Roman Empire underAugustus (31 BC – AD 14), showing the empire as of 31 BC in yellow, additions to 19 BC in dark green, additions in 9 BC in light green, and additions to AD 6 in pale green. Client states in mauve.The Roman Empire underHadrian (125) showing the provinces as then organised.
For centuries, it was the largest administrative unit of the foreign possessions of ancient Rome.[1] With the administrative reform initiated byDiocletian, it became a third level administrative subdivision of the Roman Empire, or rather a subdivision of theimperial dioceses (in turn subdivisions of theimperial prefectures).[1]
A province was the basic and, until theTetrarchy (from AD 293), the largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outsideRoman Italy.
During the republic and early empire, provinces were generally governed by politicians ofsenatorial rank, usually formerconsuls or formerpraetors.[1][better source needed] A later exception was the province of Egypt, which was incorporated byAugustus after the death ofCleopatra and was ruled by a governor of onlyequestrian rank, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition.[1] That exception was unique but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus's personal property, following the tradition of thekings of the earlierHellenistic period.[1]
TheEnglish wordprovince comes from the Latin wordprovincia.[2] The Latin termprovincia had an equivalent in eastern, Greek-speaking parts of theGreco-Roman world. In the Greek language, a province was called aneparchy (Greek:ἐπαρχίᾱ,eparchia), with a governor called aneparch (Greek:ἔπαρχος,eparchos).[3]
The Latinprovincia, during the middle republic, referred not to a territory, but to a task assigned to aRoman magistrate. That task might require using the military command powers ofimperium but otherwise could even be a task assigned to a junior magistrates withoutimperium: for example, the treasury was theprovincia of aquaestor and the civil jurisdiction of the urbanpraetor was theurbana provincia.[2] In the middle and late republican authors likePlautus, Terence, and Cicero, the word referred something akin to a modern ministerial portfolio:[4] "when... the senate assignedprovinciae to the various magistrates... what they were doing was more like allocating a portfolio than putting people in charge of geographic areas".[5]
The first commanders dispatched withprovinciae were for the purpose of waging war and to command an army. However, merely that aprovincia was assigned did not mean the Romans made that territory theirs. For example,Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus in 211 BC received Macedonia as hisprovincia but the republic did not annex the kingdom, even as Macedonia was continuously assigned until 205 BC with the end of theFirst Macedonian War. Even though theSecond andThird Macedonian Wars saw the Macedonian province revived, the senate settled affairs in the region by abolishing Macedonia and replacing it with four client republics. Macedonia only came under direct Roman administration in the aftermath of theFourth Macedonian War in 148 BC.[6] Similarly, assignment of variousprovinciae in Hispania was not accompanied by the creation of any regular administration of the area; indeed, even though two praetors were assigned to Hispania regularly from 196 BC, no systematic settlement of the region occurred for nearly thirty years and what administration occurred wasad hoc and emerged from military necessities.[7]
In the middle republic, the administration of a territory – whether taxation or jurisdiction – had basically no relationship with whether that place was assigned as aprovincia by the senate. Rome would even intervene on territorial disputes which were part of noprovincia at all and were not administered by Rome.[8] The territorial province, called a "permanent"provincia in the scholarship, emerged only gradually.
The acquisition of territories, however, through the middle republic created the recurrent task of defending and administering those territories. The first "permanent"provincia was that of Sicily, created after theFirst Punic War. In the immediate aftermath, a quaestor was sent to Sicily to look out for Roman interests but eventually, praetors were dispatched as well. The sources differ as to when sending a praetor became normal:Appian reports 241 BC; Solinus indicates 227 BC instead. Regardless, the change likely reflected Roman unease about Carthaginian power: quaestors could not command armies or fleets; praetors could and initially seem to have held largely garrison duties.[9] This first province started a permanent shift in Roman thinking aboutprovincia. Instead of being a task of military expansion, it became a recurrent defensive assignment to oversee conquered territories. These defensive assignments, with few opportunities to gain glory, were less desirable and therefore became regularly assigned to the praetors.[10]
Only around 180 BC did provinces take on a more geographically defined position when a border was established to separate the two commanders assigned to Hispania on the riverBaetis.[11] Later provinces, once campaigns were complete, were all largely defined geographically.[12] Once this division of permanent and temporaryprovinciae emerged, magistrates assigned to permanent provinces also came under pressures to achieve as much as possible during their terms. Whenever a military crisis occurred near some province, it was normally reassigned to one of the consuls; praetors were left with the garrison duties.[13] In the permanent provinces, the Roman commanders were initially not intended as administrators. However, the presence of the commander with forces sufficient to coerce compliance made him an obvious place to seek final judgement. A governor's legal jurisdiction thus grew from the demands of the provincial inhabitants for authoritative settlement of disputes.[14]
In the absence of opportunities for conquest and with little oversight for their activities, many praetorian governors settled on extorting the provincials. This profiteering threatened Roman control by unnecessarily angering the province's subject populations and was regardless dishonourable. It eventually drew a reaction from the senate, which reacted with laws to rein in the governors.[15] After initial experimentation withad hoc panels of inquest, various laws were passed, such as thelex Calpurnia de repetundis in 149 BC, which established apermanent court to try corruption cases; troubles with corruption and laws reacting to it continued through the republican era.[16] By the end of the republic, a multitude of laws had been passed on how a governor would complete his task, requiring presence in the province, regulating how he could requisition goods from provincial communities, limiting the number of years he could serve in the province, etc.[17]
