A consul was one of the two senior magistrates of the Roman Republic, elected together each year. Consuls led the army, ran the Senate's meetings and could each veto the other. Under the emperors the office stayed a great honour but lost most of its power.
Key takeaways
- Two consuls were elected each year to serve jointly for a one-year term [1].
- Each consul could block the other with a veto, so no one man held all the power [2].
- Romans named years after the consuls in office, as in 59 BC, 'the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus' [1].
- Under the empire consuls kept their prestige but lost most of their powers [1].
How the consulship worked
The consuls were the top officials of the Roman Republic. Each year the people, voting in the centuriate assembly, elected two of them to serve jointly for a one-year term [1]. Romans traced the office to the founding of the Republic in 509 BC, after the last king, Tarquin Superbus, was expelled. The king's powers passed to the new consuls [1].
The design was meant to prevent one-man rule. Each consul could check the other with a veto, and the term lasted only a year [2]. A consul's imperium, his power to command, covered Rome and all its provinces. It was formally granted by a vote of the assembly after the election [1]. In practice that meant consuls led the armies in war, took the chair at meetings of the Senate, and carried out its decisions. The office was reserved for experienced men: Sulla set the minimum age at 42 or 43 [1].
Because there were always two, Romans dated years by naming the consuls. The year 59 BC was "the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus" [1]. When you read a Roman date written as a list of consuls, this is the system.
Under the empire the title lived on, but the job changed. Consuls lost most of their powers and became symbols of the Republic's heritage. Emperors often held one of the consulships themselves, and Augustus increased the number of replacement ("suffect") consuls who filled in during the year, which made the honour less special [1]. The ordinary consulship kept its high regard. In the early empire emperors in effect nominated the consuls; later the Senate chose them, and the people still approved the choice into the third century [1].
An example from our data
Our slider starts in the Roman Kingdom and passes through the Republic's years. At 264 BC the map's event is "Start of the First Punic War; Rome controls peninsular Italy south of the Apennines", and the area is 131,515 km². In wars like that, consuls led the legions in the field. By 133 BC, "Pergamon is bequeathed to Rome; Numantia falls in Spain", the area had grown to 805,540 km². To rule conquered provinces, the Republic created promagistracies, extending an official's powers for the job [2]. The homepage section on how the empire grew tells the wider story.
At 44 BC Julius Caesar, who was holding the consulship that year, was assassinated, and the map's event reads "Julius Caesar is assassinated; Gaul has been conquered". The empire then covered 1.97 million km². By AD 14, "Augustus dies; Tiberius succeeds", the consulship was an honour awarded within an empire ruled by one man. Compare the four year pages: 264 BC, 133 BC, 44 BC and AD 14.
The thing people get wrong
Many people think a consul was a king, a president or an emperor. He was none of these. He held power for one year only, shared it with a colleague who could block him. The word "consul" does not mean the head of the empire at all: the emperors came after the consuls, not instead of them.
It is also a mistake to think consuls vanished the day the Republic ended. The title survived for centuries into the empire [1].
Frequently asked questions
Why were there two consuls?
To stop any one man from becoming a king. Each consul could use his veto against the other, and the term lasted only one year.
When did the consulship begin?
Romans traced it to the founding of the Republic in 509 BC, after the last king, Tarquin, was driven out. The king's powers passed to the new office.
Did consuls exist under the emperors?
Yes. They were still elected each year for centuries, and emperors often held one of the consulships themselves, but consuls became symbols rather than rulers.
Sources
- Roman consul, Wikipedia.
- Roman Republic, Wikipedia.
- Every figure from our own map is worked out from the datasets on the data sources page (checked against Ancient World Mapping Center outlines and Pleiades).