Consul
Consul
was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic.
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.
After the legendary expulsion of the last Etruscan King Lucius Tarquinius and the end of the Roman Kingdom, most of the powers and authority of the king were ostensibly given to the newly instituted consulship.
According to tradition, the consulship was initially reserved for patricians and only in 367 BC did plebeians win the right to stand for this supreme office, when the Lex Licinia Sextia provided that at least one consul each year should be plebeian.