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Consuls
It is not typical of this archive to review magistrates
or non-monarchic rulers, but there are some exceptions, and the Roman Consulate
is perhaps the most significant. The Consuls were the chief executives
of the Republic. In them were vested broad powers to arbitrate, legislate
adjudicate, and govern. They were the chief military officers, they represented
Rome in foreign matters, and they led the Senate. The limits on their authority
were few, but important: there were two consuls per year, each acting as
a watch on the other. They were elected by popular assembly, and they served
for a period of one year (although they could be re-elected). They were
constrained by a system of Tribunes and Censors who could block their actions.
And finally, their power might be overshadowed by appointed Dictators,
who could take action in emergencies without recourse to committee or Consular
approval (but on the other hand, the Dictators were appointed by the Consuls,
and normally served only six-month terms -- the Dictators are also listed
in this file). The Consulate survived the change from Republic to Empire,
and the Imperial Consuls are also listed here. It is common to regard the
Imperial Consuls as mere decoration, holders of a sinecure with much trapping
and no substance. To a certain extent this is accurate -- in late times
the office was primarily responsible for producing the spectacles and games
so beloved by the Roman populace. Even so, a glance at the list will reveal
a more complex situation. During most of the Empire, the Emperors were
often Consuls themselves, and thus the office remained within the central
focus of the power of the Roman government.
The list is organized somewhat at variance from
my normal practice. Each entry begins with a year, and works it's way forward
from that. Color codes are standard, except that red indicates common names
for Emperors. Special comments and symbols are as follows:
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--- = Indicates a missing portion of a name.
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[CSC] = Consul without colleague; one who held the office alone.
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[suff.] = Suffect Consul, one selected to replace, supercede, or otherwise
augment one of the two primary Consuls.
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[a number] = The term of office for those who held it more than
once.
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[a number cos] = The Consular term, for those who were both Consuls
and Dictators.
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[a number dct] = The Dictatorial term, for those who were both Dictators
and Consuls.
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[a number mtb] = The term of office for Military Tribunes who held
that more than once.
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a year, divided into a and b (and in one case c) = Competing versions of
the list.
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The sequential numbers in brown tint occuring
every four years are the Olympiadic cycles, a common dating system in the
ancient world,
Finally, a note on accuracy. This list is inaccurate
to an extensive degree, especially before 300 BCE. That inaccuracy is a
consequence of the fact that this list was compiled from a number of ancient
authors, each of whom had varying sources and varying biases, and in the
attempt to blend these traditional roll-calls together some data was inevitably
muddled. It is known, for instance, that the claim by the list that no
Consuls were elected between 375 to 371 BCE is very likely wrong, and stated
thus merely to pull previous names into consistent order. Likewise, the
claim that several years (333, 324, 301) saw only dictators but no Consuls
is also quite dubious. Note as well several cases in which divurgent names
are given for the same year. Why, then, present this clearly doubtful information?
Because it is what was given in ancient times, and since these names formed
the way in which Romans refered to earlier years (such-and-such occured
within the Consulate of L. Caecilius Metellus and C. Furius Pacilus...
i.e. 251 BCE), the traditional listing has strong value for students of
Roman chronology. Aside from that, any errors are my own, and I earnestly
ask for correction.
This is a very long list, were you looking for information within a
particular time period? 400's BCE, 300's
BCE, 200's BCE, 100's
BCE, 000's BCE, 000's
CE, 100's CE, 200's CE,
300's
CE, 400's CE, 500's CE,
6-800's
CE. |
