Ambitus: Electoral Corruption and Aristocratic Competition in the Age of Cicero

Abstract

<p>The title of this thesis is Ambitus: Electoral Corruption and Aristocratic Competition in the Age of Cicero, and its purpose is threefold. First, it is an examination of documentary evidence concerning legislative action against electoral bribery in Rome during that last years of the republic. Second, it explores the rather creative responses to the legal restrictions those laws imposed on overzealous candidates and electioneers. Finally, it investigates the implications of electoral bribery in the wider context of Roman politics, what role it played in determining the electoral freedom of voters in Rome, and the main difficulty inherent in studies of ambitus; its ambiguity.</p>