aedilis

Aedilis is a Latin term for a Roman municipal magistrate responsible for the administration and upkeep of public buildings, urban infrastructure, markets, and related affairs in the city of Rome. There were two kinds of aediles: the plebeian aediles (aediles plebeii) and the curule aediles (aediles curules). In the Republic, four officers held the office at once—two plebeians and two curule magistrates—serving for about one year.

Duties of the aediles covered a wide range of urban management. They supervised the maintenance and cleaning of temples, public buildings, and streets; organized lighting, sanitation, and other city services; oversaw markets, regulation of commerce, weights and measures, and the distribution of grain (the annona). They were responsible for public festivals and games (ludi), including arrangements for religious ceremonies, processions, and the protection of sacred precincts. Aediles also had policing functions related to urban order and public morality within Rome.

Election and officeholding varied by class. Plebeian aediles were elected by the plebeian assembly; curule aediles were elected by the broader citizen body. They served alongside higher magistrates such as the consuls and praetors and used their control over urban affairs to support political careers within the Roman system.

Historically created to relieve more senior magistrates of routine city administration, the aediles played a key role in Rome’s urban growth. Their responsibilities gradually diminished as urban governance became more specialized and, in the later Empire, formal city administration passed to imperial officials. The office continued into late antiquity in diminished form before fading from use.