SPQR

SPQR or S.P.Q.R., an initialism for Senatus Populusque Romanus (Classical Latin:[sɛˈnaːtʊspɔpʊˈɫʊskʷɛroːˈmaːnʊs]; transl."The Senate and People of Rome"), is an emblematic phrase referring to the government of the Roman Republic. It appears on documents made public by an inscription in stone or metal, in dedications of monuments and public works, and on some Roman currency.

The full phrase appears in Roman political, legal and historical literature, such as the speeches of Cicero and the Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Books from the Founding of the City) of Livy.

Translation

In Latin, Senātus is a nominative singular noun meaning "Senate". Populusque is compounded from the nominative noun Populus, "the People", and -que, an enclitic particle meaning "and" which connects the two nominative nouns. The last word, Rōmānus ("Roman"), is an adjective modifying the whole of Senātus Populusque: the "Roman Senate and People", taken as a whole. Thus, the phrase is translated literally as "The Roman Senate and People", or more freely as "The Senate and People of Rome".

An alternative interpretation of the acronym, provided by the dictionary IL – Vocabolario della lingua latina by Luigi Castiglioni and Scevola Mariotti, is ‘Senatus Populusque Quiritium Romanus’, that is: ‘the Roman Senate and People of the Quirites’; the Quirite (quiris) was, in fact, a citizen of ancient Rome who enjoyed full civil, political and even military rights.

Historical context

The title's date of establishment is unknown, but it first appears in inscriptions of the Late Republic, from around 80 BC onwards. Previously, the official name of the Roman state, as evidenced on coins, was simply ROMA. The abbreviation last appears on coins of Constantine the Great (ruled 312–337 AD), the first Roman emperor to support Christianity.[citation needed]

This signature continued in use under the Roman Empire. The emperors were considered the de jure representatives of the people even though the senātūs consulta, or decrees of the Senate, were made at the de facto pleasure of the emperor.[citation needed]

Populus Romanus in Roman literature is a phrase meaning the government of the People. When the Romans named governments of foreign states, they used populus in the singular or plural, such as populi Priscorum Latinorum, "the governments of the Old Latins". Romanus is the established adjective used to distinguish the Romans, as in civis Romanus, "Roman citizen".[citation needed]

The Roman people appear very often in law and history in such phrases as dignitas, maiestas, auctoritas, libertas populi Romani, the "dignity, majesty, authority, freedom of the Roman people". They were a populus liber, "a free people". There was an exercitus, imperium, iudicia, honores, consules, voluntas of this same populus: "the army, rule, judgments, offices, consuls and will of the Roman people". They appear in early Latin as Popolus and Poplus, so the habit of thinking of themselves as free and sovereign was quite ingrained.[citation needed]

The Romans believed that all authority came from the people. It could be said that similar language seen in more modern political and social revolutions directly comes from this usage. People in this sense meant the whole government. The latter, however, was essentially divided into the aristocratic Senate, whose will was executed by the consuls and praetors, and the comitia centuriata, "committee of the centuries", whose will came to be safeguarded by the Tribunes.[citation needed]

One of the ways the emperor Commodus (180–192) paid for his donatives and mass entertainments was to tax the senatorial order, and on many inscriptions, the traditional order is provocatively reversed (Populus Senatusque...).[citation needed]

Medieval use

Beginning in 1184, the Commune of Rome struck coins in the name of the SENATVS P Q R. From 1414 until 1517, the Roman Senate struck coins with a shield inscribed SPQR.

Modern use

Even in contemporary usage, SPQR is still used in the municipal coat of arms of Rome and as abbreviation for the comune of Rome in official documents. The Italians have long used a different and humorous expansion of this abbreviation, "Sono Pazzi Questi Romani" (lit.'They're crazy, these Romans'). SPQR is also part of the coat of arms of the Capital Military Command of the Italian army (Italian: Comando Militare Capitale).

In business, in English-speaking countries, SPQR is sometimes (humorously) used to mean "Small Profits, Quick Returns", often by people who have studied Latin at school.

Civic references

SPQx is sometimes used as an assertion of municipal pride and civic rights. The Italian town of Reggio Emilia, for instance, has SPQR in its coat of arms, standing for Senatus Populusque Regiensis. There are historic usages of the deployment of the "SPQx" format in various other cities and towns:

Gallery

• The inscription in the Arch of Titus
• Manhole cover in Rome with SPQR inscription
• SPQR in the coat of arms of Reggio Emilia
• Detail from the mosaic floor in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan
• "Superiority of the warrior class", by Wenceslaus Hollar
• Arch of Septimius Severus top inscription
• Dedicatory plaque to Federico Fellini on Via Veneto
• Field symbol (right) at the Belvedere palace, Vienna

Further reading

• Beneš, Carrie E. (2009). "Whose SPQR? Sovereignty and semiotics in medieval Rome". Speculum. 84 (4): 874–904. doi:. S2CID.
• Moatti, Claudia (2017). . Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of London. 60 (1): 34–48. doi:.

External links

• on Perseus.edu
• on Perseus.edu