Definition: The number duum means 2, but it was only the starting number, beginning during the reign of one of the Tarquin kings of Rome. By 367 there were decem (10) and in the time of Cicero, there were quindecem (15). The duum viri or quindecem viri constituted a college of Roman priests. The original purpose of the duum viri was to tend to the sacred Sibylline books, to take care of, read, and interpret them, as need arose. During the period of the Roman Republic, the duumviri were exempted from other civil and military duties. Livy describes the priests as having control over the celebration of the games of Apollo, whose priests they were considered to be.
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Also Known As: Duum Viri Sacris Faciundis
Examples:
"Tarquinius chose two men of distinction from among the citizens and appointing two public slaves to assist them, entrusted to them the guarding of the books; and when one of these men, named Marcus Atilius, seemed to have been faithless to his trust and was informed upon by one of the public slaves, he ordered him to be sewed up in a leather bag and thrown into the sea as a parricide."
Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities Book 4.62
