Tribune (from the Latin: tribunus; Greek form tribounos) was a title shared by 2-3 elected magistracies and other governmental and/or (para)military offices of the Roman Republic and Empire. It derived originally from the representatives of the tribes (tribi) into which the Roman people were divided for military and voting purposes. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, c. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ...

Roman magistracies and civilian offices

Tribune of the Plebs

The magistracy of Tribune of the Plebs or Tribune of the people (Latin tribunus plebis) was established in 494 BC, about fifteen years after the traditional foundation of the Roman Republic in 509. The plebeians of Rome seceded from the city as a group until the patricians agreed to establish an office that would have sacrosanctity (sacrosanctitas), the right to be legally protected from any physical harm, and the right of help (ius auxiliandi), the right to rescue any plebeian from the hands of a patrician magistrate. Later, the tribunes acquired a far more formidable power, the right of intercession (ius intercessionis), to veto any act or proposal of any magistrate, including another tribune of the people (veto is Latin for "I forbid"). As the chief representative of the Roman plebeians, the tribune's house was required to be open to all at all times, day or night. The tribunes of the plebs were elected by the Concilium Plebis. Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 540s BC 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC Years: 499 BC 498 BC 497 BC 496 BC 495 BC - 494 BC - 493 BC 492 BC... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Centuries: 7th century BC - 6th century BC - 5th century BC Decades: 550s BC - 540s BC - 530s BC - 520s BC - 510s BC - 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC Events and Trends 509 BC - Foundation of the Roman Republic 508 BC - Office of pontifex maximus created... In Ancient Rome, the plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. ... Secessio in historical terms refers to the exercise of power by Romes plebian citizens; who simply abandoned the city en masse and left the patrician order to themselves. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... ...

The tribune also had the power to exercise capital punishment against any person who interfered in the performance of his duties (the favourite threat of the tribune was therefore to have someone thrown from the Tarpeian Rock). The tribune's sacrosanctity was enforced by a solemn pledge of the plebeians to kill any person who harmed a tribune during his term of office. The tribune was the only magistrate that was able to convene the Concilium Plebis and acted as its president, which also gave him the exclusive right to propose legislation before it. Also, the tribune could summon the Senate and lay proposals before it. The tribune's power, however, was only in effect while he was within Rome. His ability to veto did not affect provincial governors, and his right to sacrosanctity and to help only extended to a mile outside the walls of Rome. In about 450 BC the number of tribunes was raised to ten. Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... The Tarpeian Rock (rupes Tarpeia) was a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Roman Forum in Ancient Rome. ... The Roman Senate (Latin: Senatus) was the main governing council of both the Roman Republic, which started in 509 BC, and the Roman Empire. ... Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after 120 AD. In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin, provincia, pl. ... A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief adminstator of Roman law throughout one or more of Ancient Romes many provinces. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC - 450s BC - 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 400s BC Years: 455 BC 454 BC 453 BC 452 BC 451 BC - 450 BC - 449 BC 448 BC...

Tribunes were required to be plebeians, and until 421 BC this was the only office open to them. In the late Republic the patrician politician Clodius arranged for his adoption by a plebeian branch of his family, and successfully ran for the tribunate. Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC - 420s BC - 410s BC 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC Years: 426 BC 425 BC 424 BC 423 BC 422 BC - 421 BC - 420 BC 419 BC... This article is about the social and political class in ancient Rome. ... Publius Clodius Pulcher (born around 92 BC, died January 18, 52 BC), was a Roman politician, chiefly remembered for his feuds with Titus Annius Milo and Marcus Tullius Cicero and introducing the grain dole. ...

