Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I THE CONSULAR FUNCTIONS IN THE PRE-SULLAN AGE (367–81)
- 1 The consuls taking office
- 2 Consuls and civic religion
- 3 Consuls, the agents of diplomacy in the Roman state
- 4 Communication between the consuls and the people: edicts and contiones
- 5 Consuls as legislators
- 6 The jurisdiction of the consuls
- 7 Consuls as promoters of public works
- 8 Colonization and distribution of land
- 9 Appointment of a dictator
- 10 Consuls presiding over elections
- 11 The consular year in the pre-Sullan age
- PART II THE CONSULAR FUNCTIONS IN THE POST-SULLAN AGE (80–50)
- 15 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Ancient Sources
- Index of Ancient Personal Names
1 - The consuls taking office
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I THE CONSULAR FUNCTIONS IN THE PRE-SULLAN AGE (367–81)
- 1 The consuls taking office
- 2 Consuls and civic religion
- 3 Consuls, the agents of diplomacy in the Roman state
- 4 Communication between the consuls and the people: edicts and contiones
- 5 Consuls as legislators
- 6 The jurisdiction of the consuls
- 7 Consuls as promoters of public works
- 8 Colonization and distribution of land
- 9 Appointment of a dictator
- 10 Consuls presiding over elections
- 11 The consular year in the pre-Sullan age
- PART II THE CONSULAR FUNCTIONS IN THE POST-SULLAN AGE (80–50)
- 15 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Subjects
- Index of Ancient Sources
- Index of Ancient Personal Names
Summary
The day on which the consuls took office varied throughout the Republican period. Livy's periochae report that from the year 153 onwards the consuls took office on 1 January, and not on 15 March as had been the case until then, a change that may have been caused by the Celtiberian rebellion in Hispania. According to Mommsen, the date of the Ides of March was designated as the beginning of the consular year some time between 233 and 217, although he favoured the year 222 as the most likely, given the dates of consular triumphs reported by the fasti triumphales. More recently, Hans Beck suggested plausibly that, as in the case of the new regulation of 153, there may have been a military reason for beginning the consular year on 15 March, and that this may have taken place in 218, linked to the beginning of the Second Punic War. The outbreak of the conflict may have made it advisable for the consuls to take office earlier in order to see to preliminary military actions as soon as possible, once they had completed their compulsory civil tasks in Rome. Nevertheless, the first time Livy mentions the consuls taking office on the Ides of March is in his account for the year 217, and from then on he provides the same information on a good number of occasions, which indicates that this was indeed the norm until 153.
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- The Consul at RomeThe Civil Functions of the Consuls in the Roman Republic, pp. 13 - 20Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011