Trade Law and Senators in 218 BC. Motives for the Lex Claudia De Nave Senatorum

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject World History - Early and Ancient History, University of Basel (Altertumswissenschaften), course: Proseminar, language: English, abstract: This paper has its purpose in outlining the main points of the Lex Claudia de nave senatorum, that was passed on through the writings of Titus Livius, also known as Livy. The Lex Claudia leaves us many questions and can be seen as one of the most controversially discussed ancient laws by modern historians. This paper will not try to outline all the different views of modern historians as this would not fit its given frame. Much more it will focus on several main points of the discussions and follow the leading question: 'What were the main motives of the Lex Claudia de nave senatorum?' The outline of the paper follows the structure to first have a short introduction to the given source and its author Livy followed by a layout of the given historical context of the discussed Law. Furthermore, the origin of the Lex Claudia will be presented and its effects will be examined. The paper ends with a conclusion that will try to answer the leading question in a short summary.