The tribuni militum consulari potestate ("military tribunes with consular power"), in English commonly also Consular Tribunes, were tribunes elected with consular power during the so-called "Conflict of the Orders" in the Roman Republic, starting in 444 BC and then continuously from 408 BC to 394 BC and again from 391 BC to 367 BC.
Origin and dissolution of the office
According to the histories of Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, the magistracy of the tribuni militum consulari potestate was created during the Conflict of the Orders, along with the magistracy of the censor, in order to give the Plebeian order access to higher levels of government without having to reform the office of consul; plebeians could be elected to the office of Consular Tribune.
The choice whether a collegium of Consular Tribunes or consuls were to be elected for a given year was made by senatus consultum, thereby (according to Livy) accounting for the periods of either office interspersed with the other. The number of Consular Tribunes varied from 2 to 6, and because they were considered colleagues of the two censors, there is sometimes mention of the "eight tribunes".
Modern scholars now believe, however, that the creation of the consular tribunes was due to the changing military and administrative requirements of the expanding Roman state. In the beginning during the 440s, the consular tribunes, elected from the three ancient tribes of the Titienses, Ramnenses, and Luceres, were part of an overall redesign of the military structure of the Roman state to maximise military efficiency, which included the creation of the Censorship (responsible for taking the census to identify the numbers of men capable of military duty) and the Quaestorship (responsible for the supply of money and goods for the armies). Originally patrician office holders, they were referred to as "military tribunes", and were responsible for leading the armies into battle. It was only much later that they were given the anachronistic addition of "with consular power", in an attempt to distinguish them from the Military tribunes who were the legionary officers of the middle and late Republic.
The tribunes, like their consular predecessors, exercised consular potestas, indicating they must have been elected by the comitia centuriata, and that the current needs of the state could not be served by the previous consular system. From their initial number of three, the consular tribunes were increased to four for the first time in 426 BC in response to the military situation which saw the Roman state capture and annex Fidenae.
Then in 405 BC, the number of consular tribunes was increased to six for the first time; and after that, apart from the very occasional year in which eight or ten consular tribunes are recorded, the Roman state was led by six consular tribunes for almost every year down to the dissolution of the office and the reintroduction of the consulship in 366 BC. The increase was due to the need for the consular tribunes to not only handle the military affairs of Rome, but also the administrative needs of the city as well.
According to Livy, the practice of electing consular tribunes came to a definitive end in 366 BC, when the Lex Licinia Sextia took effect, allowing the Plebeian order access to the office of consul. Modern understanding of this process interprets the change to one where Rome’s position in Latium had become sufficiently secure to allow the urban duties of the consular tribunes to be discharged by other office holders with different levels of competencies and powers, including imperium in the case of the Praetor. Thus the reorganization of the Roman state in 367/6 BC. saw the replacement of the six consular tribunes with five officials with distinct functions: the head of state became the two consuls, who would wage Rome’s wars and lead the Senate's deliberations. In addition there was one praetor who would oversee lawsuits in the city, while two curule aediles would undertake all other administrative duties within the city, such as the organization and holding of public games and overseeing and controlling the markets in Rome.
Presented by Varronian chronology. For more information on deciphering early Roman names, see Roman names.
