In Rome was there a “first” consul and “second” consul?

by pontifex7

Rome elected two consuls. My question is, while they shared equal power, was there a “first” consul and “second” consul? One consul started off the year by presiding over affairs and this one usually had senior experience.

XenophonTheAthenian

Sort of. Of the two consuls there was a senior consul and a junior consul. The distinction, though, was more or less nonexistent, it basically consisted of who got to preside over senatorial meetings in a given month, which is a pretty useless duty since the senate had no legislative power--basically whichever consul presided over meetings in a given month made sure that everybody spoke in their assigned turns, and little else. Being elected senior consul was more of a matter of prestige than anything else, since it meant that effectively you got more of the vote than your colleague. I answered a question about them about a year ago.