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{{Short description|Political office in ancient Rome}}
{{About|political office|a list|List of Roman consuls}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Politics of the Roman Republic}}

The '''consuls''' were the two highest elected public officials of the [[Roman Republic]] ({{Circa|509 BC}} to 27&nbsp;BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''[[cursus honorum]]''{{Emdash}}an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired{{Emdash}}after that of the [[Roman censor|censor]], which was reserved for former consuls.{{sfn|Derow|2012|p=296, "Censor"}} Each year, the [[centuriate assembly]] elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated each month holding ''[[fasces]]'' (taking turns leading) when both were in Rome. A consul's ''[[imperium]]'' (military power) extended over Rome and all its [[Roman provinces|provinces]].

Having two consuls created a check on the power of any one individual, in accordance with the republican belief that the powers of the former [[King of Rome|kings of Rome]] should be spread out into multiple offices. To that end, each consul could veto the actions of the other consul.

After the establishment of the [[Roman Empire|Empire]] (27 BC), the consuls became mere symbolic representatives of Rome's republican heritage and held very little power and authority, with the [[Roman emperor|Emperor]] acting as the supreme authority.

The practice of dual leaders ([[diarchy]]) continues to this day in [[San Marino]] and is directly derived from the customs of the Roman Republic. Equivalent to the consuls of ancient Rome, the [[Captains Regent of San Marino|Captains Regent]] serve as dual leaders of the country. They are however not heads of government, but only heads of state without executive power.

==History==

=== Under the Republic ===
According to Roman tradition, after the [[Overthrow of the Roman monarchy|expulsion]] of the last king, [[Tarquinius Superbus|Tarquin Superbus]], the powers and authority of the king were given to the newly instituted consulship. Originally, consuls were called [[praetor]]s ("leader"), referring to their duties as the chief military commanders. By at least 300&nbsp;BC the title of ''consul'' became commonly used.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lintott |first=Andrew |title=The Constitution of the Roman Republic |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=0198150687 |page=104}}</ref> Ancient writers usually derive the title ''consul'' from the [[Latin]] verb ''consulere'', "to take counsel", but this is most likely a later gloss of the term,<ref name="PW">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=1900 |title=Consul |encyclopedia=Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Band IV, Halbband 7, Claudius mons-Cornificius |last=Kübler |first=B. |pages=1112–1138}}</ref> which probably derives—in view of the joint nature of the office—from ''con-'' and ''sal-'', "get together" or from ''con-'' and ''sell-/sedl-'', "sit down together with" or "next to".<ref name="NP">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2013 |title=Consul(es) |encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly |publisher=Brill Online |url=http://brillonline.nl/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/consul-es-e304740 |access-date=2 July 2013 |last=Gizewski |first=Christian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110223613/http://brillonline.nl/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/consul-es-e304740 |archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref> In [[Greek language|Greek]], the title was originally rendered as {{lang|grc|στρατηγὸς ὕπατος}}, ''[[strategos]] [[hypatos]]'' ("the supreme general"), and later simply as ὕπατος (''hypatos'').<ref name="PW" />

The consulship was believed by the Romans to date back to the traditional establishment of the Republic in 509&nbsp;BC, but the succession of consuls was not continuous in the 5th century&nbsp;BC, when the consulship was supposedly replaced with a board of [[consular tribune]]s, which was elected whenever the military needs of the state were significant enough to warrant the election of more than the usual two consuls.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |url=https://archive.org/details/criticalhistorye00fors |title=A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War |publisher=University of California Press |year=2005 |isbn=0520226518 |page=[https://archive.org/details/criticalhistorye00fors/page/n254 236] |url-access=limited}}</ref> These remained in place until the office was [[Sextian-Licinian Rogations|abolished]] in 367&nbsp;BC and the consulship was reintroduced.{{Sfn|Forsythe|2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/criticalhistorye00fors/page/n255 237]}}

Consuls had extensive powers in peacetime (administrative, legislative, and judicial), and in wartime often held the highest military command. Additional religious duties included certain rites which, as a sign of their formal importance, could only be carried out by the highest state officials. Consuls also read [[auguries]], an essential religious ritual, before leading armies into the field.

