It is my intention in the first section of this paper to examine the available evidence in order to determine the lengths of tenure of the ordinarii and known suffecti for the reigh of Nero. According to the latest published fasti, twentyeight ordinarii and some sixty suffecti are attested for the reign, although not all of the latter can be definitely placed in a particular year. It will prove most convenient for our investigation if, first of all the relevant evidence (...) is set out in full. (shrink)

It is my intention in the first section of this paper to examine the available evidence in order to determine the lengths of tenure of the ordinarii and known suffecti for the reigh of Nero. According to the latest published fasti, twentyeight ordinarii and some sixty suffecti are attested for the reign, although not all of the latter can be definitely placed in a particular year. It will prove most convenient for our investigation if, first of all the relevant evidence (...) is set out in full. (shrink)

Recent years have brought to light much new evidence which has sometimes compelled considerable revision of the consular fasti of the early Empire. Of especial importance have been the large number of tabulae ceratae forthcoming from the area around the Bay of Naples and the new fragments or reinterpretations of known fragments of municipal fasti The aim of the present paper is to examine the effect which recent discoveries have had on knowledge of the fasti for the reign of Claudius (...) and in the light of the interpretation of this new evidence to produce a revised list of consuls for the period 41–54. (shrink)

The political and administrative requirements of the Roman state during the early years of the Principate demanded an increase in the annual number of consulars. When Augustus finally acted to remedy this situation in 5 b.c., he introduced a system of suffect consuls and thereby increased the number of consuls from the two per annum of the Republic to four. A regular practice became established whereby one or both of the ordinary consuls retired at the end of June to be (...) replaced in office for theremainder of the year by a suffect consul. For the reigns of Gaius and Claudius additional suffects were included in many years and a new pattern can be seen to have emerged. It was usual now for each ordinarius to hold office for the first six months of the year except in some special cases where the ordinarii resigned at the end of two months and their place was taken by a pair of suffects who remained in office for the next four months to serve out the more regular tenure of the ordinary consuls. Under Nero, the innovation of this two-month ordinary consulship was not perpetuated and ordinarii usually remained in office for the full six months. Suffect consulships throughout the period a.d. 38–68 were held for periods of either two, four or six months. The Civil War of a.d. 68/69 and the consequent changes of emperor broke the above pattern. For 69, there are no fewer than sixteen consuls known to have held office during the year. Such confusion, however, would not be unexpected given the startling events of this year. Of considerable importance to students of the early Empire, therefore, is the question of what happened to the system of allocating consulships during a particular year when the state had once again settled itself down to running in routine under the victorious Flavian emperors. The answer to this question will be of particular importance for prosopographers of the early Empire for whom chronology is the backbone of their investigations, since the fasti for the reigns of Vespasian and Titus are notable for the number of years in which the complete list of consuls is lacking. (shrink)