Quaestors were elected officials of the Roman Republic who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers. The office may date back to the time of the kings of Rome. After about 420 BC there were four Quaestors, elected each year, and after 267 BC there were ten. Some quaestors were assigned to work in the City, while others were assigned to the staffs of generals or governors. Others still were assigned to oversee military finances.

During the reforms of Sulla in 81 BC, the minimum age for a quaestorship was set at 28 for patricians and at 30 for plebeians, and election to the quaestorship gave automatic membership in the Senate. Before that the Censors revised the rolls of the Senate less regularly than the annual induction of quaestors created. The number of quaestors was also raised to 20.

see Cursus honorum, Roman Republic