When Lucius Cornelius Sulla was dictator he severely curtailed the tribunes of the plebs by invalidating their power of veto and making it illegal for them to bring laws before the Concilium Plebis without the Senate's consent. Afterwards, the tribune was restored to its former power during the consulship of Crassus and Pompey. Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (Latin: L·CORNELIVS·L·F·P·N·SVLLA·FELIX)[1] ( 138 BC–78 BC), usually known simply as Sulla,[2] was a Roman general and dictator. ... Ordinary Magistrates Extraordinary Magistrates Dictator Titles and Honors Emperor Politics and Law Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. ... Marcus Licinius Crassus (Latin: M·LICINIVS·P·F·P·N·CRASSVS[1]) (c. ... Pompey, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir [1] (Classical Latin abbreviation: CN·POMPEIVS·CN·F·SEX·N·MAGNVS[2], Gnaeus or Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus) (September 29, 106 BC–September 29, 48 BC), was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman republic. ...

Throughout the Republic and its fall, powerful individuals used the tribunes for their personal glory and gain. Clodius and Milo were both tribunes who used violence in the courts and government in order to achieve the needs and requests of Pompey and Caesar. When the Senate refused to grant Caesar Pompey's veterans lands and a further governship of Gaul, he turned to the tribunes with his demands and got them. Titus Annius Milo Papianus was a Roman political agitator, the son of C. Papius Celsus, but adopted by his mothers father, T. Annius Luscus. ... Pompey, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir [1] (Classical Latin abbreviation: CN·POMPEIVS·CN·F·SEX·N·MAGNVS[2], Gnaeus or Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus) (September 29, 106 BC–September 29, 48 BC), was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman republic. ... Gaius Julius Caesar [1] (Latin pronunciation ; English pronunciation ; July 12 or July 13, 100 BC or 102 BC – March 15, 44 BC), was a Roman military and political leader and one of the most influential men in classical antiquity. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ...

Because it was legally impossible for a patrician to be a tribune of the plebs, the first Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, was offered instead all of the powers of the tribunate without actually holding the office (tribunicia potestas). This formed one of the two main constitutional bases of Augustus' authority (the other was imperium proconsulare maius). It gave him the authority to convene the Senate. Also, he was sacrosanct, had the authority to veto (ius intercessio), and could exercise capital punishment in the course of the performance of his duties. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The famous statue of Octavian at the Prima Porta Caesar Augustus (Latin:IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGVSTVS) ¹ (23 September 63 BC–19 August AD 14), known to modern historians as Octavian for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, is considered the first and one of the most... Imperium can, in a broad sense, be translated as power. ...

Most emperors' reigns were dated by their assumption of tribunicia potestas, though some emperors, such as Tiberius, Titus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius etc, had already received it during their predecessor's reign. Marcus Agrippa and Drusus II, though never emperors, also received tribunicia potestas. Tiberius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero (November 16, 42 BC – March 16 AD 37), was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. ... For other uses, see Titus (disambiguation). ... Template:Infobox boobies the Roman emperor This article is about the Roman Emperor. ... Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (April 26, 121[1] – March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death. ... Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (63 BC-12 BC) was a Roman statesman and general, son-in-law and minister of the emperor Caesar Augustus. ... Drusus was a cognomen in Ancient Rome, and may refer to: Drusus Caesar - was the son of Germanicus, also called Drusus III. Gaius Livius Drusus was consul in 147 BC. Julius Caesar Drusus was the son of Tiberius, also called Drusus II. Marcus Livius Drusus was the name of two...

By extension from the technical Roman governmental usage, some modern politicians have been called "tribunes of the people." The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ...

Roman military officers

Tribune of the soldiers

Each year the Tribal Assembly elected 24 young men in their late twenties with senatorial ambitions to serve as Tribunes of the Soldiers' (tribunes militium). These 24 were distributed six to each of the consuls' four legions as the legions' commanding officers. The Roman assemblies were the Comitia Calata, the Comitia Curiata, the Comitia Centuriata, and the Comitia Tributa. ... The Roman Senate (Latin: Senatus) was the main governing council of both the Roman Republic, which started in 509 BC, and the Roman Empire. ... Consul (abbrev. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... An officer is a member of a military or naval service who holds a position of responsibility. ...

