In this paper the physical aspects of the statistical theory of the energy levels of complex physical systems and their relation to the mathematical theory of random matrices are discussed. After a preliminary introduction we summarize the symmetry properties of physical systems. Different kinds of ensembles are then discussed. This includes the Gaussian, orthogonal, and unitary ensembles. The problem of eigenvalue-eigenvector distributions of the Gaussian ensemble is then discussed, followed by a discussion on the distribution of the widths. In the appendices we discuss the symplectic group and quaternions, and the Gaussian ensemble in detail.