Consularis is aLatin adjective indicating something pertaining to theposition or rank of consul. InAncient Rome it was also used as a noun (pluralconsulares) to designate thosesenators who had held the office of consul or attained consular rank as a special honour. InLate Antiquity, the title became also a gubernatorial rank forprovincialgovernors.
In theRoman Republic, the termvir consularis (rendered in Greek asὑπατικός,hypatikos) orconsularis designated anysenator who had served asconsul. The distinction was accompanied by specific privileges and honours, and was normally a necessary qualification for a number ofmagistracies: the posts ofdictator and his deputy, themagister equitum (although some cases seem to refute that), the post ofcensor as well as the governance of certainprovinces asproconsuls. The distinction was attached to their wives as well (consularis femina, in Greek ὑπατική or ὑπάτισσα).[1] Under the Principate, the status ofconsularis could be gained, without holding the consulship, by the gift of the emperor, either through admission to the senate (adlectio inter consulares) or (more rarely) through the award of the consular insignia (ornamenta/insignia consularia).[1]
Under the Principate, a number of senior magistracies were created forconsulares:[1]
Already during the Republic, certain provinces were reserved for ex-consuls. This tradition carried into the Principate following the grant of an enormous provincial command to Augustus in 27 BC effectively dividing the empire between so-calledImperial andSenatorial provinces. Of the latter, two were specifically reserved forconsulares, the proconsular provinces ofAsia andAfrica proconsularis.[1]Consulares could also hold office in Imperial provinces as the Emperor's legates (legatus Augusti pro praetore), alongside legates who held the rank ofpraetor and officials from theequestrian order styledprocuratores.
As the formal title oflegatus Augusti did not otherwise distinguish rank, those of consular standing occasionally attached the formconsularis to their title, a practice which became commonplace in the 3rd century. As a result, the latter, simpler title began to replace the formal title, and to acquire a generic meaning of "provincial governor".[1] This evolution was formalized in the reforms ofDiocletian (r. 284–305) andConstantine the Great (r. 306–337). Aside from its traditional meaning, designating holders of consular rank, the termconsularis now came to designate a class of provincial governors. Its holders outranked thecorrectores andpraesides, but were still at the very bottom of the senatorial hierarchy, with the senatorial rank ofvir clarissimus, while a holder of consular rank was styledvir illustris.[1] In a handful of cases, servingconsulares were raised to proconsular rank, whileValentinian I (r. 364–375) andValens (r. 364–378) gave theconsulares ofNumidia the exceptional right to be preceded by six instead of fivefasces-bearinglictores.[1]
According to theNotitia Dignitatum (circa 400), the following provinces were administered by aconsularis:
TheNotitia gives the following staff (officium) for aconsularis of the West:princeps officii (detached from thepraetorian prefecture), acornicularius, twotabularii, anadiutor, acommentariensis, anab actis, asubadiuva, and variousexceptores andcohortalini, i.e. menial staff.[4] For the East, theofficium was slightly different:princeps officii,cornicularius,commentariensis,adiutor,numerarius,ab actis,a libellis, and the usualexceptores andcohortalini.[5]
TheSynecdemus, written some time shortly before 535, lists the following provinces underconsulares:[1] Europa, Thracia, Macedonia Prima, Creta,Epirus Nova, Dacia Mediterranea, Hellespontus,Phrygia Pacatiana andPhrygia Salutaris, Lydia,Pisidia,Lycaonia, Pamphylia,Lycia,Caria, Pontica Prima (Bithynia), Galatia,Cappadocia Prima,Helenopontus, Cilicia Prima, Cyprus, Syria Prima, Phoenice, Palaestina Prima,Arabia, and one whose name is illegible.
Following thereconquest ofNorth Africa, in 534,Tripolitania was given aconsularis, while Numidia was downgraded to a merepraeses.[1] However, in 535 EmperorJustinian I (r. 527–565) carried out a wide-ranging administrative reorganization. The provinces ofPalaestina Secunda,Syria Secunda,Theodorias,Osrhoene,Armenia Secunda,Armenia Magna,Cappadocia Secunda,Rhodope,Haemimontus and Augustamnica (this is possibly an error) were placed underconsulares, while Epirus Nova, Dacia Mediterranea, Phrygia Pacatiana, Galatia, Syria Prima and Arabia were placed under governors of other ranks.[1]