The plebs contionalis – a perfect popular assembly participant?
The plebs contionalis – a perfect popular assembly participant?

Summary/Abstract: The writings of Cicero refer in various ways, often critically, to citizens who par-ticipated in contiones. Contemporary researchers refer to them as plebs contionalis, coined by Christian Meier. Although this term does not occur in the sources, many historians have concluded that it perfectly describes the citizens who regularly attended popular gatherings. The problem, however, is that the issues raised during the contiones were so varied, and these assemblies were held so often that it is hard to imagine that the average citizen could afford to attend them regularly. The author of the article analyses various aspects of this issue and confronts them with the views of other researchers, in order to reach a more general conclusion about the participants in these contiones.

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