The Eastern and Western Consulship in the Later Roman Empire

Abstract

This article explores and examines the consulship as an institution in the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire in the period known as Late Antiquity, that is from 284 CE to 541 CE. It investigates how the consulship of the Late Antique period differed from that of the Republic and earlier Empire, what it consisted of who the occupants of the office were, the process of the inauguration of the new consul, the games associated with it, how the consuls were represented on the consular diptychs and the end of the institution.