Republican consuls From the establishment of the Republic to the time of
Augustus, the consuls were the chief
magistrates of the Roman state. Traditionally, two were simultaneously appointed for a year-long term, so that the executive power of the state was not vested in a single individual, as it had been under the
kings. As other ancient societies dated historical events according to the reigns of their kings, it became customary at Rome to date events by the names of the consuls in office when the events occurred, rather than (for instance) by counting the number of years
since the foundation of the city, although that method could also be used. However, in four years at the end of the fourth century BC, dictators are said to have continued in office in the year following their nomination, in place of consuls. Modern scholars are skeptical of these years, which might be due to later editing of the lists of magistrates in order to fill a gap. All known dictators have been included in this table. Two other types of magistrates are listed during the period of the Republic. In the year 451 BC, a board of ten men, known as
decemviri, or decemvirs, was appointed in place of the consuls in order to draw up the tables of Roman law, in a sense establishing the Roman constitution. According to tradition, a second college of decemvirs was appointed for the next year, and these continued in office illegally into 449, until they were overthrown in a popular revolt, and the consulship was reinstated. Among the disputes which the decemvirs failed to resolve was the relationship between the
patricians, Rome's hereditary aristocracy, and the
plebeians, or common citizens. Although it has been argued that some of the consuls prior to the Decemvirate may have been plebeians, the office was definitely closed to them in the second half of the fifth century BC. To prevent open hostility between the two orders, the office of
military tribune with consular power, or "consular tribune", was established. In place of patrician consuls, the people could elect a number of military tribunes, who might be either patrician or plebeian. According to
Livy, this compromise held until 376 BC, when two of the
tribunes of the plebs, Gaius Licinius Calvus Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, blocked the election of any magistrates for the following year, unless the
senate would agree to place a law before the people opening the consulship to the plebeians, and effecting other important reforms. The senate refused, and the tribunes continued to prevent the election of magistrates for several years until the senate capitulated, and the
lex Licinia Sextia was passed, leading to the election of the first plebeian consul in 367. Other accounts of this event are inconsistent, and current scholarly opinion is that the duration of the period without magistrates may have been exaggerated, or even invented to fill a gap in the record; nevertheless Roman tradition unanimously holds that Licinius and Sextius were able to open the consulship to the plebeians.
Consulship in imperial times In Imperial times the consulship became the senior administrative office under the emperors, who frequently assumed the title of consul themselves, and appointed other consuls at will. Varro's chronology was the most widely accepted in antiquity, in official use for various purposes by at least the reign of
Claudius. Its use by
Censorinus brought it to the attention of
Joseph Scaliger, who helped popularize it in modern times. For Imperial times, the dates of the
consules ordinarii are far more certain than those of the
suffecti, who were not recorded with the same attention as the eponymous magistrates. Their identification and dating is far more controversial, and despite the efforts of generations of scholars, gaps in coverage remain. Known
consules suffecti are shown with their known (or reconstructed) dates of tenure, which normally varied from two to six months — although one suffect consul, Rosius Regulus, is known to have held the
fasces for a single day, October 31, AD 69. Where neither consul is known or inferred for a portion of the year, their names are omitted for convenience; if one consul can be named, but his colleague is unknown, the unnamed colleague is listed as
ignotus (unknown).
Consules prior and posterior The consul named first in the lists was identified as , whereas the other was called . The two consuls' authority was equal and their duties were shared on an alternating basis.), see the
List of undated Roman consuls. For those individuals who were elected consul but never assumed the office due to death, disgrace, or any other reason, see
List of Roman consuls designate. ==Key==