SPQR

Template:Short description Template:About Template:More citations needed Template:Use dmy dates Template:Roman government

SPQR or S.P.Q.R., an initialism for Template:Lang (Template:IPA; Template:Translation), is an emblematic phrase referring to the government of the Roman Republic. It appears on documents made public by an inscription in stone or metal, in dedications of monuments and public works, and on some Roman currency.

The full phrase appears in Roman political, legal and historical literature, such as the speeches of Cicero and the Template:Lang (Books from the Founding of the City) of Livy.

Translation

Template:Unreferenced section In Latin, Senātus is a nominative singular noun meaning "Senate". Populusque is compounded from the nominative noun Populus, "the People", and -que, an enclitic particle meaning "and" which connects the two nominative nouns. The last word, Rōmānus ("Roman"), is an adjective modifying the whole of Senātus Populusque: the "Roman Senate and People", taken as a whole. Thus, the phrase is translated literally as "The Roman Senate and People", or more freely as "The Senate and People of Rome".

Historical context

Template:Unreferenced section The title's date of establishment is unknown, but it first appears in inscriptions of the Late Republic, from around 80 BC onwards. Previously, the official name of the Roman state, as evidenced on coins, was simply ROMA. The abbreviation last appears on coins of Constantine the Great (ruled 312–337 AD), the first Roman emperor to support Christianity.Template:Citation needed

This signature continued in use under the Roman Empire. The emperors were considered the de jure representatives of the people even though the senātūs consulta, or decrees of the Senate, were made at the de facto pleasure of the emperor.Template:Citation needed

Populus Romanus in Roman literature is a phrase meaning the government of the People. When the Romans named governments of foreign states, they used populus in the singular or plural, such as populi Priscorum Latinorum, "the governments of the Old Latins". Romanus is the established adjective used to distinguish the Romans, as in civis Romanus, "Roman citizen".Template:Citation needed

The Roman people appear very often in law and history in such phrases as dignitas, maiestas, auctoritas, libertas populi Romani, the "dignity, majesty, authority, freedom of the Roman people". They were a populus liber, "a free people". There was an exercitus, imperium, iudicia, honores, consules, voluntas of this same populus: "the army, rule, judgments, offices, consuls and will of the Roman people". They appear in early Latin as Popolus and Poplus, so the habit of thinking of themselves as free and sovereign was quite ingrained.Template:Citation needed

The Romans believed that all authority came from the people. It could be said that similar language seen in more modern political and social revolutions directly comes from this usage. People in this sense meant the whole government. The latter, however, was essentially divided into the aristocratic Senate, whose will was executed by the consuls and praetors, and the comitia centuriata, "committee of the centuries", whose will came to be safeguarded by the Tribunes.Template:Citation needed

One of the ways the emperor Commodus (180–192) paid for his donatives and mass entertainments was to tax the senatorial order, and on many inscriptions, the traditional order is provocatively reversed (Populus Senatusque...).Template:Citation needed

Medieval use

Template:Unreferenced section Beginning in 1184, the Commune of Rome struck coins in the name of the SENATVS P Q R. From 1414 until 1517, the Roman Senate struck coins with a shield inscribed SPQR.

Modern use

Even in contemporary usage, SPQR is still used in the municipal coat of arms of Rome and as abbreviation for the comune of Rome in official documents.<ref name="romeHome">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="revocaDeleghe">Template:Cite web</ref> The Italians have long used a different and humorous expansion of this abbreviation, "Sono Pazzi Questi Romani" (Template:Lit).<ref>See, e.g. Template:Cite book</ref> SPQR is also part of the coat of arms of the Capital Military Command of the Italian army (Italian: Comando Militare Capitale).

