← Back to the front page

SPQR: The Men Who Made and Secured the Roman Republic

Khalid Elhassan January 3, 2025 13 min

Roman - The Oath of Junius Brutus, by Fragonard Alexander Evarist — The Oath of Junius Brutus, by Fragonard Alexander Evarist. University Online

15. The Roman Republic’s Legacy

Roman - Cicero denounces Catiline in the Roman Senate, by Roman Cesare Maccare — Cicero denounces Catiline in the Roman Senate, by Roman Cesare Maccare. Encyclopedia Britannica

More than 2000 years after its collapse, the Roman Republic’s impact can still be felt. Among other things, many of the Republic’s legislative and legal structures were codified in the Napoleonic Code, still followed in large part in most of Europe and much of the world. Additionally, the Republic’s ethos of public service and devotion to duty and the common good survive as ideals of what government service is or ought to be. Throughout the Enlightenment and into the modern era, political thinkers and reformers, in both the Old World and New, repeatedly drew on Roman Republican ideals.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.