CONCIL´IUM
CONCIL´IUM an assembly in general, sometimes used in
a loose way to designate the comitia of the centuries (
Liv. 2.28), or any contio (
Liv. 2.7,
28,
5.43;
Gel. 18.7; comp. Becker,
Handb. der
Röm. Alterth. vol. ii. part i. p. 359, note 693). For
the
concilium plebis, see
COMITIA p. 510. The word also
denotes the assemblies or meetings of confederate towns or nations, at which
either their deputies alone, or any of the citizens who had time and
inclination, met, and thus formed a representative assembly. (
Liv. 1.50.) We find frequent traces of this, not
only among the Italian nations, e. g. the Aequi (
Liv.
3.2), Samnites (4.25; x 12), Etruscans (4.23, 25, 61; 5.17; 6.2),
Hernicans (9.42), and Latins (6.33; 7.25; 8.3); but also in the Greek states
(
τὸ κοινόν), e. g. the Achaeans (
Liv. 36.31), Aetolians (31.29, 38.34), Boeotians
(42.43), Macedonians (45.18; cp.
Gel. 2.6). As the
Romans conquered the neighbouring states of Italy, it was a regular part of
their policy to break up the union of the vanquished tribes by forbidding
the existence of such
concilia (
Liv. 8.14,
10,
“ceteris Latinis populis connubia commercia que et concilia inter
se ademerunt:” cf. 9.43, 24). After the defeat of Perseus, four
concilia were established for Macedonia
(
Liv. 45.29). But Augustus not merely
allowed the
concilia to continue where they had
previously been held, but instituted them also in other provinces, and this
representative character was recognised. In theory, they were associations
formed for the worship of the imperial house. The president was the
ἀρχιερεὺς or
sacerdos
provinciae, an official elected annually by the deputies
(
legati) from the most important towns.
This dignitary was usually one of the most eminent and wealthy of the
provincials, and had the immediate direction of the finances of the temple
and its festivals; at a later time he had a certain power of control over
all the priests of the province. After the concilium had taken part in the
religious festival, it met again for the conduct of business. Its first duty
was to pass the accounts of the expenditure connected with the provincial
temple to Augustus, and to provide for the maintenance of the worship for
the coming year; but then it was entitled to criticise the conduct of the
governor, and either vote thanks to him, or lay a complaint before the
emperor (cf. Inscription of Torigny edited by Mommsen), which was frequently
followed by his accusation (
Plin. Ep. 7.6).
In this manner some control was exercised over the governor, and there was
some approach to the creation of a representative body. As the worship of
the emperors fell out of use with the growth of Christianity, the
concilium provinciae replaced by degrees the old
conventus (cf. Willems,
Dict.
Romaine, p. 594), and became a representative assembly for each
diocese. (Cf. Marquardt,
Röm, Staatsverw. i.2 503-516, and his important essay in the
Ephem.
Epigr. 1872, pp. 200-214; Mommsen,
Provinces
[p. 1.525]of the Roman Empire, 1.35, 94, 300;
2.238, &c.)
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