In business, in English-speaking countries, SPQR is sometimes (humorously) used to mean "Small Profits, Quick Returns", often by people who have studied Latin at school.<ref>Template:OED</ref>

Civic references

Template:More citations needed section SPQTemplate:Math is sometimes used as an assertion of municipal pride and civic rights. The Italian town of Reggio Emilia, for instance, has SPQR in its coat of arms, standing for Template:Lang. There are historic usages of the deployment of the "SPQTemplate:Math" format in various other cities and towns:

City	Country	SPQTemplate:Math	Latin	Where has it been used
Alkmaar	Template:Flag	SPQA		On the façade of the Waag building
Amsterdam	Template:Flag	SPQA	Template:Lang<ref name=Amsterdam/>	At the Stadsschouwburg theater on Leidseplein<ref name="mforamsterdam">Template:Cite web</ref> and some of the bridges<ref name=Amsterdam>Template:Cite web</ref>
Antwerp	Template:Flag	SPQA	Template:Lang	On Antwerp City Hall and other public buildings and schools<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ascoli Piceno	Template:Flag	SPQA	Template:Lang	On the wall above the south loggia of the Piazza del Popolo
Basel	Template:Flag	SPQB	Template:Lang	On the Webern-Brunnen in Steinenvorstadt<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Benevento	Template:Flag	SPQB<ref name="fotw"/>	Template:Lang<ref name="fotw"/>	On manhole covers<ref name="fotw">Template:Cite web</ref>
Bologna	Template:Flag	SPQB	Template:Lang	On the Fountain of Neptune
Bremen	Template:Flag	SPQB		In Bremen City Hall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Bruges	Template:Flag	SPQB		On its coat of arms<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brussels	Template:Flag	SPQB	Template:Lang (of the city) or Template:Lang (of the country)	Repeatedly on the Palace of Justice,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> over the main stage of the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie,Template:Citation needed and on the ceiling of the hemicycle of the Belgian Senate in the Palace of the Nation.
Capua	Template:Flag	SPQC
Catania	Template:Flag	SPQC		On manhole covers
Chicago	Template:Flag	SPQC	Template:Lang Chicago	On the George N. Leighton Cook County Criminal Courthouse<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Dublin	Template:Flag	SPQH	Template:Lang	On the City Hall, built in 1769
Florianópolis	Template:Flag	SPQF<ref name="fotw"/>	Template:Lang<ref name="fotw"/>
Franeker	Template:Flag	SPQF		At the a gate on the Westerbolwerk and Academiestraat 16<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Freising	Template:Flag	SPQF		Above the door of the town hall
Ghent	Template:Flag	SPQG	Template:Lang	On the opera house, theatre and some other major buildings, inscribed on a shield on coins struck in Ghent in 1583, during the Dutch Revolt<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Groningen	Template:Flag	SPQG		Above the entrance of the Der Aa-kerk
The Hague	Template:Flag	SPQH		Above the stage in the Koninklijke Schouwburg
Hamburg	Template:Flag	SPQH		On a door in the city hall (Hamburg Rathaus)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Hanover	Template:Flag
Haarlem	Template:Flag	SPQH		On the façade of the town hall at the "Grote Markt"
Hasselt	Template:Flag	SPQH
Hindeloopen	Template:Flag	SPQH	Senatus Populusque Hindelopia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	On a stone pole next to the Oosterdijk, a road between Hindeloopen and Workum.
Istanbul	Template:Flag	SPQC	Template:Lang
Kortrijk	Template:Flag	SPQC	Template:Lang	On the City hall
Kraków	Template:Flag	SPQC	Senatus Populusque Cracoviensis	Over the Waza Gate in Wawel Castle
La Plata	Template:Flag	SPQR		On a monument outside of the city's casco urbano
Leeuwarden	Template:Flag	SPQL	Template:Lang	On the mayor's chain of office<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Leuven	Template:Flag	SPQL	Senatus Populusque Leuvensis	Over the painting of Jesus in the back reception room inside Leuven Town Hall
Liverpool	Template:Nowrap	SPQL	Template:Lang	On various gold doors in St George's Hall<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
City of London	Template:Flag	SPQL	Template:Lang	On historic variants of the City's coat of arms<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Lübeck	Template:Flag	SPQL	Template:Lang	On the Holstentor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lucerne	Template:Flag
