Optimates and Populares in Late Republican Rome

In this lecture, Dr Ed Bispham (University of Oxford) thinks about the conflict in late Republican Rome between the 'optimates' and 'populares', focusing in particular on: (i) the meanings of the terms ‘optimates’, ‘boni’ and ‘populares’; (ii) Cicero’s assessment of the conflict between the ‘optimates’ and ‘populares’, and the extent to which we should believe him; (iii) the key aims of the ‘populares’ - a bigger role for the people in political decision-making, increased transparency of what was going on in the senate, and a fairer distribution of the fruits of empire.
This lecture is part of a larger course on the Politics of the Late Republic. The full course can be found here: www.massolit.io/courses/polit...
MASSOLIT works with university academics to produce short video lectures in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is available to schools and colleges on an institutional license as well as via private subscription: www.massolit.io/?source=yt

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I get it. Not a one to one fit with Democrats and Republicans but you have to admit it’s close.