Consuls and Res Publica
Holding High Office in the Roman Republic

A comprehensive discussion of the supreme magistrates in Rome, from the beginning of the Republic until the age of Augustus.

Hans Beck (Edited by), Antonio Duplá (Edited by), Martin Jehne (Edited by), Francisco Pina Polo (Edited by)

9781107526518, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 May 2015

388 pages, 1 table
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.565 kg

'This important collection of papers, arising from a conference at Zaragoza in 2007 and drawing upon the editors' research network on the consulship in the Roman Republic, is a welcome addition to a growing body of recent work on the republican constitution … a volume which, in its coherence, quality, and standard of editing is a model of how the book of the conference should be.' Catherine Steel, University of Glasgow

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.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Politics & government [JP], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]