Roman Republic

The article examines the distribution and use of war booty in the Roman Republic. In spite of quite extensive historiography on this question, scholars as a rule focused their interest on the role of the commander in the process of dividing the loot, and the collective of citizens of the Roman state, which also claimed part of the loot, unreasonably remained without required attention. Therefore the article analyzes the parts of the Roman civitas, among which the spoils of war were distributed, namely, the commander, the soldiers and the treasury.

The article deals with the problem of the relationship between the Triumvirs in the period 41–36 BC. The author notes the active use of Republican slogans, which allowed political leaders to obtain the support of a significant part of the population of the Roman state. That is why political propaganda has acquired special significance in the period of 41–36 BC.

The article discusses the means and methods that Octavian used to form the public opinion of the Romans in the period 34–32 BC. The author notes their diversity and intensive use in political propaganda, but their effectiveness should not be exaggerated. Only patriotic slogans made Octavian the true leader of the Roman Republic. Octavian`s political talent was that he managed to capture and use Romans moods in his interests.

The author criticizes a recent article by A.M. Smorchkov, devoted to the comparison of the political structure of the Roman Republic and modern democratic states. The author proves the fallacy of the main thesis of A.M. Smorchkov, according to which the Roman Republic of the III–I centuries BC should be recognized as a democracy.