Madrid	Template:Flag	SPQM	Template:Lang	On the Template:Ill, built in 1780
Milan	Template:Flag	SPQM		The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V struck coins at Milan with the inscription Template:Lang.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Modica	Template:Flag	SPQM		On the coat of arms<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Molfetta	Template:Flag	SPQM		On the coat of arms<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Naples	Template:Flag	SPQN	Template:Lang	Inscribed on a shield on coins struck during Masaniello's 1647 revolt<ref>Italian Coinage Medieval to Modern, The Collection of Ercole Gnecchi, coin 3683</ref>
Noto	Template:Flag	SPQN	Template:Lang	On the coat of arms<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the façade of Noto Cathedral.
Nuremberg	Template:Flag	SPQN	Template:Lang	On the Charles Bridge (one of the major bridges over river Pegnitz in the inner city)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Oudenburg	Template:Flag	SPQO	Template:Lang	On its water pump next to the market square<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Olomouc	Template:Flag	SPQO<ref name="fotw"/>	Template:Lang	On the coat of arms<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Palermo	Template:Flag	SPQP		<ref name="Flickr.com">Template:Cite web</ref>
Penne, Abruzzo	Template:Flag	SPQP		<ref name="Flickr.com"/>
Pontecorvo	Template:Flag	SPQF		Used as motto for municipal coat of arms
Rieti	Template:Flag	SPQS	Template:Lang	On the coat of arms, present also in the modern composite Lazio coat-of-arms
Rotterdam	Template:Flag	SPQR		Mural in the Burgerzaal of Rotterdam City Hall
Severn Beach	Template:Flag	SPQR		On the crest of Pilning & Severn Beach Parish Council
Seville	Template:Flag	SPQH	Template:Lang	On the historic banner of the city
Siena	Template:Flag	SPQS		On the base of a statue of the Capitoline Wolf<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Solothurn	Template:Flag	SPQS	Template:Lang	On the Cathedral of St Ursus and Victor
Terracina	Template:Flag	SPQT		<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Tivoli, Lazio	Template:Flag	SPQT		<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Toruń	Template:Flag	SPQT	Senatus Populusque Thorunensis	On the City Hall<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Valencia	Template:Flag	SPQV	Template:Lang	In several places and buildings, including the Silk Exchange<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the University of Valencia Historic Building.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Verviers	Template:Flag	SPQV		On the Grand Theatre<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Vienna	Template:Flag	SPQV<ref name="fotw"/>	Template:Lang<ref name="fotw"/>	Above the main entrance of the civic armoury (Bürgerliches Zeughaus) at Am Hof, with a dedication to Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (Imperante Carolo VI. instauravit)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Winschoten	Template:Flag	SPQW<ref name="Winschoter-Archief-SPQW">Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Lang	On the façade of the municipal office (stadhuis) of Oldambt<ref name="Winschoter-Archief-SPQW"/>
Workum	Template:Flag	SPQW		On a stone pole next to the Oosterdijk, a road between Hindeloopen and Workum.

Popular culture

SPQR is often used to represent the Roman Empire and Roman Republic, such as in video games and movies. In the 2000 movie Gladiator, the Roman general Maximus (portrayed by Russell Crowe) has "SPQR" tattooed on his upper arm, which he removes by scraping after he is sold into slavery.

The humorous modern Italian expansion Sono Pazzi Questi Romani (Template:Lit) is used in the French Ils sont fous, ces Romains ! (Template:Lit) as the catchphrase of the character Obelix in the French comic album series Asterix, and the Italian original/retranslation (translating back to the original) Sono Pazzi Questi Romani is used in the Italian translation of Asterix, rendered with capitals to make the acronym clear;<ref>See for example the image at r/bandedessinee "SPQR", Reddit</ref> note that Albert Uderzo, the co-creator of Asterix, was born to Italian immigrants and was exposed to Italian as a child.