Two consuls were elected each year, serving together, each with veto power over the other's actions, a normal principle for magistracies. They were elected by the ''[[Centuriate Assembly|comitia centuriata]]'', which also elected [[praetors]] and [[Roman Censor|censors]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abbott |first=Frank Frost |author-link=Frank Frost Abbott |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/historydescript00abbo/historydescript00abbo.pdf |title=A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions |date=1901 |publisher=Ginn |location=Boston |oclc=1069567291}}</ref> However, they formally assumed powers only after the ratification of their election in the older ''[[Curiate Assembly|comitia curiata]]'', which granted the consuls their ''[[imperium]]'' by enacting a law, the ''[[lex curiata de imperio]]''.

If a consul died during his term (not uncommon when consuls were in the forefront of battle) or was removed from office, another would be elected by the ''comitia centuriata'' to serve the remainder of the term as''consul [[Suffect|suffectus]]'' (suffect consul). A consul elected to start the year, called a ''consul ordinarius'' (ordinary consul), held more prestige than a suffect consul, partly because the year would be named for ordinary consuls (see [[#Consular dating|consular dating]]).

According to tradition, the consulship was initially reserved for [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] and only in 367&nbsp;BC did [[plebeians]] win the right to stand for this supreme office, when the [[Licinio-Sextian rogations]] provided that at least one consul each year should be plebeian. The first plebeian consul, [[Lucius Sextius]], was elected the following year. Nevertheless, the office remained largely in the hands of a few families, as only about fifteen ''[[novus homo|novi homines]]'' ("new men" with no consular background) were elected to the consulship until the election of [[Cicero]] in 63 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wirszubski |first= Chaim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXnljY5lhicC&pg=PA53 |title=Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome During the Late Republic and Early Principate |date=1968 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-06848-2 |pages=53}}</ref> Modern historians have questioned the traditional account of plebeian emancipation during the early Republic (see [[Conflict of the Orders]]), noting for instance that about thirty percent of the consuls prior to Sextius had plebeian, not patrician, names. 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Oxford Classical Dictionary |editor-last=Hornblower |editor-first=S. |edition=3rd |editor-last2=Spawforth |editor-first2=A.}} s.v. [[Lucius Iunius Brutus]]</ref> Another possible explanation is that during the 5th-century social struggles, the office of consul was gradually monopolized by a patrician elite.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cornell |first=T. J. |title=The Beginnings of Rome |isbn=978-0-4150-1596-7 |chapter=10.4: The 'closing of the patriciate'}}</ref>

During times of war, the primary qualification for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the consulship became the normal endpoint of the ''[[cursus honorum]]'', the sequence of offices pursued by the Roman who chose to pursue a political career. When [[Sulla|Lucius Cornelius Sulla]] regulated the ''cursus'' by law, the minimum age of election to consul became 43 or 42 years of age. This age requirement was later changed to 32 during the Empire.<ref>Telford, L. (2014). ''Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered''. United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Military, p. 216</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hellerman |first=Joseph H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zgODL8xbjoUC&pg=PA52 |title=Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi: Carmen Christi as Cursus Pudorum |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-44641-9 |pages=52}}</ref>

=== Under the Empire ===
Although throughout the early years of the Principate the consuls were still formally elected by the ''comitia centuriata'', they were de facto nominated by the [[princeps]].{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=1}} As the years progressed, the distinction between the ''comitia centuriata'' and the ''comitia populi tributa'' (which elected the lower magisterial positions) appears to have disappeared, and so for the purposes of the consular elections, there came to be just a single "assembly of the people" which elected all the magisterial positions of the state, while the consuls continued to be nominated by the princeps.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bury |first=John B. |title=A History of the Roman Empire from its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius |date=1893 |author-link=J. B. Bury |p=29}}</ref>
{{multiple image
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| image2            = Diptych of Constantius III.jpg
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| footer            = '''On the left''': [[Honorius (emperor)|Emperor Honorius]] on the [[consular diptych]] of [[Anicius Petronius Probus|Probus]] (406)<br/>'''On the right''': [[Consular diptych]] of [[Constantius III]] (a co-emperor with Honorius in 421), produced for his consulate of the [[Western Roman Empire]] in 413 or 417
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The imperial consulate during the Principate (until the 3rd century) was an important position, albeit as the method through which the Roman aristocracy could progress through to the higher levels of imperial administration—only former consuls could become consular legates, the proconsuls of Africa and Asia, or the urban prefect of Rome.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|pp=1–2}} It was a post that would be occupied by a man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, or in his early forties for most others.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=1}} Emperors frequently appointed themselves, or their protégés or relatives, as consuls, even without regard to the age requirements. [[Caligula]] once said that he would appoint his horse [[Incitatus]] consul, which was probably a joke intended to belittle the Senate's authority.<ref>[[Cassius Dio]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/59*.html#14 ''Roman History'', 59.14.]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Sam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xoJd6p-l1H8C&pg=PA168 |title=Republicanism during the Early Roman Empire |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-4341-9 |pages=168}}</ref>

