Editing Interrex (section)

==History==
The office of ''interrex'' was supposedly created following the death of Rome's first king [[Romulus]], and thus its origin is obscured by legend. The [[Senate of the Roman Kingdom]] was at first unable to choose a new king. For the purpose of continuing the government of the city, the Senate, which then consisted of one hundred members, was divided into ten [[decury|''decuriae'']] (groups of ten); and from each of these ''decuriae'' one senator was nominated as ''decurio''. Each of the ten ''decuriones'' in succession held the regal power and its badges for five days as ''interrex''; and if no king had been appointed at the expiration of fifty days, the rotation began anew. The period during which they exercised their power was called an [[interregnum]], and on that occasion lasted for one year.  Thereafter [[Numa Pompilius]] was elected as the new king.<ref>[[Livy]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'', 1:17</ref>

After the death of each subsequent king, an ''interrex'' was appointed by the Senate. His function was to call a meeting of the [[Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Kingdom#Curiate Assembly|''Comitia Curiata'']], which would elect a new king.<ref>see e.g. Livy, ''Ab urbe condita'', 1:32</ref>

Under the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], ''interreges'' were appointed to hold the ''comitia'' for the election of the [[Roman consul|consuls]] when the consuls, through civil commotion or other cause such as death, had been unable to do so during their year of office. Each ''interrex'' held the office for only five days, as under the kings. During the brief ''interregnum'', they cumulated most of the original power of the king, or the power of the two consuls in the first years of the Republic.<ref>Cambridge, The Five Days Interregnum in the Roman Republic, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/abs/fiveday-interregnum-in-the-roman-republic/0EBEC44DCC8C90C719A8FBE08E7F4189</ref> The ''comitia'' were, as a general rule, not held by the first ''interrex'', who was originally the ''[[curio maximus]]'', but more usually by the second or third; in one instance we read of an eleventh, and in another of a fourteenth ''interrex''. The ''comitia'' to elect the first consuls were held by [[Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus]] either as ''interrex'' or as ''[[praefectus urbi]].''<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''Roman Antiquities'' 4.76.1; 4.84.5. Livy, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' 1.59.2; 1.60.4.</ref> The ''interreges'' under the Republic, at least from 482 BC, were elected from ex-consuls by the Senate, and were not confined to the ''decem primi'' or ten chief senators as under the kings. [[Plebeian]]s, however, were not admissible to this office; and consequently when the Senate included plebeians, the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] senators met together without the plebeian members to elect an ''interrex''. For this reason, as well as on account of the influence which the ''interrex'' exerted in the election of the magistrates, we find that the [[tribune]]s of the plebs were strongly opposed to the appointment of an ''interrex''. The interrex had ''jurisdictio''.{{clarify|date=May 2015}} It is possible that ''interreges'' were the only magistrates exempted from the veto power of a [[tribune]]<ref>''Acta Triumphalia'' (CIL I.p.45), Livy (4–41.10; 8.23.12), and Suetonius (''Jul.'' 51.4)</ref> - which would be exceptional, since even [[Roman dictator|dictators]] were usually subject to the veto.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Sherwin-White |first1=AN |last2=Lintott |first2=Andrew |title=dictator |encyclopedia=The Oxford classical dictionary |year=2012 |editor-first1=Simon |editor-last1=Hornblower |editor-first2=Antony |editor-last2=Spawforth |editor-first3=Esther |editor-last3=Eidinow |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |edition=4th |location=Oxford |oclc=959667246 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=448 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.2151 |url=https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-2151|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

''Interreges'' continued to be appointed occasionally until the time of the [[Second Punic War]]. After that no ''interrex'' was appointed until the Senate, by command of [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]], named [[Lucius Valerius Flaccus (princeps senatus 86 BC)|L. Valerius Flaccus]] to hold the ''comitia'' for his election as [[Roman dictator|Dictator]] in 82 BC. In 55 BC, another ''interrex'' was appointed to hold the ''comitia'' in which [[Pompey]] and [[Crassus]] were elected consuls. There were multiple ''interreges'' in 53 and 52 BC, the last known being [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)]];<ref>{{Cite journal|last= Koptev, Aleksandr |url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/abs/fiveday-interregnum-in-the-roman-republic/0EBEC44DCC8C90C719A8FBE08E7F4189|title=The Five-Day Interregnum in the Roman Republic|journal= The Classical Quarterly|date=2016|volume= 66|pages= 205–221|publisher=Cambridge University|doi= 10.1017/S000983881600032X|oclc=|url-access= subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Bauman, Richard A.|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=15MDF-5_qaoC&dq=lepidus+interrex&pg=PA28|title= Lawyers in Roman Transitional Politics: A Study of the Roman Jurists in Their Political Setting in the Late Republic and Triumvirate|date=1985|publisher= Beck, C.H.|isbn = 9783406304859|oclc=}}</ref> in 52 an ''interrex'' held the ''comitia'' in which Pompey was appointed sole consul. The number of ''interreges'' during these two years was so high that [[Cicero]] ironised about it in a letter.<ref>{{Cite journal|last= Koptev, Aleksandr |url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/abs/fiveday-interregnum-in-the-roman-republic/0EBEC44DCC8C90C719A8FBE08E7F4189|title=The Five-Day Interregnum in the Roman Republic|journal= The Classical Quarterly|date=2016|volume= 66|pages= 205–221|publisher=Cambridge University|doi= 10.1017/S000983881600032X|oclc=|url-access= subscription}}</ref>