Consular

A consular , Latin consularis (vir) , was a member of the senate in the Roman Empire who had exercised the office of consul at least once .

In the Roman Republic , consulars, together with the numerically even smaller group of censoriers (who had been censors ) (who came from the ranks of the consulars), formed the top tier of senators; they had the greatest auctoritas and were always the first to be asked for their opinion in Senate discussions.

In the imperial era , a consular rank was a prerequisite for holding particularly important or prestigious posts, such as governorship in the provinces of Asia and Africa or the city ​​prefecture, until the 3rd century . In order to give as many senators as possible access to these offices, there were usually more than two consuls per year; because candidates who moved up ( suffect consuls ) were also consulars afterwards. Until 217 ( Macrinus ) and 235 ( Maximinus Thrax ), the empire itself was only accessible to consulars.

Web links

• Consularis . In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition. tape 4 . Altenburg 1858, p. 405 ( zeno.org ).