The princeps senatus, in English the leader of the senate, was the first member by precedence on the membership rolls of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the cursus honorum and possessing no imperium, this office conferred prestige on the senator holding it.
Ancient bust of Scipio Africanus, princeps senatus from 199 to 184/183 BC.
Modern statue of Marcus Aemlius Lepidus, the longest serving princeps senatus (179–153/152 BC).
Ancient bust of Cicero, possibly the last princeps senatus of the republic in 43 BC.
The Roman Senate was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome as the Senate of the Roman Kingdom, to the Senate of the Roman Republic and Senate of the Roman Empire and eventually the Byzantine Senate of the Eastern Roman Empire, existing well into the post-classical era and Middle Ages.
The so-called "Togatus Barberini", a statue depicting a Roman senator holding the imagines (effigies) of deceased ancestors in his hands; marble, late 1st century BC; head (not belonging): mid-1st century BC
The Curia Julia in the Roman Forum, the seat of the imperial Senate
The Palazzo Senatorio, originally built to house the revived Senate during the Roman Commune period