The need for a pool of men to fill the consular positions forced [[Augustus]] to remodel the suffect consulate, allowing more than the two elected for the ordinary consulate.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=1}} During the reigns of the Julio-Claudians, the ordinary consuls who began the year usually relinquished their office mid-year, with the election for the suffect consuls occurring at the same time as that for the ordinary consuls. During reigns of the [[Flavian dynasty|Flavian]] and [[Nerva–Antonine dynasty|Antonine]] emperors, the ordinary consuls tended to resign after a period of four months, and the elections were moved to 12 January of the year in which they were to hold office. Election of the consuls were transferred to the Senate during the Flavian or Antonine periods, although through to the 3rd century, the people were still called on to ratify the Senate's selections.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Gagarin |editor-first2=Elaine |editor-last2=Fantham |editor-link2=Elaine Fantham |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome |volume=1 |date=2010 |pp=296–297}}</ref> The emperor did not assume the consulship of every year of his reign, but did nominate himself multiple times; [[Augustus]] was consul 13 times, [[Domitian]] 17, and [[Theodosius II]] 18.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grierson |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sdCjnwoQLR0C&pg=PA137 |title=Catalogue of Late Roman Coins |date=1992 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |isbn=978-0-88402-193-3 |pages=137 |author-link=Philip Grierson}}; {{Cite book |last1=Miller |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TKwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 |title=Latin Historiography and Poetry in the Early Empire |last2=Woodman |first2=Anthony |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-474-3099-5 |pages=90}}</ref> 

The proliferation of suffect consuls through this process, and the allocation of this office to ''[[Novus homo|homines novi]]'' tended, over time, to devalue the office.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|pp=1–2}} However, the high regard placed upon the ordinary consulate remained intact; it was one of the few offices that one could share with the emperor, and during this period it was filled mostly by patricians or by individuals who had consular ancestors.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=1}} If they were especially skilled or valued, they may even have achieved a second (or rarely, a third) consulate. Prior to achieving the consulate, these individuals already had a significant career behind them and would expect to continue serving the state, filling in the post upon which the state functioned.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=2}} Consequently, holding the ordinary consulship was a great honor, and the office was the major symbol of the still relatively republican constitution. Probably as part of seeking formal legitimacy, the break-away [[Gallic Empire]] had its own pairs of consuls during its existence (260–274). The list of consuls for this state is incomplete, drawn from inscriptions and coins.

By the end of the 3rd century, much had changed. The loss of many pre-consular functions, and the gradual encroachment of the ''[[equites]]'' into the traditional senatorial administrative and military functions, meant that senatorial careers virtually vanished prior to their appointment as consuls.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=2}} This had the effect of seeing a suffect consulship granted at an earlier age, to the point that by the 4th century, it was being held by men in their early twenties, and possibly younger, without the significant political careers behind them that was normal previously.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=2}} As time progressed, second consulates, usually ordinary, became far more common than during the first two centuries, whereas the first consulship was usually a suffect consulate. The consulate during this period was no longer just the province of senators—the automatic awarding of a suffect consulship to the equestrian [[praetorian prefect]]s (who were given the ''ornamenta consularia'' upon achieving their office) allowed them to style themselves ''cos. II'' when they were later granted an ordinary consulship by the emperor.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=2}} All this had the effect of further devaluing the office of consul to the point that by the final years of the 3rd century, holding an ordinary consulate was occasionally left out of the cursus inscriptions, whereas by the first decades of the 4th century, suffect consulships were hardly ever recorded.{{sfn|Bagnall|Cameron|Schwartz|Worp|1987|p=2}}

