In dicionem populi Romani: municipalization and imposition of the quattuorvirate after the Social War

Abstract

After the outcome of the Social War, the Latin and Italian allies achieved the desired Roman citizenship, but in return they saw how the Roman municipal order was imposed to them by leges datae and also the quattuorviral colleges of magistrates, which replaced their traditional political constitutions. This paper aims to study of the origins of the quattuorvirate and how this magistracy was established in the aftermath of the war. Through the analysis of the epigraphic evidence of the first moments of life of the newborn Roman municipalities, the internal structure of the quattuorviral bodies will be analysed in order to determine if there was a formal division of functions among its members from the beginning, that is, if there was a higher rank pair with jurisdictional powers and a lower one with aedilician competence.