Roman Kingdom 753 BC – 510 BC Roman Republic 510 BC – 27 BC Roman Empire 27 BC – AD 476
Principate Western Empire
Dominate Eastern Empire
Consul Praetor Quaestor Promagistrate
Aedile Tribune Censor Governor
Dictator Magister Equitum Consular tribune
Rex Triumviri Decemviri
Legatus Dux Officium Praefectus Vicarius Vigintisexviri Lictor
Magister Militum Imperator Princeps senatus Pontifex Maximus Augustus Caesar Tetrarch
Roman Senate Cursus honorum Roman assemblies Collegiality
Roman law Roman citizenship Auctoritas Imperium
This article is about the highest office of the Roman Republic. For other uses, see Consul.
Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic and the Empire.
During the time of the Republic, the Consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. Under the Empire, however, the Consuls were merely a figurative representative of Rome's republican heritage holding very little power and authority.

History
After the legendary expulsion of the last Etruscan King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus and the end of the Roman Kingdom, all the powers and authority of the king were ostensibly given to the newly instituted consulship. Originally, consuls were called praetors ("leader"), referring to their duties as the chief military commanders. In 305 BC the name was changed to consul and the title praetor was given to an entirely new office.
The office of consul was believed by the Romans to date back to the traditional establishment of the Republic in 509 BC but the Succession of Consuls was not continuous in the 5th century. Consuls had extensive capacities in peacetime (administrative, legislative and judicial), and in war time 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 top level state officials. Consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field.
Under the laws of the Republic, the minimum age of election to consul for patricians was 41 years of age, for plebeians 42. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together with veto power over each other's actions, a normal principle for magistracies. However these laws were not always applied and there are several cases of consuls elected before the appropriate age.
Consuls were elected by the massive Comitia Centuriata, which had a profound aristocratic bias in its voting structure which only increased over the years from its foundation. However, they formaly assumed powers after the ratification of their election in the older Comitia Curiata, which granted the consuls their imperium, through the passing of a bill "lex curiata de imperio".
In Latin, consules means "those who walk together". If a consul died during his term (not uncommon when consuls were in the forefront of battle), another would be elected, and be known as a consul suffectus.
According to tradition, the consulship was initially reserved for patricians and only in 367 BC did plebeians win the right to stand for this supreme office, when the Lex Licinia Sextia provided that at least one consul each year should be plebeian. The first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was thereby elected the following year. 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 might be 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.
During times of war, the primary criterion 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 ambitious Roman.
Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a consular year, a former consul would usually serve a lucrative term as a Proconsul, the Roman Governor of one of the (senatorial) provinces. The most commonly chosen province for the proconsulship was Cisalpine Gaul.

Under the Republic
When Augustus established the Principate, he changed the political nature of the office, stripping it of most of its military powers. While still a great honor — in fact invariably the constitutional head of state, hence eponymous — and a requirement for other offices, many consuls would resign part way through the year to allow other men to finish their term as suffects. Those who held the office on January 1, known as the consules ordinarii, had the honor of associating their names with that year. As a result, about half of the men who held the rank of praetor could also reach the consulship. Sometimes a suffect consuls would in turn resign, and another suffect would be appointed. This reached its extreme under Commodus, when in 190 twenty-five men held the consulship.
Emperors frequently appointed themselves, protégés, or relatives consul, even without regard to the age requirements. For example, Emperor Honorius was given the consulship at birth. Some didn't even stick to species limitations. Gaius Julius, also known as Caligula, is said to have thought about making his horse consul.
Holding the consulship was a great honor and the office was the major symbol of the still 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.
One of the reforms of Constantine I was to assign one of the consuls to the city of Rome, and the other to Constantinople. Therefore, when the Roman Empire was divided into two halves on the death of Theodosius I, the emperor of each half acquired the right of appointing one of the consuls— although one emperor did allow his colleague to appoint both consuls for various reasons. As a result, after the formal end of the Roman Empire in the West, many years would be named for only a single consul. This rank was finally allowed to lapse in the reign of Justinian I: first with the consul of Rome in 534, Decius Paulinus, then the consul of Constantinople in 541, Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius.

