senate at the time of the first and second Caesar? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/2 "2007-03-16T22:03:02Z")
Nope. They represented no one but themselves, the senate wasn’t supposed to be representative of anything. People were entered into the senate rolls by the censors, usually after being elected to an office like tribune or quaestor. By the mid-130s BCE, it contained about 300 men. Sulla brought it up to 600, Caesar to 900 in 45 BCE, and Augustus back down to 600. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/3 "2007-03-16T22:04:49Z")
No, they didn’t represent states or districts or anything like that. Senators were chosen by the censors out of those who met the property qualification, but those who held elected office were always members of the Senate. Sulla’s reforms increased the size of the Senate to 600 (from 300), and Julius Caesar raised it to 900. After Augustus became emperor, he reduced the size back to 600. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/4 "2007-03-16T22:10:55Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Senators were chosen by the censors out of those who met the property qualification, but those who held elected office were always members of the Senate. [/QUOTE] True, but I think it was exceedingly rare, except in cases where the senate was expanded, that in the mid-late Republican period anyone was brought in without being elected to office. And I’m pretty sure that, pre-Sullan reforms, it was traditional although not legislated that elected officials be entered in the rolls. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/5 "2007-03-17T05:19:28Z")
[What a Roman censor was](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censor_%28ancient_Rome%29). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/6 "2007-03-17T13:19:30Z")
Just so you know, **diggleblop** , Rome didn’t have states or territories; there were provinces with governors, but nothing like what the U.S. has. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-senators-in-ancient-rome-represent-states/396263/7 "2007-03-17T15:45:35Z")
Thanks, Cap’n Carrot. I always wondered about that. I’m fascinated by Ancient Rome. I don’t know why, but maybe that’s what I was in one of my former lives. A Roman.