444 BC
A. Sempronius Atratinus
T. Atilius Luscus
T. Cloelius Siculus
438 BC
Mam. Aemilius Mamercinus
L. Quinctius Cincinnatus
L. Julius Iulus
434 BC
Ser. Cornelius Cossus
M. Manlius Capitolinus
Q. Sulpicius Camerinus Praetextatus
433 BC
M. Fabius Vibulanus
M. Folius Flaccinator
L. Sergius Fidenas
432 BC
L. Pinarius Mamercinus
L. Furius Medullinus
Sp. Postumius Albus Regillensis
426 BC
T. Quinctius Poenus Cincinnatus
C. Furius Pacilus Fusus
M. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
A. Cornelius Cossus
425 BC
A. Sempronius Atratinus
L. Quinctius Cincinnatus
L. Furius Medullinus
L. Horatius Barbatus
424 BC
Ap. Claudius Crassus
Sp. Nautius Rutilus
L. Sergius Fidenas
Sex. Julius Iulus
422 BC
L. Manlius Capitolinus
Q. Antonius Merenda
L. Papirius Mugillanus
420 BC
L. Quinctius Cincinnatus
L. Furius Medullinus
M. Manlius Vulso
A. Sempronius Atratinus
419 BC
Agrippa Menenius Lanatus
P. Lucretius Tricipitinus
Sp. Nautius Rutilus
C. Servilius Axilla
418 BC
L. Sergius Fidenas
M. Papirius Mugillanus
C. Servilius Axilla
417 BC
P. Lucretius Tricipitinus
Agrippa Menenius Lanatus
C. Servilius Axilla
Sp. Rutilius Crassus
416 BC
A. Sempronius Atratinus
M. Papirius Mugillanus
Q. Fabius Vibulanus
Sp. Nautius Rutilus
415 BC
P. Cornelius Cossus
C. Valerius Potitus Volusus
N. Fabius Vibulanus
Q. Quinctius Cincinnatus
414 BC
Cn. Cornelius Cossus
L. Valerius Potitus
Q. Fabius Vibulanus
P. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
408 BC
C. Julius Iulus
P. Cornelius Cossus
C. Servilius Ahala
407 BC
L. Furius Medullinus
C. Valerius Potitus Volusus
N. Fabius Vibulanus
C. Servilius Ahala
406 BC
P. Cornelius Rutilus Cossus
Cn. Cornelius Cossus
N. Fabius Ambustus
L. Valerius Potitus
405 BC
T. Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus
Q. Quinctius Cincinnatus
C. Julius Iulus
A. Manlius Vulso Capitolinus
L. Furius Medullinus
M'. Aemilius Mamercinus
404 BC
C. Valerius Potitus Volusus
M'. Sergius Fidenas
P. Cornelius Maluginensis
Cn. Cornelius Cossus
K. Fabius Ambustus
Sp. Nautius Rutilus
403 BC
M'. Aemilius Mamercinus
L. Valerius Potitus
Ap. Claudius Crassus Inregillensis
M. Quinctilius Varus
L. Julius Iulus
M. Furius Fusus
M. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
M. Postumius
402 BC
C. Servilius Ahala
Q. Servilius Fidenas
L. Verginius Tricostus Esquilinus
Q. Sulpicius Camerinus Cornutus
A. Manlius Vulso Capitolinus
M'. Sergius Fidenas
401 BC
L. Valerius Potitus
M. Furius Camillus
M'. Aemilius Mamercinus
Cn. Cornelius Cossus
K. Fabius Ambustus
L. Julius Iulus
400 BC
P. Licinius Calvus Esquilinus
P. Manlius Vulso
L. Titinius Pansa Saccus
P. Maelius Capitolinus
Sp. Furius Medullinus
L. Publilius Philo Vulscus
399 BC
Cn. Genucius Augurinus
L. Atilius Priscus
M. Pomponius Rufus
C. Duillius Longus
M. Veturius Crassus Cicurinus
Volero Publilius Philo
398 BC
L. Valerius Potitus
M. Valerius Lactucinus Maximus
M. Furius Camillus
L. Furius Medullinus
Q. Servilius Fidenas
Q. Sulpicius Camerinus Cornutus
397 BC
L. Julius Iulus
L. Furius Medullinus
L. Sergius Fidenas
A. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
P. Cornelius Maluginensis
A. Manlius Vulso Capitolinus
396 BC
L. Titinius Pansa Saccus
P. Licinius Calvus Esquilinus
P. Maelius Capitolinus
Q. Manlius Vulso Capitolinus
Cn. Genucius Augurinus
L. Atilius Priscus
395 BC
P. Cornelius Cossus
P. Cornelius Scipio
K. Fabius Ambustus
L. Furius Medullinus
Q. Servilius Fidenas
M. Valerius Lactucinus Maximus
394 BC
M. Furius Camillus
L. Furius Medullinus
