Offices of the Roman Republic

The Consul positon in ancient Rome has many similarities and differences compared to our American President today. One major difference would be that the Consul was made of two men, but we only have one president. One similarity would be that the Consul and our president both have power over their military. However, the Consul had complete control of their army, whereas, our president has the majority of the power, but he is not completely in charge of the troops. In order to lead their army into war, the Consul had to read auguries (books on signs and omens) and our president has to be educated on war strategies, so in a way they both had to learn how to fight and lead a war. The age in which the Consul must be in order to be elected is around the same age someone needs to be, to be president. Although sometimes the rules were broken and a person who was not the correct age was elected. This would never be allowed in our presidential campaigns.

The Quaestors and Aedile were very similar to our local detectives and public police. Although policemen don't usually hold public festivals like the Aediles, they do enforce public order and regulate public festivals. In other words, our police is not in charge of public events, but they do supervise them. The Quaestors and local detectives both investigate criminal acts. When it comes to the money, Quaestors are more like our treasurers because they both supervise the treasury.

There are two major differences between the American and Roman Senate. One, all of the Roman Senate meetings had to end by nightfall, whereas American Senate meetings have an unlimited amount of time. Two, in the Roman Senate the votes were casted by raising of hands, or dividing the room, whereas the American Senate votes with ballots.