 Aediles were officers elected to conduct domestic affairs in Rome, and often assisted the higher magistrates. The office was not on the cursus honorum, and therefore did not mark the beginning of a political career. Every year, two curule aediles and two plebeian aediles were elected. The Tribal Assembly, while under the presidency of a higher magistrate (either a consul or praetor), elected the two curule aediles. While they had a curule chair, they did not have lictors, and thus they had no power of coercion. The Plebeian Council (principal popular assembly), under the presidency of a plebeian tribune, elected the two plebeian aediles. aediles had wide ranging powers over day-to-day affairs inside the city of Rome, and over the maintenance of public order. They had the power over public games and shows, and over the markets. They also had the power to repair and preserve temples, sewers and aqueducts, to maintain public records, and to issue edicts. Any expenditure of public funds, by either a curule aedile or a plebeian aedile, had to be authorized by the senate.
