ca. 1000 BC - first traces of permanent habitation on the site of Rome.
ca. 770 BC - small hilltop villages merge into nucleated settlement.
753 BC - traditional date for founding of city.
753-509 BC - the period of the Monarchy
ca. 650-625 BC - beginnings of urban development in Rome.

Social, Political, Military Institutions under the Monarchy.

• Populus 'the People'.
• Tribes: division of the people into three tribes, Ramnes, Tities, Luceres; division probably based on location within the city.
• Curiae (originally meant 'gathering of men'): Tribes subdivided into 30 curiae, 10 curiae in each tribe. Curiae were made up of clans (gentes). Membership in a curia probably based on birth.
• Curiae provided an organizational structure for the assembly   of the people (Comitia Curiata) and the army (legio).
• In the Comitia Curiata (Curiate Assembly) each curia was a unit of voters; each unit had one vote determined by the    majority vote within the unit.
• To form the legio (army) each curia contributed 100 infantrymen and 10 cavalrymen for a total of 3000 infantry and 300 cavalry.
• Gentes (clans) were made up of families who traced their origin  back to the same common ancestor in the male line. Members of a clan  had the same nomen. See below on the Roman name, the nomen.
• Family under the control of the paterfamilias, oldest living male,  patriarchal head of the family; patria potestas "the father's power".

• Rex ('king'), holder of all administrative and executive power.
• Nature of the kingship: not hereditary; to some degree an   elective system (after death of king period of interregnum   in which the patres nominated a candidate for the kingship; this  nomination was followed by a vote of the people in the Curiate  Assembly; the people's decision then had to be ratified by the patres.

• Patres ('fathers'), the king's advisors, the first senators appointed by  Romulus; later selected by the kings.

• Patricians (patricii/patres) & Plebeians (plebs): The original distinction between patricians and plebeians is unknown, though it may be connected with religious privileges which only the patricans possessed. What we do know is that the patricians became an upper class, an aristocratic elite with hereditary (a citizen was a patrician by birth) political, economic and social privileges. They owned much of the land, the chief source of wealth, and, after the kings were expelled, they monopolized political and religious offices. All citizens who did not belong to the exclusive ranks of the patricians were plebeians, rich and poor alike: traders, craftsmen, farmers and merchants.

• Patronus (patron) & Cliens (Client): Roman patronage was a relationship of mutual exchange, based on trust, between people of unequal social status. The person of inferior status (client) acknowledged his dependence on person of superior status (patron) for help and protection, legal help in particular. The client would return the favor by performing services for his patron.

• The family was the basic unit of Roman society. The familia, meaning "household" usually consisted of husband, wife, children, slaves, and sometimes freedmen and freedwomen (former slaves) and foster-children. The familia was under the authority (patriapotestas "power of the father') of the paterfamilias ("father of the familia" or male head of household). The paterfamilias had complete control, according to the law at any rate, over the members of the familia, and was sole owner of property in the family, though in the Late Republic wife and adult children gained more financial independence.

The Roman Name: The Roman name usually had 3 elements. In Latin they are called the praenomen, nomen and cognomen: e.g. Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. Marcus is the praenomen or personal name, the equivalent of our first name, e.g. Mark. Aemilius is the nomen or gentilicial (clan) name. We have no equivalent. Scaurus is the cognomen or surname, which designated a family or group of families within the gens. The Roman name identifies a person as an individual (praenomen), as a member of a family (cognomen) and as the member of a clan (nomen). Ward p.40.

   Marcus - individual (praenomen)
  Scaurus - family (cognomen)
  Aemilius - clan (nomen)

Consider the following group of names:

    Lucius Aemilius Paullus
    Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
    Lucius Aemilius Mamercus
    Marcus Aemilius Scaurus

These 4 men all belong to the Aemilian clan (in Latin gens). Each one, however, belongs to a different family within the Aemilian clan: these families are the Paulli, Lepidi, Mamerci and the Scauri.
As you can see from the examples, certain praenomina are repeated within families and clans. The use of the nomen (clan-name) made it possible to form a new and important social group the clan (gens).
 There are two more elements in the name, the filiation (i.e. son of so-and-so) and tribe (territorial division of citizens): these two elements are not important for this class. Here is an example of the five-part name, first in Latin, then in English.

Gaius Cestius, Luci filius, Poblilia, Epulo.
Gaius Cestius, son of Lucius, of the tribe Poblilia, Epulo.
Gaius (praenomen)  Cestius (nomen)  Epulo (cognomen)
 son of Lucius (filiation)  of the tribe Poblilia (tribe).
 

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