Decemvirs

Related Category: Ancient History, Rome

(dēsĕm´vərz) [Lat.,=ten men], in ancient Rome, group of 10 men appointed to a special judicial or executive capacity. The most famous were those who developed in the 5th cent. B.C. the Laws of the Twelve Tables, the primary Roman code. There was a permanent decemvirate of priests that guarded the Sibylline Books (see sibyl).