2020/12/16 by Timothy H. Smith · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Law, logistics, and international trade #Classical Studies and Legal History #History #Political science
paper · doi:10.25162/historia-2021-0002
openalex publication_date 2020/12/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
According to Livy’s Periochae, L. Cornelius Cinna and C. Marius were elected to the consulship of 86 BC ‘without recourse to any electoral assembly’ (citra ulla comitia). This statement is often either dismissed outright or accepted as an accurate description of the constitutional irregularities of the Cinnanum tempus. This paper investigates how elections were conducted during this period, using the consular elections for 86 as a test case. It argues that, although the consular elections continued to take place in the comitia centuriata, there were irregularities in the way they were conducted, which may account for the epitomator’s confusion.