senate

thumb|right|Cicero addressing the [[Catilinarian conspiracy in the Roman Senate]] thumb|right|The debating chamber of the Senate of the Czech Republic in the [[Wallenstein Palace]]

A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: Senatus), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: senex meaning "the elder" or "old man") and therefore considered wiser and more experienced members of the society or ruling class. However the Roman Senate was not the ancestor or predecessor of modern parliamentarism in any sense, because the Roman senate was not a de jure legislative body.