Powers and Responsibilities
After the expulsion of the kings and the establishment of the Republic, all the powers that had belonged to the kings were transferred to two offices: that of the Consuls and the Rex Sacrorum. While the Rex Sacrorum inherited the kings' position as high priest of the state, the Consuls were given the civil and military responsibilities (imperium). However, to prevent abuse of the kingly power, the imperium was shared by two Consuls, each of whom could veto the other's actions.
The Consuls were invested with the executive power of the state and headed the government of the Republic. Initially, the Consuls' powers were vast and held considerably more power than as just executives. In the gradual development of the Roman legal system, however, some important functions were detached from the Consulship and assigned to new officers. This was the case in 443 BC when the responsibility to conduct the census was stripped from the office and given to the office of Censor. The second function taken from the Consulship was their judicial power. Their position as chief judges was transferred to the Praetors 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.

Republican duties
For the most part, Consular power is 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 Tribunes of the Plebs, were subordinate to them, but remained independence of office. The internal machinery of the republic was under the Consuls' superintendence. In order to allow the Consuls greater authority in executing laws, the Consuls had the right of summoning and arrest, which was limited only by the right of appeal from their judgment. 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 assemblies. Sometimes in urgent emergencies, they might even act on their own authority and responsibility. The Consuls also served as the chief diplomat 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 carried on the negotiations between the Senate and foreign states.
The Consuls could convene the Senate, and presided over its meetings. Each consul served, as President of the Senate, for a month. They also could convene both the Centuriate Assembly and Curiate Assembly and presided over both. Thus, the Consuls conducted the elections and put legislative measures to the vote. When both consuls were not in the city, their duties were assumed by the praetor urbanus.
Each Consul was accompanied in every public appearance by twelve lictors, who displayed the magnificence of the office and served as his bodyguard. Each lictor held the fasces, a bundle of rods that contained an axe. The rods symbolized the power of scourging, and the axe the power of capital punishment. When inside the pomerium, the lictors removed the axes from the fasces to show that a citizen couldn't be executed without a trial. Upon entering the Comitia Centuriata, the lictors would lower the fasces to show that the powers of the Consuls derive from the people (populus romanus).

Civil sphere
Outside the walls of Rome, the powers of the Consuls were far more extensive in their role as 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 levy in 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 provide by Rome's allies . 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, was hailed as imperator by his troops, and could request to be granded a 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 in 205 BC).

Military sphere
Abuse of Consular power was prevented with each Consul given the power to veto his colleague. Except in the provinces as Commanders-in-chief where each Consul's power was supreme, the Consuls could only act when in unison. Against the sentence of one Consul, an appeal could be brought before his colleague and overturn the sentencing. In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, only one Consul would actually perform the office's duties every month. This is not to say that the other Consul held no power but merely allowed the first Consul to act without direct interference. Then 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.
However, the main restriction points on Consular power were the following three. 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 each consulship.

Abuse prevention

Main article: Roman Governor Governorship
In times of crisis, usually when Rome's territory was in immediate danger, a Dictator was appointed by the Consuls for a period of no more of six months, after the proposition of the Senate. While the Dictator held office, the imperium of the Consuls was suspended.

Appointment of the Dictator
After Augustus became the first Roman Emperor in 29 BC with the establishment of the principate, the Consuls lost most of their powers and responsibilities under the Roman Empire. Though still officially the highest office of the state and powers, with the Emperor's superior imperium, they were merely a symbol of Rome's republican heritage. The imperial Consuls still maintained the right to preside at meetings of the Senate, however they could only exercise this right at the pleasure of the Emperor. They partially administered justice in extraordinary cases. They presented games in the Circus Maximus and all public solemnities in honor of the Emperor at their own expense. The high cost of sponsoring these events made the consulship increasingly unpopular, and was a factor in its decline and eventual disappearance.

Consular dating