A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic (c. 509 BC to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the cursus honorum (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspired) after that of the censor. Each year, the Centuriate Assembly elected two consuls to serve jointly for a one-year term. The consuls alternated in holding fasces – taking turns leading – each month when both were in Rome and a consul's imperium extended over Rome and all its provinces.