This is a list of
consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
known to have held office, from the beginning of the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
to the latest use of the title in
Imperial times, together with those magistrates of the Republic who were appointed in place of consuls, or who superseded consular authority for a limited period.
Background
Republican consuls
From the establishment of the Republic to the time of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, the consuls were the chief
magistrates
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...
of the Roman state, and normally there were two of them, 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.
If a consul died during his year of office, another was elected to replace him. Although his ''
imperium
In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from ''auctoritas'' and ''potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic an ...
'' was the same as his predecessor's, he was termed ''consul suffectus'', in order to distinguish him from the ''consul ordinarius'' whom he replaced; but the eponymous magistrates for each year were normally the ''consules ordinarii''.
Because of this method of dating events, it was important to keep records of each year's eponymous magistrates. Many such lists have survived, either in the form of monumental inscriptions, conventionally referred to as ''fasti'', or indirectly through the ancient historians, who had access to linen rolls recording the names of magistrates. Although these lists account for the entire period of the Republic, and most of Imperial times, there are discrepancies due to gaps and disagreements between different sources. Many of these no doubt arose as copying errors, especially those that involved the substitution of a familiar name for a less common one. Others may represent later attempts to edit the lists in order to explain deficiencies in the record, to reconcile conflicting traditions, or to ascribe particular actions or events to the time of a particular individual.
Other magistrates included
Occasionally, the authority of the consuls was temporarily superseded by the appointment of a
dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...
, who held greater ''imperium'' than that of the consuls.
By tradition, these dictators laid down their office upon the completion of the task for which they were nominated, or after a maximum period of six months, and did not continue in office longer than the year for which the nominating consul had been elected. 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
The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...
, Rome's hereditary aristocracy, and the
plebeians
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary.
Etymology
The precise origins of ...
, 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
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
, this compromise held until 376 BC, when two of the
tribunes of the plebs
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...
, Gaius Licinius Calvus Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, blocked the election of any magistrates for the following year, unless the
senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
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
The Licino-Sextian rogations were a series of laws proposed by tribunes of the plebs, Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, enacted around 367 BC. Livy calls them ''rogatio'' – though he does refer to them at times as ''lex' ...
'' 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.
The 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.
The consulship was often bestowed as a political favour, or a reward for faithful service. Because there could only be two consuls at once, the emperors frequently appointed several sets of ''suffecti'' sequentially in the course of a year; holding the consulship for an entire year became a special honour.
As the office lost much of its executive authority, and the number of consuls appointed for short and often irregular periods increased, surviving lists from Imperial times are often incomplete, and have been reconstructed from many sources, not always with much certainty. In many cases it is stated that a particular person had been consul, but the exact time cannot be firmly established.
As an institution, the consulship survived the abdication of the last emperor of the West, and for a time consuls continued to be appointed, one representing the Eastern Roman Empire, and the other the Western, even as the Western Empire dissolved as a political entity. The last consuls appointed represented only the Eastern Empire, until finally the title became the sole province of the Emperor, who might or might not assume it upon taking office.
Chronology
For the early Republic, this article observes the Varronian chronology, established by the historian
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
, who calculated that Rome was founded in what is now called the year 753 BC (the founding of the city was traditionally observed on the
Palilia
upright=1.5, ''Festa di Pales, o L'estate'' (1783), a reimagining of the Festival of Pales by Joseph-Benoît Suvée
The Parilia is an ancient Roman festival of rural character performed annually on 21 April, aimed at cleansing both sheep and sh ...
, a festival occurring on April 21). This becomes the year 1 ''
ab urbe condita
''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an exp ...
'', or AUC. The Republic was established in 245 AUC, or 509 BC. Although other ancient historians gave different years, Varro's chronology was the most widely accepted; it was used in the
Fasti Capitolini
The ''Fasti Capitolini'', or Capitoline Fasti, are a list of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, extending from the early fifth century BC down to the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Together with similar lists found at Rom ...
, and its use by
Censorinus
Censorinus was a Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer from the 3rd century AD.
Biography
He was the author of a lost work ''De Accentibus'' and of an extant treatise ''De Die Natali'', written in 238, and dedicated to his patron Quintus ...
brought it to the attention of
Joseph Scaliger
Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a French Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewis ...
, who helped popularize its use 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
Fasces ( ; ; a ''plurale tantum'', from the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbo ...
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 ''consul prior'', whereas the other was called ''consul posterior''. The two consuls' authority was technically equal.
There is evidence that, during the late Republic, the consul elected with the most votes became the consul ''prior'', and the consul elected first also may have been the first in the year to hold fasces (take precedence), but the evidence is not conclusive. The surviving sources for the order of the consuls in the early Republic show some measure of conflict in just under half of the cases.
Lily Ross Taylor
Lily Ross Taylor (born August 12, 1886, in Auburn, Alabama - died November 18, 1969, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) was an American academic and author, who in 1917 became the first female Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.
