Aedile
During the Roman Republic, 4 aediles were elected each year. There were 2 curule aediles and 2 plebeian aediles.
- An Aedile was a magistrate who looked after the city of Rome, its corn supply, municipal regulations, and games.
- The Concilium Plebis elected plebian aediles, while the Comitia Tributa annually picked curule aediles.
- The office of aedile came between quaestor and praetor in the cursus honorum.
- It was not necessary to become aedile in order to advance to the next step, yet Julius Caesar thought it advisable to run for the office. (He was elected.)
Although a work of historical fiction, Benita Kane Jaro's 2002 book on Cicero, The Lock, contains a clear explanation of the aedile, why people might want to become aedile, as well as clear pictures of the other offices on the Cursus Honorum. In more scholarly format, Erich S. Gruen also discusses this magistracy in The Last Generation of the Roman Republic.