Tribunus laticlavius

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In the Roman army of the late Republic and the Principate, the tribunus laticlavius ("broad-striped tribune") was one of the six military tribunes in a legion.

The post was created by the Marian reforms. Its holder stood just below the legatus legionis, the legion's commander, and above the other five tribuni angusticlavii (and later the praefectus castrorum). The position was the first step of the traditional cursus honorum, the sequence of public offices held by Roman nobles of the senatorial class (conversely, the tribuni angusticlavii were knights). The tribunus laticlavius would usually be a young man who might belong to one of the richest families in Rome or be a close friend to the legionary commander. After two or three years in the army he would go back to Rome and run for a political office, usually a quaestorship.

By the middle of 250s AD, at the earliest, the post of the tribunus laticlavius had disappeared from the Roman army, following the general trend of removal of the senatorial class from military commands.^[1] The Tribunus Laticlavius has a chance of being a future senator, and commander of an entire legion.^[2]

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