So at what point in the empire's history did the people

>>3115506
Its hard to say, to the Romans re publica didnt have the same nuances it did today. But they were still using the term in the time of Constantine.

Politically the educated were aware at least by the late Judeo-Claudian period that they had lost a great deal of their political freedom, and this in reflected in the poetry and histories they wrote.

>>3115506
Basically Tacitus' generation and thereafter. The Romans may have pranced around with legal formalities for centuries after the republic itself was dead but they knew it was gone when it was gone.

>>3115506
The senate ruled their provinces as settled in 24 BC for a long time, and their rights weren't permanently revoked until Diocletian completely redesigned the administration of the empire. Even then, there was never a clear set of rules for succession as there was in most kingdoms, with usurpers being far more successful in Rome than in most other kingdoms. Even well into the Byzantine age successful generals could easily assume the purple, which rarely happened in kingdoms.

>>3115506

Romans hated Kings. "Rex" the Roman word for King, always carried a negative connotation. If a Roman politician was accused of wanting to be Rex, then that would roughly the Roman equivalent of being called Hitler. This antipathy towards monarchists did not disappear during the Imperial Era, as weird as that sounds. Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was very careful about framing everything he did as being the will of the people. He had the Senate (which were basically just puppets at this point) approve everything he did to give it a veneer of Republican legitimacy, even though in practice they were just rubber stamping decisions that he had already made. He also made a point to limit his lifestyle to roughly that of a senator. His house was not much bigger than that of a senator. Later emperors would completely abandon this concept, building MASSIVE palaces that were filled with every luxury imaginable. But Augustus was young enough to remember Caesar being assassinated, and he had no desire to share that fate. At one point, he might have even asked one of his prominent supporters to public offer him the title of "Rex" just so he could make an elaborate show of rejecting the title. "The only king that Rome shall ever have.......is the God Jupiter!" he said, proudly proclaiming his piety to the Roman god.

>>3115506
They didn't mean republic in the modern sense. It meant the "public thing". Constantine still referred to it as the republic in the 4th century AD and i'm sure the average Roman did too.

from its foundation, since it started as a kingdom

>american education

>>3115583
>ignoring Rex cogidubnes

>>3115506
After uniting Egypt kingdom with Roman kingdom. In Egypt king was a live god - pharaoh, Romans did too. And if live god ruling Roman kingdom, I don't think Republic is possible.

>>3117096
Augustus held a number of titles not just imperator

>>3115506
One historical viewpoint was that they saw themselves as a Republic up to 1453 keeping in mind that point anon made here >>3116747.
In addition legitimacy was gained through actions more so than through filiation.

Now, if you want to know when the Emperor stopped pretending to be the Princeps of the Republic and started behaving like a special snowflake, then that would be with Domitian.

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663KB, 2048x1152px

>>3115583
>The only king that Rome shall ever have.......is the God Jupiter
Soon