[[File:Flavius Anastasius Probus 01b.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Anastasius (consul 517)|Anastasius]] (consul of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] for AD 517) in consular garb, holding a sceptre and the ''mappa'', a piece of cloth used to signal the start of [[Chariot racing|chariot races]] at the [[Hippodrome of Constantinople|Hippodrome]]. Ivory panel [[consular diptych|diptych]].]]
One of the reforms of [[Constantine I]] (r. 306–337) was to assign one of the consuls to the city of [[Rome]] and the other to [[Constantinople]]. Therefore, when the Empire was divided into two on the death of [[Theodosius I]] (r. 379–395), the emperor of each half acquired the right of appointing one of the consuls—although on occasion an emperor did allow his colleague to appoint both consuls for various reasons. In the [[Western Roman Empire|Western Empire]], some Eastern consuls were never recognized by the emperor, who became a puppet of powerful generals such as [[Stilicho]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cameron |first1=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbnADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |title=Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius |last2=Long |first2=Jacqueline |date=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-30208-2 |pages=166, 249}}</ref> The consulship, bereft of any real power, continued to be a great honor, but the celebrations attending it—above all the [[chariot races]]—had come to involve considerable expense; part of the expense had to be covered by the state.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|p=527}} At times the consulship was given to teenagers or even children, as in the cases of [[Varronianus (son of Jovian)|Varronianus]], [[Valentinianus Galates]], [[Olybrius Junior]] and the children of the emperor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McEvoy |first=Meaghan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgygc7HDBt0C&pg=PA327 |title=Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367–455 |date=2013 |publisher=OUP |isbn=978-0-19-966481-8 |pages=326–327}}</ref>

In the 6th century, the consulship was increasingly sparsely given, until it was allowed to lapse under [[Justinian I]] (r. 527–565): the western consulship lapsed in 534, with [[Decius Paulinus]] the last holder, and the consulship of the East in 541, with [[Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius]]. [[Fasti consulares|Consular dating]] had already been abolished in 537, when Justinian introduced [[Byzantine calendar|dating]] by the emperor's regnal year and the [[indiction]].{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=526–527}} In the eastern court, the appointment to consulship became a part of the rite of proclamation of a new emperor from [[Justin II]] (r. 565–578) on, and is last attested in the proclamation of the future [[Constans II]] (r. 641–668) as consul in 632.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|p=526}} In the late 9th century, Emperor [[Leo the Wise]] (r. 886–912) finally abolished the office in Novel 94 of his ''[[Basilika]]''. By that time, the Greek titles for consul and ex-consul, "''[[hypatos]]''" and "''[[apo hypaton]]''", had been transformed to relatively lowly honorary dignities.{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|pp=963–964}}{{sfn|Kazhdan|1991|p=527}}

In the west, the rank of consul was occasionally bestowed upon individuals by the Papacy. In 719, the title of Roman consul was offered by the Pope to [[Charles Martel]], although Martel refused it.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/67/407.html |title=The Frankish Kingdom |date=2001 |series=The Encyclopedia of World History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306080549/http://www.bartleby.com/67/407.html |archive-date=2009-03-06}}</ref> About 853, [[Alfred the Great]], then a child aged four or five, was made a Roman consul by the Pope.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first= Patrick |last=Wormald |author-link=Patrick Wormald |publisher=Oxford University Press |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |title=Alfred [Ælfred] (848/9–899) |date=2006 |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-183 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/183 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507043702/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-183 |archive-date=7 May 2019 |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}{{ODNBsub}}</ref>

==Powers and responsibilities==

===Republican duties===
Traditionally, after the expulsion of the kings, all the powers that had belonged to the kings were transferred to two offices: the consulship and the office of ''[[rex sacrorum]]''. While the ''rex sacrorum'' inherited the kings' position as royal priest and various religious functions were handed off to the [[pontiff]]s, the consuls were given the remaining civil and military responsibilities. To prevent abuse of the kingly power, this authority was shared by two consuls, each of whom could veto the other's actions, with short annual terms.{{sfn|Derow|2012|p=368}}

The consuls were invested with the [[Executive (government)|executive power]] of the state and headed the government of the Republic. Initially, the consuls held vast executive and judicial power. In the gradual development of the Roman legal system, however, some important functions were detached from the consulship and assigned to new officers. Thus, in 443 BC, the responsibility to conduct the [[Roman censor#Census|Census]] was taken from the consuls and given to the [[Roman censor|censors]]. The second function taken from the consulship was their [[judicial power]]. Their position as chief judges was transferred to the [[praetor]]s in 366 BC. After this time, the consul would only serve as judges in extraordinary criminal cases and only when called upon by decree of the Senate.

