tribunes of the plebs

tribunes of the plebs or tribunes of the people (tribūni plēbis), at Rome, magistrates who were themselves plebeian and of free birth, first created, according to tradition, in 494 BC, and numbering ten by 450. Their role was to protect the lives and property of the plebeians, and they could thwart elections, laws, and decrees of the senate. They were elected annually by the concilium plebis and could summon meetings of the plebeians; patricians could become tribunes only by getting themselves adopted into a plebeian family (see the case of Clodius under CICERO (1) 3). The tribunate became gradually indistinguishable from the other magistracies, but it never wholly lost its revolutionary flavour. Under the empire the emperor was invested with tribunician power (tribunicia potestas) and the real tribunes lost all importance.