{{Roman government}}
'''Aedile''' ([[Latin language|Latin]] '''''Aedilis''''', from ''aedes, aedis'' "temple," "building") was an office of the [[Roman Republic]]. Based in [[Rome]], the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public [[festival]]s. They also had powers to enforce public order. Half of the aediles were from the ranks of [[plebeian]]s and half were [[patrician]]s. The latter were called ''curule aediles'' (''aediles curules'') and they were considered [[Magistratus Curulis|curule magistrates]].

The office was generally held by young men intending to follow the ''[[cursus honorum]]'' to high political office. However it was not a legal part of the cursus, merely an advantageous starting point which demonstrated the aspiring politician's commitment to public service.

They were created in the same year as the [[Tribune|tribunes of the people]] (494 BC). Originally intended as assistants to the tribunes, they exercised certain police functions, were
empowered to inflict fines and managed the plebeian and Roman games. According to [[Livy]] (vi. 42), after the passing of the [[Licinian rogation]]s, an extra day was added to the Roman
games; the aediles refused to bear the additional expense, whereupon the patricians offered to undertake it, on condition that they were admitted to the aedileship. The plebeians
accepted the offer, and accordingly two ''curule'' aediles were appointed--at first from the patricians alone, then from patricians and plebeians in turn, lastly, from either--at the
Comitia Tributa under the presidency of the consul. Although not sacrosanct, they had the right of sitting in a curule chair and wore the distinctive toga praetexta. They took over
the management of the [[ludi Romani|Roman]] and [[ludi Megalenses|Megalesian]] games, the care of the patrician temples and had the right of issuing edicts as superintendents of the markets. But although the curule
aediles always ranked higher than the plebeian, their functions gradually approximated and became practically identical.

[[Cicero]] (Legg. iii. 3, 7) divides these functions under three heads:

(1) Care of the city: the repair and preservation of temples, sewers and aqueducts; street cleansing and paving;
regulations regarding traffic, dangerous animals and dilapidated buildings; precautions against fire; superintendence of baths and taverns; enforcement of [[sumptuary]] laws; punishment of gamblers and usurers; the care of public morals generally, including the prevention of foreign superstitions. They also punished those who had too large a share of the ager publicus, or kept too many cattle on the state pastures.

(2) Care of provisions:
investigation of the quality of the articles supplied and the
correctness of weights and measures; the purchase of corn for
disposal at a low price in case of necessity.

(3) Care of
line games: superintendence and organization of the public
games, as well as of those given by themselves and private
individuals (e.g. at funerals) at their own expense.
Ambitious persons often spent enormous sums in this manner to
win the popular favor with a view to official advancement.

In [[44 BC]] [[Julius Caesar]] added two patrician aediles, called ''Cereales'', whose special duty was the care of the cereal-supply.
Under [[Augustus]] the office lost much of its importance, its juridical functions and the care of the games being transferred to the praetor, while its city responsibilities were limited by the appointment of a [[praefectus urbi]]. In the 3rd century AD it disappeared altogether.

Today in [[Portugal]] the county mayor can still be referred to as 'edil'(e.g. 'O edil de Coimbra', meaning 'the mayor of [[Coimbra]]').

==See also==
*[[Constitution of the Roman Republic]]

==References==
*{{1911}}

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[[History]] – [[Ancient History]] – [[Ancient Rome]] – [[Political institutions of Rome]] – '''Aedile'''

[[Category:Ancient Roman titles]]

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