====Civil sphere====
For the most part, power was divided between civil and military spheres. As long as the consuls were in the ''[[pomerium]]'' (the city of Rome), they were at the [[head of government]], and all the other magistrates, with the exception of the [[tribune of the plebs]], were subordinate to them, but retained independence of office. The internal machinery of the Republic was under the consuls' supervision. In order to allow the consuls greater authority in executing laws, the consuls had the right of summons and arrest, which was limited only by the right of appeal from their judgement. This power of punishment even extended to inferior magistrates.

As part of their executive functions, the consuls were responsible for carrying into effect the decrees of the Senate and the laws of the [[Roman assemblies|assemblies]]. Sometimes, in great emergencies, they might act on their own authority and responsibility. The consuls also served as the [[chief diplomat]]s of the Roman state. Before any foreign ambassadors reached the Senate, they met with the consuls. The consul would introduce ambassadors to the Senate, and they alone negotiated between the Senate and foreign states.

The consuls could convene the Senate, and presided over its meetings. The consuls served as president of the Senate, one at a time, alternating every month. They could also summon any of the three [[Roman assemblies]] (Curiate, Centuriate, and Tribal) and presided over them. Thus, the consuls conducted the elections and put legislative measures to the vote. When neither consul was within the city, their civic duties were assumed by the ''[[Praetor#Praetor urbanus|praetor urbanus]]''.

[[File:Consul et lictores.jpg|thumb|Gold coin from [[Dacia]], minted by [[Coson]], depicting a consul and two lictors]]
Each consul was accompanied in every public appearance by twelve [[lictor]]s, who displayed the magnificence of the office and served as his bodyguards. Each lictor held a ''[[fasces]]'', a bundle of rods that contained an axe. The ''fasces'' symbolized the military power, or ''[[imperium]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=T. Corey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dr-CEAAAQBAJ |title=The Fasces: A History of Ancient Rome's Most Dangerous Political Symbol |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-764488-1 |pages=2, 12}}</ref> When inside the ''pomerium'', the lictors removed the axes from the ''fasces'' to show that a citizen could not be executed without a trial. Upon entering the ''[[Centuriate Assembly|comitia centuriata]]'', the lictors would lower the ''fasces'' to show that the powers of the consuls derive from the people.

====Military sphere====
Outside the walls of Rome, the powers of the consuls were far more extensive in their role as [[commander-in-chief|commanders-in-chief]] of all [[Roman legions]]. It was in this function that the consuls were vested with full ''imperium''. When legions were ordered by a decree of the Senate, the consuls conducted the [[conscription|levy]] in the [[Campus Martius]]. Upon entering the army, all soldiers had to take their oath of allegiance to the consuls. The consuls also oversaw the gathering of troops provided by Rome's allies.<ref>Polybius – Histories book VI</ref>

Within the city a consul could punish and arrest a citizen, but had no power to inflict capital punishment. When on campaign, however, a consul could inflict any punishment he saw fit on any soldier, officer, citizen, or ally.

Each consul commanded an army, usually two legions strong, with the help of military tribunes and a [[quaestor]] who had financial duties. In the rare case that both consuls marched together, each one held the command for a day respectively. A typical consular army was about 20,000 men and consisted of two citizen and two allied legions. In the early years of the Republic, Rome's enemies were located in central Italy, so campaigns lasted a few months. As Rome's frontiers expanded, in the 2nd century BC, the campaigns became more lengthy. Rome was a warlike society and very seldom did not wage war.<ref>''War and society in the Roman World'', ed. Rich & Shipley</ref> So the consul upon entering office was expected by the Senate and the People to march his army against Rome's enemies, and expand the Roman frontiers. His soldiers expected to return to their homes after the campaign with spoils. If the consul won an overwhelming victory, he was hailed as [[imperator]] by his troops, and could request to be granted a [[Roman triumph|triumph]].

The consul could conduct the campaign as he saw fit, and had unlimited powers. However, after the campaign, he could be prosecuted for his misdeeds (for example for abusing the provinces, or wasting public money, as [[Scipio Africanus]] was accused by [[Cato the Elder|Cato]] in 205 BC).

