The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
decemvirs
(dsm´vrz) (KEY) [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).