Biography
Born in ...
argues that the emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
falsified some of the records in order to give prominence to several families, and that the order of consuls as reported by the historian
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
is the most reliable. Drummond disagrees: he argues that Livy himself switches the correct order at times for literary purposes, and that discrepant entries in the sources are most likely simply the result of negligence. Although there is probably one 'correct' order for all the consuls of the republic, or at least one underlying tradition reporting it, no surviving source seems to be more reliable than another to a significant extent.
When the emperor assumed the consulship, he was necessarily ''consul prior''. This distinction continued until the fourth century AD, when the Empire was divided into a
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
and an
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
: the consuls who were appointed by the court in the Western Empire, which was sometimes at Rome, are commonly identified as the "Western consul", and those appointed by the court in the Eastern, usually Constantinople, the "Eastern consul". These designations were used until the end of the consulship in the sixth century.
Other lists of consuls
For a list of consuls whose year of office is uncertain or entirely unknown (usually ''suffecti'', although some of the ''ordinarii'' in the breakaway
Gallic Empire
The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned ''de facto'' as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, w ...
also lack dates), see the
List of undated Roman consuls
This is a list of Roman consuls, individuals who were either elected or nominated to the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, or a high office of the Empire, but for whom an exact date of when they served in office is absent. M ...
. 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
This is a list of Roman consuls designate, individuals who were either elected or nominated to the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, or a high office of the Empire, but who for some reason did not enter office at the beginni ...
.
Key
Latin terms
* (abbreviated ''Imp''.) = literally "commander"; originally an honorary title bestowed upon a general by his soldiers, the term later became part of the style of the emperors, and the word "emperor" is derived from it.
* (abbreviated ''suff''.) = a substitute elected or appointed in place of a magistrate who died or resigned. Information is not available for all ''consules suffecti'', and some may not be listed.
* = unknown. All consuls who can be assigned to a particular date, at least tentatively, are included in this table. If neither consul for a given period is known, they are entirely omitted; if one is known, and the other is not, the unknown colleague is referred to as ''ignotus''.
* = without colleague. On a few occasions before the dissolution of the Western Empire, only one consul was appointed.
* = after the (preceding) consulship. Used for gaps when no consuls were appointed for a period following the end of another consulship, or at least none are known to have been appointed.
* = among others.
Abbreviations for
praenomina
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birt ...
Colors
*
Consular tribune
A consular tribune was putatively a type of magistrate in the early Roman Republic. According to Roman tradition, colleges of consular tribunes held office throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC during the so-called "Conflict of the Or ...
s
*
Decemviri
The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") were some of the several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic.
The most important were those of the two Decemvirates, formally the " decemvirate with consular power for writing ...
*
Dictators
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...
*
Emperor serving as consul
Sixth century BC (509–501)
Unless otherwise indicated, the names and dates of the consuls between 509 and 81 BC are taken from
Thomas Broughton Thomas Broughton may refer to:
* Thomas Broughton (writer) (1704–1774), English divine, biographer, and miscellaneous writer
* Thomas Broughton (divine) (1712–1777), English divine
*Thomas Duer Broughton (1778–1835), English writer on ...
's ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic''.
Fifth century BC (500–401)
Fourth century BC (400–301)
Third century BC (300–201)
Second century BC (200–101)
First century BC (100–1)
First century (1–100)
Second century (101–200)
Third century (201–300)
Fourth century (301–395)
Until the fall of the Western Empire (396–480)
In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into a
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
and an
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. The separate courts often appointed a consul each. Western consuls continued to be appointed after the
fall of the Western Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Ancient Rome, Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rul ...
in 476.
After the fall of the Western Empire (481–541)
Roman consuls of the East alone (541–887)
During the reign of
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
(527–565), the position of consul altered in two significant ways. From 535, there was no longer a Roman consul chosen in the West. In 541, the separate office of Roman consul was abolished. When used thereafter, the office was used as part of the imperial title. The office was finally abolished as part of the
Basilika
The ''Basilika'' was a collection of laws completed c. 892 AD in Constantinople by order of the Eastern Roman emperor Leo VI the Wise during the Macedonian dynasty. This was a continuation of the efforts of his father, Basil I, to simplify and ...
reforms of
Leo VI the Wise
Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well r ...
in 887. The
late antique
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...
practice of granting honorary consulships eventually evolved into the Byzantine court dignity of ''
hypatos
''Hypatos'' ( gr, ὕπατος; plural: , ''hypatoi'') and the variant ''apo hypatōn'' (, "former ''hypatos''", literally: "from among the consuls") was a Byzantine court dignity, originally the Greek translation of Latin ''consul'' (the litera ...
'' (the Greek translation of the Latin ''consul''), which survived until the 12th century.
* 566:
* 568:
* 579:
* 583:
* 603:
* 608:
Heraclius
Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...
&
Heraclius
Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...
* 611:
* 632:
* 639:
* 642:
* 668:
* 686:
* 699:
* 711:
* 714:
* 716:
* 718:
* 742:
* 776:
* 782:
* 803:
* 812:
* 814:
* 821:
* 830:
* 843:
* 867:
* 887:
Endnotes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman consuls, List of
Ancient timelines
Consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...