Literally,
"Course of Honors".
It was the path any Roman politician would have to take in his ascension to power. The
cursus honorum was composed of a sequence of
magistracies that politicians would have to hold, requiring that one
magistracy be held before another could. However, this was of course preceded by 10 years of
military service, for the
Romans were extremely
militaristic.
During the
Republic, the
cursus honorum, from beginning to end, went like this :
quaestor
|
aedile
|
praetor
|
consul
|
censor
Originally, the
cursus honorum was merely a socially-instituted law. In 180
B.C.E., however, it was officially instituted, requiring that any politician follow the sequence.