Comitia Curiata - The Roman Assembly During the Republic

The comitia curiata was one of the earliest popular assemblies of Rome. There is some debate as to when it began, but likely the comitia curiata began meeting just prior to the creation of the Republic (prior to 509 BC), when Rome was still ruled by kings.

The comitia curiata was possibly the first popular legislative body of Rome. That is, it was the first body with the power to approve or reject laws set before it by the republican magistrates (or before the republic, the kings). Only members of the elite families of Rome – patricians – could participate in the comitia curiata.

With the creation of the comitia centuriata, the comitia curiata lost most of its legislative power and became more of a ceremonial body. For instance, the comitia curiata had the power to inaugurate various priests and give the power of imperium to magistrates (consuls, praetors, etc…) each year when new ones were elected and ready to take office.

Government of the Roman Republic - The Senate

The Roman senate had much of the real power during the time of the republic. The senate was made up of 300 powerful Roman men (although it was increased to as many as 900 in the later years of the republic). Many Roman senators had held another high office before being appointed to the senate. In fact, once a Roman had served in a high office in the republic (consul, praetor, etc…), he was made a senator for life.

Presidential Birthdays

When we think of presidential birthdays, we automatically go to Washington and Lincoln being born in February. I took a list of the presidents and sorted them by month so we can easily put their birthdays on our calendars. Now if we could just get the furniture stores and car dealerships to have big sales on all of these days...

By the way, the most common birth month for presidents so far is October. June and September bore only one president each.

President	Name				Birth Mo	Day	Year
13	Millard Fillmore				1	7	1800
37	Richard M. Nixon				1	9	1913
25	William McKinley				1	29	1843
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt				1	30	1882
40	Ronald Reagan				2	6	1911
9	William Henry Harrison				2	9	1773
16	Abraham Lincoln				2	12	1809
1	George Washington				2	22	1732
7	Andrew Jackson				3	15	1767
4	James Madison				3	16	1751
22, 24	Grover Cleveland				3	18	1837
10	John Tyler				3	29	1790
3	Thomas Jefferson				4	13	1743
15	James Buchanan				4	23	1791
18	Ulysses S. Grant				4	27	1822
5	James Monroe				4	28	1758
33	Harry S Truman				5	8	1884
35	John F. Kennedy				5	29	1917
41	George H. W. Bush				6	12	1924
30	Calvin Coolidge				7	4	1872
43	George W. Bush				7	6	1946
6	John Quincy Adams				7	11	1767
38	Gerald R. Ford				7	14	1913
31	Herbert Hoover				8	10	1874
42	William J. Clinton				8	19	1946
23	Benjamin Harrison				8	20	1833
36	Lyndon B. Johnson				8	27	1908
27	William H. Taft				9	15	1857
39	Jimmy Carter				10	1	1924
19	Rutherford B. Hayes				10	4	1822
21	Chester A. Arthur				10	5	1829
34	Dwight D. Eisenhower				10	14	1890
26	Theodore Roosevelt				10	27	1858
2	John Adams				10	30	1735
11	James K. Polk				11	2	1795
29	Warren G. Harding				11	2	1865
20	James A. Garfield				11	19	1831
14	Franklin Pierce				11	23	1804
12	Zachary Taylor				11	24	1784
8	Martin Van Buren				12	5	1782
17	Andrew Johnson				12	19	1808
28	Woodrow Wilson				12	28	1856