A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
Scipio Africanus, one of Rome's greatest commanders, was a proconsul during the Second Punic War. He was one of the few proconsuls who did not first serve as consul.
A tablet of Acta Triumphalia is displayed in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. This fragment covers the consulship of Asina and Duilius (260 BC). Two proconsuls are mentioned, C.A. Quillius and M.A. Lucius.
A consul was the highest elected public official of the Roman Republic. Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum—an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired—after that of the censor, which was reserved for former consuls. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated each month holding fasces when both were in Rome. A consul's imperium extended over Rome and all its provinces.
Gold coin from Dacia, minted by Coson, depicting a consul and two lictors
Image: Diptych of Honorius (body)
Image: Diptych of Constantius III
