Tribunes are magistrates who served in ancient Rome. The tribunes can be civil or military.
At the very beginning of Roman history, when there were only three tribes (the Ramnes, the Tites and the Luceres), each of them was led by a tribune, who could have a military command. The Tribunus celerum was, according to some historians, the commander of the king's personal guard, the celeres.
Early Republic
There is also evidence of military tribunes with consular power (Tribuni militum cum consulari potestate). In 445 BC. J. - C. the tribune Caius Canuleius proposes not to leave the consulate any more to the only patricians. These refuse and instead propose a change of regime:the people chose to elect each year or two consuls or several tribunes with consular power, a magistracy open to the plebeians, who would have all the powers of the consuls except the role of making the census and to draw up the senatorial album, which power was entrusted to a new magistracy, the censor. The tribuni aerarii took care of the sales.
In 367 BC. J. - C. the laws liciniennes finally remove the military tribune with consular power. Censorship, however, survived him.
Main article:Institutions of the Roman Republic.
The Republic and the Empire
The military tribunes reappear in -331. Each Roman legion had 6 tribunes.
The title becomes honorary after the Marian Reformation at the end of the 2nd century BC. J.C., and are senior officers chosen by the dictator and then the emperor.
The different positions
* Cohort Commanders
o Tribunus Cohortis:Commander of Auxiliary Troops.
o Tribunus Cohortis Urbanae:commander of the urban cohorts, i.e. a militia.
* Other Military
o Tribunus:senior officer.
o Tribunus angusticlavius:Roman knight,
senior officer in the legion. Identified by a band, on the uniform, narrower than the tribunus laticlavius (Empire)
o Tribunus comitiatus:officer elected as tribunus militum by the comitia.
o Tribunus laticlavius:Senator, senior officer in the legion, wearing a wide band of purple on his uniform. (Empire)
o Tribunus militum:officer from the legions.
o Tribunus militum a populo:officer from the legion and paid by the popular assembly.
o Tribunus rufulus:officer chosen by the commander.
o Tribunus sexmestris:officer for a temporary charge of 6 months. He commanded the cavalry of his Legion. (Each Legion has a cavalry corps.)
o Tribunus vacans officer without fixed function