Roman consul

A Roman consul was one of two annually elected chief magistrates who led armies and presided over government. The office combined executive, military, and judicial authority, constrained by a colleague and a one-year term.

Consular imperium: The supreme command authority held by Roman consuls and certain other magistrates. It gave consuls the power to command armies and issue binding orders.
Roman Republic: The period of Roman government traditionally dated from the end of the monarchy in 509 BCE to Augustus’s rise in 27 BCE. The consulship became the Republic’s highest ordinary magistracy.
Gaius Marius: A Roman general and politician who held the consulship seven times between 107 and 86 BCE. His repeated elections broke the expectation that consulships would be widely spaced.
Roman dictator: A Roman magistrate appointed temporarily with exceptional authority, traditionally for a specific emergency. Unlike consuls, a dictator could wield undivided authority for a limited term.
Collegiality: The Roman principle that major magistracies were held by multiple officials with equal authority. Each consul could check the other’s actions, limiting individual power.
Lucius Junius Brutus: A semi-legendary Roman founder traditionally regarded as the first consul after the monarchy’s overthrow. Roman tradition made Brutus a model of the new republican officeholder.
Lucius Cornelius Sulla: A Roman general and dictator who used military force to reshape the Republic’s institutions. His consulship and dictatorship exposed the fragility of republican constraints.
Praetor: A Roman magistrate chiefly responsible for administering justice and sometimes commanding armies. Praetors ranked below consuls and often exercised delegated or provincial authority.
Roman Senate: Rome’s governing council, composed mainly of former magistrates and aristocrats. Consuls convened the Senate and carried out many of its policy decisions.
Roman Kingdom: The early period of Roman history traditionally governed by kings before the Republic. The consulship replaced the monarchy’s concentration of authority in a king.

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