C. Aemilius Mamercinus
L. Valerius Publicola
Sp. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
P. Cornelius
391 BC
L. Lucretius Tricipitinus Flavus
Ser. Sulpicius Camerinus
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
L. Furius Medullinus
Agrippa Furius Fusus
C. Aemilius Mamercinus
390 BC
Q. Fabius Ambustus
K. Fabius Ambustus
N. Fabius Ambustus
Q. Sulpicius Longus
Q. Servilius Fidenas
P. Cornelius Maluginensis
389 BC
L. Valerius Publicola
L. Verginius Tricostus
P. Cornelius
A. Manlius Capitolinus
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
L. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
388 BC
T. Quinctius Cincinnatus Capitolinus
Q. Servilius Fidenas
L. Julius Iulus
L. Aquilius Corvus
L. Lucretius Flavus Tricipitinus
Ser. Sulipicius Rufus
387 BC
L. Papirius Cursor
Cn. Sergius Fidenas Coxo
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
Licinus Menentius Lanatus
L. Valerius Publicola
L. Cornelius
386 BC
M. Furius Camillus
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
Q. Servilius Fidenas
L. Quinctius Cincinnatus
L. Horatius Pulvillus
P. Valerius Potitus Publicola
385 BC
A. Manlius Capitolinus
P. Cornelius
T. Quinctius Cincinnatus Capitolinus
L. Quinctius Cincinnatus Capitolinus
L. Papirius Cursor
Cn. Sergius Fidenas Coxo
384 BC
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
P. Valerius Potitus Publicola
M. Furius Camillus
Ser. Sulpicius Rufus
C. Papirius Crassus
T. Quinctius Cincinnatus Capitolinus
383 BC
L. Valerius Publicola
A. Manlius Capitolinus
Ser. Sulpicius Rufus
L. Lucretius Flavus Tricipitinus
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
M. Trebonius
382 BC
Sp. Papirius Crassus
L. Papirius Mugillanus
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
Q. Servilius Fidenas
C. Sulpicius Camerinus
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
381 BC
M. Furius Camillus
A. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
L. Postumius Albinus Regillensis
L. Furius Medullinus
L. Lucretius Tricipitinus Flavus
M. Fabius Ambustus
380 BC
L. Valerius Publicola
P. Valerius Potitus Publicola
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
Licinus Menentius Lanatus
C. Sulpicius Peticus
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
Cn. Sergius Fidenas Coxo
Ti. Papirius Crassus
L. Papirius Mugillanus
379 BC
P. Manlius Capitolinus
C. Manlius
L. Julius Iulus
C. Sextilius
M. Albinius
L. Antistius
378 BC
Sp. Furius
Q. Servilius Fidenas
Licinus Menenius Lanatus
P. Cloelius Siculus
M. Horatius
L. Geganius Macerinus
377 BC
L. Aemilius Mamercinus
P. Valerius Potitus Publicola
C. Veturius Crassus Cicurinus
Ser. Sulpicius Rufus
L. Quinctius Cincinnatus
C. Quinctius Cincinnatus
376 BC
L. Papirius Mugillanus
Licinus Menenius Lanatus
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
Ser. Sulpicius Praetextatus
370 BC
L. Furius Medullinus
A. Manlius Capitolinus
Ser. Sulpicius Praetextatus
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
P. Valerius Potitus Publicola
C. Valerius Potitus
369 BC
Q. Servilius Fidenas
C. Veturius Crassus Cicurinus
A. Cornelius Cossus
M. Cornelius Maluginensis
Q. Quinctius Cincinnatus
M. Fabius Ambustus
368 BC
T. Quinctius Cincinnatus Capitolinus
Ser. Cornelius Maluginensis
Ser. Sulpicius Praetextatus
Sp. Servilius Structus
L. Papirius Crassus
L. Veturius Crassus Cicurinus
367 BC
A. Cornelius Cossus
M. Cornelius Maluginensis
M. Geganius Macerinus
P. Manlius Capitolinus
L. Veturius Crassus Cicurinus
P. Valerius Potitus Publicola
