Consuls and Res Publica Holding High Office in the Roman Republic

The consulate was the focal point of Roman politics. Both the ruling class and the ordinary citizens fixed their gaze on the republic's highest office - to be sure, from different perspectives and with differing expectations. While the former aspired to the consulate as the defining magistracy of their social status, the latter perceived it as the embodiment of the Roman state. Holding high office was thus not merely a political exercise. The consulate prefigured all aspects of public life, with consuls taking care of almost every aspect of the administration of the Roman state. This multifaceted character of the consulate invites a holistic investigation. The scope of this book is therefore not limited to political or constitutional questions. Instead, it investigates the predominant role of the consulate in and its impact on, the political culture of the Roman republic.

Introduction Hans Beck, Antonio Duplá, Martin Jehne and Francisco Pina Polo; Part I. The Creation of the Consulship: 1. The magistrates of the early Roman Republic Christopher Smith; 2. The origin of the consulship in Cassius Dio's Roman History Gianpaolo Urso; 3. The development of the praetorship in the third century BC Alexander Bergk; Part II. Powers and Functions of the Consulship: 4. Consular power and the Roman constitution: the case of imperium reconsidered Hans Beck; 5. Consuls as curatores pacis deorum Francisco Pina Polo; 6. The feriae latinae as religious legitimation of the consuls' imperium Francisco Marco Simón; 7. War, wealth and consuls Nathan Rosenstein; Part III. Symbols, Models, Self-Representation: 8. The Roman Republic as theatre of power: the consuls as leading actors Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp; 9. The consul(ar) as exemplum: fabius cunctator's paradoxical glory Matthew Roller; 10. The rise of the consular as a social type in the third and second centuries BC Martin Jehne; 11. Privata hospitia, beneficia publica? Consul(ar)s, local elite, and Roman rule in Italy Michael Fronda; Part IV. Ideology, Confrontation and the End of the Republican Consulship: 12. Consular appeals to the army in 88 and 87: the locus of legitimacy in late Republican Rome Robert Morstein-Marx; 13. Consules populares Antonio Duplá; 14. The consulship of 78 BC: Catulus versus Lepidus: an optimates versus populares affair Valentina Arena; 15. Consulship and consuls under Augustus Frédéric Hurlet.

Hans Beck is John MacNaughton Chair of Classics in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University. His publications include Central Greece and the Politics of Power in the Fourth Century BC (2008) with John Buckler.
Antonio Duplá is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of the Basque Country in Vitoria-Gasteiz, where he teaches ancient history and classical reception.
Martin Jehne is Professor of Ancient History and Director of the Department of History at the Technical University of Dresden.
Francisco Pina Polo is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Zaragoza. His publications include The Consul at Rome: The Civil Functions of the Consuls in the Roman Republic (2011).