There were two kinds of aediles: curule and plebeian. Curule aediles were elected in the
tribal assembly, while plebeian aediles were elected in the plebeian council from plebeian candidates by a
plebeian tribune. While curule aediles possessed a
curule chair, they did not possess
imperium or the immunity from prosecution which it implied. By the late middle republic the two pairs of aediles had largely overlapping duties in the upkeep of temples, markets, and streets. They were also responsible for two major sets of annual games: the curule aediles held the
ludi Romani and the Megalensian games; the plebeian aediles held the
ludi plebii and the Floralian and Cerealian games. Plebeian aediles also had responsibilities to keep plebeian records, which were likely stored at the
Temple of Ceres on the
Aventine. It was not necessary to hold the aedilate as part of the
cursus honorum; however, if held, by the middle and late republic it usually was held after the plebeian tribunate and before the praetorship. Customarily, though not entirely observed by the late republic, two years had to elapse between the holding of the aedilate and the praetorship.
Responsibilities One of the main responsibilities of the aediles was management of Rome's marketplaces. This included a responsibility to ensure the availability of grain and tolerable prices. Aediles managed markets by promulgating an edict specifying the Rome's commercial law and regulations observed therein, while also providing men to ensure the proper enforcement of those rules. Aediles also had a role in stabilising grain prices, but until the development of public granaries from
Gaius Gracchus' tribunate in 122 BC, the aediles' ability to achieve this goal was limited and contingent on officeholders' foreign contacts, their financial resources, and the availability of shipping. Aediles also possessed a general
cura urbis. This entailed caring for the condition of streets and public buildings (such as basilicas and temples). At times this could also include the construction of new buildings, such as the erection of shops on the Tiber and a
porticus by the aedilican pairs of 193 and 192 BC. Aediles also supervised more junior city magistrates such as the
triumviri capitales or
nocturni, who were part of the minor
vigintisexviri, in their law enforcement duties. Both curule and plebeian aediles possessed the power to prosecute by
iudicium populi before the tribal assembly. The offences that aediles could prosecute were essentially unlimited, with attested aedilican prosecutorial jurisdiction over
provocatio (violation of citizen appeal rights),
vis (public violence), tax evasion, usury,
veneficia (witchcraft), and
stuprum (sexual assault). These judicial powers were exercised without
imperium and also included the authority to issue summary corporal punishments. This prosecutorial power also entailed the ability to assess fines from offenders, which were often used to defray costs incurred in the upkeep of the city. Indeed, aedilician fines collected from usurers or
illegal graziers, are attested to have been used temple construction and games. However, many of the costs incurred were also paid for by the officeholders: this was especially the case with games which, when splendid, could win the man who paid for them substantial popularity with the voters. This was recognised by 182 BC, when
Tiberius Gracchus spent so much as curule aedile on games that legislation was passed in 179 to put a cap on expenditures.
Development The annalistic tradition suggests that the first aediles at Rome were the plebeian pair, created as assistants to the
plebeian tribunes with judicial powers in 494 BC. Livy also suggests that these first plebeian aediles were sacrosanct, like the tribunes, but this has been doubted. Some scholars have also suggested that the plebeian aediles first emerged as priests of the goddess
Ceres but there is no ancient evidence of this. The curule aediles, in the annalistic tradition, were created in the
Licinio-Sextian settlement from 367 BC: plebeians being eligible for the consulship and the consular tribunate suppressed, a praetorship along with two curule aediles were added. Large parts of this tradition, which place the impulse for these reforms in the conflict between patricians and plebeians, have been doubted; the reforms before 367 may instead have largely reflected the city-state's then need for more specialised governance. If the curule aedilate was intended to be exclusive to the patricians, this was quickly dropped. Annalistic accounts of a compromise where alternating years had plebeian and patrician pairs as curule aedile, if at all accurate, did not reflect late republican practice which saw no such alternation. The acquisition of Rome's overseas provinces and entanglements likely catalysed the development of aedilican responsibilities: consuls and some praetors would regularly have been absent from the city commanding troops; plebeian tribunes on the other hand, in their more political role, would have had little time for administrative affairs.
Decline The dictator
Julius Caesar introduced two more aediles in 44 BC. They may have been entrusted with care for the city's grain supply, the
ludi Cereales, or both. If these new aediles had responsibilities for the grain supply, their powers over it were likely stripped in 22 BC, when Augustus assumed responsibility over that matter. The two
aediles Cereales, however, were not disestablished; they likely were instead reassigned to other customary aedilician tasks. The emergence of huge building projects during the triumviral period, which continued into the early empire under Augustus, tended against the continued relevance of the aediles. The expense of holding the office, along with the few political benefits, had by 33 BC made it something to avoid. That year, Augustus had his friend and ally
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (who had previously been praetor and consul in 40 and 37 BC respectively) hold the office of aedile: Agrippa promptly started a huge building programme, repaired three aqueducts, began construction of a
new one, and spent lavishly on games. In the years after Agrippa's aedilate, however, many of the customary maintenance functions of temples, aqueducts, and roads were assigned to the emperor in the name of the senate rather than kept with the annual aediles. Most of the aedilician responsibilities for public order were also stripped from the period after 44 BC, though some powers over public markets (especially the sale of goods) and jurisdiction over sumptuary laws was retained. == Non-Roman aediles ==