Roman Consuls

Names and dates of the consuls of Rome from 509 B.C., including dictators, suffect consuls and military tribunes with consular power.

Join the Discussion "There are a number of sources for early magistrates. Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Diodorus Siculus ... and the Capitoline Fasti have been used to work out the consensus." PAPAGNAEUS

Related Resources • Consuls from the Second Mithridatic War to the First Triumvirate • Consuls Leaders Kings • Consuls Resources • Livy's "Ab Urbe Condita" and the consular year

Online Source • Consuls List

"This [c.444-287 B.C.] is the period popularly called the 'Conflict of the Orders' in which plebeians and patricians often clashed. One of the results is that the consulship was abandoned for a period, and replaced by a board of military tribunes with consular power. The complete reasons are murky, and Livy's sources spoke of both political and military causes. A reasonable military explanation is that more generals were needed in the field. An often-argued political explanation is that the patricians were hesitant to admit plebeians into the office of consul, so they created the other positions as a stopgap measure. Sometime during this period, the praetorship was created, perhaps to reserve a high patrician-only office when plebeians were granted the right to serve as consul. However, as with most other offices, the patrician monopoly on the praetorship was temporary."
-PAPAGNAEUS