Consul

Абрамков А.О.

The Consul is the highest elected magistracy in Republican Rome. The exact meaning and origin of this term is unknown, which causes controversy among modern researchers. In antiquity, one can find such meanings as" caring "for the motherland, citizens, the state, or" questioning "the people and the senate, and Modern historians have translated this word in different ways: Barthold Niebuhr-" being together", Theodor Mommsen — "dancing together", Ernst Herzog — "walking together", Wilhelm Soltau — "sitting together", that is, comrades (collegae).

Consuls were the highest ordinary magistrates of the Roman Republic. Normally two were elected for a year, by the centuriate assembly rather than the Senate. They held imperium, convened the Senate and assemblies, directed public business and commanded armies. Collegiality and limited tenure distinguished the office from kingship.

Tradition names Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus as the first consuls in 509 BCE; the office’s earliest history is known through later testimony. The Licinian–Sextian legislation of 367 opened access to plebeians; Lucius Sextius Lateranus became consul in 366 BCE.

Under the emperors the consulship retained prestige but lost independent political importance. Suffect consuls served alongside the system of ordinary consuls. In late antiquity the institution changed: the last non-imperial ordinary consul in the East held office in 541 CE, while imperial use of the title and consular functions continued later. The process cannot be represented by one universal year of abolition.

The consuls had both military and civil powers. As military officials, they were the commanders-in-chief of the Roman army, recruited legions, appointed part of the military tribunes (the other part was chosen in the tribunate comitia), and directed military operations. Civil power consisted in the authority to convene the Senate and people's assemblies, preside over them, propose bills, and direct the election of officials. The consuls were the main executors of the decisions of the Senate and the people, took care of internal security, managed some festivals and other issues of peaceful life. Since the consuls' official powers were the same, each of them had the right to protest against the actions of the other. Nevertheless, the consuls had to act together in all important civil matters. The issue of issuing acts that required sole leadership (for example, the chairmanship of committees) was decided by drawing lots or by agreement of the parties. During military operations, one consul went to command the army, while the other remained in the city. In cases where the war required the presence of both consuls on the field of battle, the areas of military operations were distributed between them by lot, agreement, or at the discretion of the Senate. When the consular forces worked together, and both consuls were present, they commanded alternately, changing every day. Consuls also had assistants called quaestors.

Consuls had their own insignia: a toga with a wide purple border, a curule chair (Latin: Sella curulis) inlaid with ivory, and an escort of 12 lictors with fasces, in which axes were embedded outside the city limits.

The consulship stood at the summit of the ordinary cursus honorum. Age requirements and prerequisite offices changed over time; late Republican arrangements generally required substantial previous experience. Exceptions reflected political circumstances, not a general absence of rules.

Pompey first became consul in 70 BCE, at approximately 35, without completing the usual sequence of offices. Octavian obtained his first consulship in 43 BCE, aged 19. These cases were not the normal age standard.

A former consul could subsequently receive a province or another command as proconsul. Allocation depended on Senate decisions, legislation and circumstances, rather than an identical automatic continuation for everyone.

Related topics

• Roman Republic
• Military campaigns of the Roman Republic
• The electoral process in Ancient Rome
• Roman Kingdom
• Legion
• Roman Magistracies
• Roman Calendar

Literature and sources

Consuls // Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additions). - St. Petersburg,1890-1907. Kovalev S. I. / Istoriya Rima [History of Rome]. SPb.: OOO "Poligon Publishing House". - 2002. - 864 p. Bagnall, Roger S; Cameron, Alan; Schwartz, Seth R; Worp, Klaus Anthony. Consuls of the later Roman Empire. — London: Scolar Press,1987. — (Volume 36 of Philological monographs of the American Philological Association).