List of Roman consuls

Republican consuls

From the establishment of the Republic to the time of Augustus, the consuls were the chief magistrates of the Roman state, and in theory there were always two, 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 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 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 time, there are discrepancies due to gaps and disagreement in different sources. Many no doubt arose as simple 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Occasionally, the authority of the consuls was temporarily superseded by the appointment of a dictator, who held greater imperium than that of the consuls.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 the year following their nomination in place of consuls. Modern scholarship is skeptical of these years, which might represent one example of later editing to 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. As a means of preventing 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.

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 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 a high degree of certainty. In many cases there are statements to the effect 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, 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, a festival occurring on April 21). This becomes the year 1 ab urbe condita, 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, and its use by Censorinus brought it to the attention of Joseph Scaliger, 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 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.

Consules prior and posterior

Consuls for the Republic and the early Empire are identified as consul prior and consul posterior, terms that the Romans used to distinguish between the magistrates. The consul prior was the more senior and esteemed of the pair. Under the Republic he was elected first, and had priority in holding the fasces, as well as the honor of being named first in the lists for the year, although in all other respects the two consuls' authority was equal. 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 and an Eastern Roman Empire: 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 also lack dates), 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.

Latin terms

Colors

6th century BC

(Unless otherwise indicated, the names and dates for this century are taken from Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. I (Philological Monograph No. 15), American Philological Association, New York (1951).

5th century BC

(Unless otherwise indicated, the names and dates for this century are taken from Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Philological Monograph No. 15. New York: American Philological Association, 1951.)

4th century BC

(Unless otherwise indicated, the names and dates for this century are taken from Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. Philological Monograph No. 15. New York: American Philological Association, 1951.)

3rd century BC

(Unless otherwise indicated, the names and dates for this century are taken from Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, The magistrates of the Roman republic. Philological Monograph No. 15. New York: American Philological Association, 1951.)

2nd century BC

(Unless otherwise indicated, the names and dates for this century are taken from Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, The magistrates of the Roman republic. Philological Monograph No. 15. New York: American Philological Association, 1951.)

6th century

The practice of choosing a Roman consul was abolished in 541 and the title was added to imperial titles.