What is a Roman consul?
consul, Latin Consul, plural Consules, in ancient Rome, either of the two highest of the ordinary magistracies in the ancient Roman Republic. When their terms expired, consuls generally were appointed to serve as governors of provinces.
What rank was a Roman consul?
The consul of the Roman Republic was the highest-ranking ordinary magistrate. Two consuls were elected for an annual term (from January through December) by the assembly of Roman citizens, the Centuriate Assembly. After they were elected, they were granted imperium powers by the assembly.
What was the job of consul?
consul, in foreign service, a public officer who is commissioned by a state to reside in a foreign country for the purpose of fostering the commercial affairs of its citizens in that foreign country and performing such routine functions as issuing visas and renewing passports.
What is a Roman priest called?
The College of Pontiffs (Latin: Collegium Pontificum; see collegium) was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the state religion. The college consisted of the Pontifex Maximus and the other pontifices, the Rex Sacrorum, the fifteen flamens, and the Vestals.
Who could become a Roman consul?
The name ‘consul’ was first used at this time. One had to be at least 43 years old to become consul. (This was laid down in the Lex Villia annalis of 180.) From the third century BCE onward, it was also necessary that the candidate had served in other magistracies (e.g., the praetorship).
When did Rome have consuls?
509
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic (509 to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the highest level of the cursus honorum (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired). Consuls were elected to office and held power for one year.
Who was the first Roman consul?
Lucius Junius Brutus
It is possible that only the chronology has been distorted, but it seems that one of the first consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus, came from a plebeian family. Another possible explanation is that during the 5th-century social struggles, the office of consul was gradually monopolized by a patrician elite.
Was Tiberius a pontifex maximus?
When Augustus died in A.D. 14, Tiberius inherited the throne. He deified Augustus immediately after his death and pursued Augustan policies with little change. He assumed the office of pontifex maximus, the chief priest of Rome, in A.D.
What year did Caesar become consul?
59 B.C.
A series of successful military and political maneuvers, along with the support of Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus (known as the richest man in Rome), helped Caesar get elected as senior Roman consul in 59 B.C.
What rules were placed on consuls?
The consuls served for only one year (to prevent corruption) and could only rule when they agreed, because each consul could veto the other one’s decision. The consuls were the chairmen of the Senate, which served as a board of advisers.