All middle-ranking officers of the legions were also titled tribunes, though they were unelected and junior to the tribunum militi. Messala, the villain in the 1880 novel Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace and its 1959 film, was a military tribune. Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by General Lew Wallace which was published on November 12, 1880, by Harper & Brothers. ... Lewis Lew Wallace (April 10, 1827 – February 15, 1905) was a lawyer, governor, Union general in the American Civil War, American statesman, and author, best remembered for his historical novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ben-Hur is a 1959 epic film directed by William Wyler, and is the most popular live-action version of Lew Wallaces novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880). ...

Cohort commander

• Tribunus Cohortis: commander of military auxiliary unit.
  
• Tribunus Cohortis Urbanae: urban cohort commander.
  

Tribune of the treasury

The duties of the tribunes of the treasury (tribuni aerarii) are somewhat shrouded in mystery. Originally they seem to have been tax collectors, but this power was slowly lost to other officials. By the end of the Republic it was a class of people slightly below the equites in wealth. In 70 B.C. the makeup of Roman juries was reformed, and 1/3 of all members were to be tribunes of the treasury. An Equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites) was a member of one of the two upper social classes in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. ...

Various offices

Tribunal: raised platform in front of the HQ used for addressing the troops or administring justice.
Tribunus: senior officer.
Tribunus angusticlavius: "narrow striped officer"; equestrian legionary officer, five to each legion.
Tribunus comitiatus: officer elected as tribunus militum by the comitia.
Tribunus laticlavius: "broadstriped officer"; senatorial legionary officer, second in command of a legion.
Tribunus militum: senior legionary officer.
Tribunus militum a populo: senior legionary officer appointed by popular assembly.
Tribunus rufulus: officer picked by the commander.
Tribunus sexmestris: tribune serving a tour of duty of only six months; note that there is absolutely no evidence at all to identify this officer as commander of the legionary cavalry as sometimes stated in modern literature.
Tribunus vacans: Late Roman unassigned tribune; staff officer.
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

French revolutionary tribunat

The "Tribunat", the French word for tribunate, derived from the Latin term tribunatus, meaning the office or term of a Roman tribunus (see above), was a collective organ of the young revolutionary French Republic composed of members styled tribun (the French for tribune), which, despite the apparent reference to one of ancient Rome's prestigious magistratures, never held any real political power as an assembly, its individual members no role at all.

It was instituted by Napoleon I Bonaparte's constitution of the revolutionary year VIII "in order to moderate the other powers" by discussing every legislative project and sending its orateurs ("orators", i.e. spokesmen) to defend or attack them in the Corps législatif. Its 100 members were designated by the Senate from the list of citizens from 25 years up, and annually one fifth was renewed for a five-year term. Napoleon I of France, by Jacques-Louis David. ... The Corps législatif was a part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. ...

When it opposed the first parts of Bonaparte's proposed penal code, he made the Senate nominate 80 new members at once to replace the 100 in office; they accepted the historically important reform of penal law. As the Tribunate opposed new despotic projects, he got the Senate in year X to allow itself to dissolve the Tribunat. In XIII it was further downsized to 50 members. On August 16, 1807 it was abolished and never revived.

Sources, references, and external links

• Pauly-Wissowa
• The Use of the Tribunate for Reforms
• Nouveau Larousse illustré (Encyclopaedia in French; undated, early XXth century)
• Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History, Christopher S. Mackay, p.135 for information on Tribunes of the Treasury

History – Ancient History – Ancient Rome – Political institutions of Rome – Tribune Pauly-Wissowa is the name commonly used for the Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, 1894ff, a German encyclopedia of classical scholarship. ... History studies the past in human terms. ... The times before writing belong either to protohistory or to prehistory. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... This is a tentative list of topics regarding political institutions of Ancient Rome. ...