====Abuse prevention====
[[Abuse of power]] by consuls was prevented with each consul given the power to [[veto]] his colleague consul. Therefore, except in the provinces as commanders-in-chief where each consul's power was supreme, the consuls could only act not against each other's determined will. Against the sentence of one consul, an appeal could be brought before his colleague, which, if successful, would see the sentence overturned. In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, only one consul would actually perform the office's duties every month and could act without direct interference. In the next month, the consuls would switch roles with one another. This would continue until the end of the consular term.

Another point which acted as a check against consuls was the certainty that after the end of their term they would be called to account for their actions while in office.

There were also three other restrictions on consular power. Their term in office was short (one year); their duties were pre-decided by the Senate; and they could not stand again for election immediately after the end of their office. Usually a period of ten years was expected between consulships.

====Governorship====

After leaving office, the consuls were assigned by the Senate to a province to administer as [[Roman governor|governor]]. The provinces to which each consul was assigned were drawn by lot and determined before the end of his consulship. Transferring his consular ''[[imperium]]'' to proconsular ''imperium'', the consul would become a [[proconsul]] and governor of one (or several) of Rome's many provinces. As a proconsul, his ''imperium'' was limited to only a specified province and not the entire Republic. Any exercise of proconsular ''imperium'' in any other province was illegal. Also, a proconsul was not allowed to leave his province before his term was complete or before the arrival of his successor. Exceptions were given only on special permission of the Senate. Most terms as governor lasted between one and five years.

====Appointment of the dictator====
In times of crisis, when Rome's territory was in immediate danger, a [[Roman dictator|dictator]] was appointed by the consuls for a period of no more than six months, after the proposition of the Senate.<ref>Arthur Keaveney, in ''Sulla, the Last Republican'' (Routledge, 1982, 2nd ed. 2005), pp. 162ff [https://books.google.com/books?id=1DwOAAAAQAAJ&dq=lucius+flaccus+six+months+Sulla+dictator+OR+dictatorship&pg=PA162 online], discusses the appointment of a dictator in regard to [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]], in which case exceptions were made.</ref> While the dictator held office, the imperium of the consuls was subordinate to the dictator.

===Imperial duties===
After [[Augustus]] became the first [[Roman emperor]] in 27 BC with the establishment of the [[Principate]], the consuls lost most of their powers and responsibilities. Though still officially the highest office of the state, they were merely a symbol of Rome's republican heritage. One of the two consular positions was often occupied by emperors themselves, especially from the 3rd century onwards. However, the imperial consuls maintained the right to preside at meetings of the Senate. They could also administer matters of justice, and organize games (''[[ludi]]'') and all public solemnities at their own expense.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC&pg=PA150 |title=Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire |date=2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1027-1 |pages=150}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Seyffert |first=Oskar |url= |title=[[Dictionary of Classical Antiquities]] |date=1895 |publisher= |pages=161–162 |chapter=Consules |author-link=Oskar Seyffert (classical scholar) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=keGg67UxW1QC&pg=PA574}}</ref>

==Consular dating==
Roman dates were customarily kept according to the names of the two consuls who took office that year, much like a [[regnal year]] in a monarchy. For instance, the year 59 BC in the modern calendar was called by the Romans "the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus", since the two colleagues in the consulship were [[Julius Caesar|Gaius Julius Caesar]] and [[Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus]], although Caesar dominated the consulship so thoroughly that year that it was jokingly referred to as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar".<ref>Suetonius' ''Lives of the Caesars: Julius Caesar'' Chapter XX.</ref> The date the consuls took office varied: from 222 BC to 153 BC they took office 15 March, and due to the [[Second Celtiberian War]], from 153 BC onwards the consuls took office on 1 January.<ref>E.J. Bickerman, ''Chronology of the Ancient World'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1968), p.&nbsp;64</ref> The practice of dating years ''[[ab urbe condita]]'' (from the supposed foundation date of Rome) was less frequently used.

In Latin, the [[Latin grammar|ablative absolute]] construction is frequently used to express the date, such as "''M. Messalla et M. Pupio Pisone consulibus''", translated literally as "With [[Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger|Marcus Messalla]] and [[Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi Calpurnianus|Marcus Pupius Piso]] (being) the consuls", with 'being' implied, as it appears in Caesar's ''[[De Bello Gallico]]''.
 
'''Consular Dating Key'''

# '''509–479 BC''': 1 September–29 August (August had only 29 days in Ancient Rome)
# '''478–451 BC''': 1 August–31 July
# '''450–403 BC''': 13 December–12 December
# '''402–393 BC''': 1 October–29 September (September had 29 days)
# '''392–329 BC''': 1 July–29 June (29 days)
# '''328-223 BC''': 1 May-29 April (29 days)
# '''222–154 BC''': 15 March–14 March
# '''153–46 BC''': 1 January–29 December (29 days)<ref>Robert Maxwell Ogilvie, Commentary on Livy, books 1–5, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1965, pp. 404, 405.</ref>

==Epigraphy==
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 380
| image1            = INC-1842-a Ауреус Адриан ок. 119-122 гг. (аверс).png
| image2            = INC-1842-r Ауреус Адриан ок. 119-122 гг. (реверс).png
| footer            = An ''[[aureus]]'' commemorating the third consulate ("COS III") of the emperor [[Hadrian]] (AD 119)
}}
In Roman inscriptions, the word {{lang|la|consul}} was abbreviated {{smallcaps|cos}}.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [[Mireille Cébeillac-Gervasoni]], Maria Letizia Caldelli, Fausto Zevi, ''Épigraphie latine. Ostie : cent inscriptions dans leur contexte'', Armand Colin, 2006, {{ISBN|2-200-21774-9}}, {{p.|34}}.</ref> The disappearance of the ⟨N⟩ was based on the [[classical Latin]] pronunciation of the word as /kõːsul/ or [ko:sul] since an /n/ sound before a [[fricative]] was omitted or solely [[nasalization|nasalized]] the previous vowel instead.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeLisi |first=Jessica |date=2021 |title=The Phonetics of Nasal-Fricative Sequences in Latin |url=https://www.academia.edu/90771925 |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |volume=119 |issue=1 |pages=40–54 |doi=10.1111/1467-968X.12206 |s2cid=235546635 |issn=0079-1636}}</ref> The word was sometimes spelled {{lang|la|cosol}} in antiquity.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Pierre Monteil, ''Éléments de phonétique et de morphologie du latin'', Nathan, 1970, {{p.|75}}.</ref> Particularly in the imperial era, additional consulships after the first were noted by a trailing [[Roman numeral]]: twice consul was abbreviated {{smallcaps|cos ii}}, thrice consul {{smallcaps|cos iii}}, four times consul {{smallcaps|cos iiii}} or {{smallcaps|iv}}, etc.

==Lists of Roman consuls==
For a complete list of Roman consuls, see:
* [[List of Roman consuls]]
* [[List of undated Roman consuls]]
* [[List of consuls designate]]

==See also==
{{wiktionary|consul}}
* {{annotated link|Constitution of the Roman Republic}}
* {{annotated link|French Consulate}}
*[[Consul (Gallic Empire)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=y}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bagnall |first1=Roger S. |last2=Cameron |first2=Alan |last3=Schwartz |first3=Seth R. |last4=Worp |first4=Klaas Anthony |author-link4=Klaas Worp |title=Consuls of the later Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtATYAAACAAJ |publisher=Scholar Press |location=London |year=1987 |series=Philological monographs of the American Philological Association |volume=36}}
* {{cite book|editor-last1=Beck|editor-first1=Hans|editor-last2=Duplá|editor-first2=Antonio|editor-last3=Jehne|editor-first3=Martin|display-editors=etal|title=Consuls and Res Publica: Holding High Office in the Roman Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhC_GqPDcjUC|date= 2011|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-1-139-49719-0|ref={{harvid|Beck et al|2011}}}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |last=Derow |first=Peter Sidney |title=consul |encyclopedia=The Oxford classical dictionary |year=2012 |editor-first1=Simon |editor-last1=Hornblower |editor-first2=Antony |editor-last2=Spawforth |editor-first3=Esther |editor-last3=Eidinow |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |edition=4th |location=Oxford |oclc=959667246 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=368–7 }}
*{{citation |title=Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium |url=https://archive.org/details/odb_20210521|year=1991 |editor-last=Kazhdan |editor-first=Alexander |isbn=978-0-19-504652-6 |editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Burgess |first1=R. W. |title=Consuls and Consular Dating in the Later Roman Empire |journal=[[Phoenix (classics journal)|Phoenix]] |date=1989 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=143–157 |doi=10.2307/1088213|jstor=1088213 |type=Review}}

{{Ancient Rome topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman Consul}}
[[Category:Roman consuls| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman titles]]