Prior to 123 BC, the senate assigned consular provinces as it wished, usually in its first meeting of the consular year. The specific provinces to be assigned were normally determined by lot or by mutual agreement among the commanders; only extraordinarily did the senate assign a commandextra sortem (outside of sortition).[18] But in 123 or 122 BC, the tribuneGaius Sempronius Gracchus passed thelex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus, which required the senate to select the consular provinces before the consular elections and made this announcement immune from tribunician veto.[19] The law had the effect of, over time, abolishing the temporaryprovinciae, as it was not always realistic for the senate to anticipate the theatres of war some six months in advance. Instead, the senate chose to assign consuls to permanent provinces near expected trouble spots. From 200 to 124 BC, only 22 per cent of recorded consularprovinciae were permanent provinces; between 122 and 53 BC, this rose to 60 per cent.[20]
While many of the provinces had been assigned to sitting praetors in the earlier part of the second century, with new praetorships created to fill empty provincial commands, by the start of the first century it had become uncommon for praetors to hold provincial commands during their formal annual term. Instead they generally took command aspromagistrate after the end of their term. The use of prorogation was due to an insufficient number of praetors, which was for two reasons: more provinces needed commands[21] and the increased number of permanent jury courts (quaestiones perpetuae), each of which had a praetor as president, exacerbated this issue.[22] Praetors during the second century were normally proroguedpro praetore, but starting with the Spanish provinces and expanding by 167 BC, praetors were more commonly prorogued with the augmented rankpro consule; by the end of the republic, all governors actedpro consule.[23]
Also important was the assertion of popular authority over the assignment of provincial commands. This started withGaius Marius, who had an allied tribune introduce a law transferring to him the already-taken province of Numidia (then held byQuintus Caecilius Metellus), allowing Marius to assume command of theJugurthine War.[24] This innovation destabilised the system of assigning provincial commands, exacerbated internal political tensions, and later allowed ambitious politicians to assemble for themselves enormous commands which the senate would never have approved: the Pompeianlex Gabinia of 67 BC granted Pompey all land within 50 miles of the Mediterranean; Caesar's Gallic command that encompassed three normal provinces.[25]
The increasing practices of prorogation and statutorily defined "super commands" driven bypopularis political tactics[26] undermined therepublican constitutional principle of annually elected magistracies. This allowed the powerful men to amass disproportionate wealth and military power through their provincial commands, which was one of the major factors in the transition from a republic to an imperialautocracy.[27][28][29][30][31]
The senate attempted to push back against these commands in many instances: it preferred to break up any large war into multiple territorially separated commands; for similar reasons, it opposed thelex Gabinia which gavePompey an overlapping command over large portions of the Mediterranean.[32] The senate, which had long acted as a check on aristocratic ambitions, was unable to stop these immense commands, which culminated eventually with the reduction of the number of meaningfully-independent governors during thetriumviral period to three men and, with the end of the republic, to one man.
During his sixth and seventh consulships (28 and 27 BC), Augustus began a process which saw the republic return to "normality": he shared thefasces that year with his consular colleague month-by-month and announced the abolition of the triumvirate by the end of the year in accordance with promises to do so at the close of the civil wars.[33] At the start of 27 BC, Augustus formally had a provincial command over all of Rome's provinces. That year, in his "first settlement", he ostentatiously returned his control of them and their attached armies to the senate, likely by declaring that the task assigned to him either by thelex Titia creating the Triumvirate or that thewar on Cleopatra and Antony was complete.[34] In return, at a carefully managed meeting of the senate, he was given commands over Spain, Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt to hold for ten years; these provinces contained 22 of the 28 extant Roman legions (over 80 per cent) and contained all prospective military theatres.[35]
The provinces that were assigned to Augustus became known asimperial provinces and the remaining provinces, largely demilitarised and confined to the older republican conquests, became known aspublic orsenatorial provinces, as their commanders were still assigned by the senate on an annual basis consistent with tradition.[36] Because no one man could command in practically all the border-regions of the empire at once, Augustus appointed subordinatelegates for each of the provinces with the titlelegatus Augusti pro praetore. These lieutenantlegati probably heldimperium but, due to their lack of an independent command, were unable to triumph and could be replaced by their superior (Augustus) at any time.[37] These arrangements were likely based on the precedent of Pompey's proconsulship over the Spanish provinces after 55 BC entirely through legates, while he stayed in the vicinity of Rome.[38][39] In contrast, the public provinces continued to be governed by proconsuls with formally independent commands.[36] In only three of the public provinces were there any armies:Africa,Illyricum, andMacedonia; after Augustus'Balkan wars, only Africa retained a legion.[40]
To make this monopolisation of military commands palatable, Augustus separated prestige from military importance and inverted it. The titlepro praetore had gone out of use by the end of the republic and was regardless in inferior status to a proconsul. More radically, Egypt (which was sufficiently powerful that a commander there could start a rebellion against the emperor) was commanded by an equestrian prefect, "a very low title indeed" as prefects were normally low-ranking officers and equestrians were not normally part of the elite.[41] In Augustus' "second settlement" of 23 BC, he gave up his continual holding of the consulship in exchange for a general proconsulship – with a special dispensation from the law that nullifiedimperium within the city of Rome – over the imperial provinces.[42] He also gave himself, through the senate, a general grant ofimperium maius, which gave him priority over the ordinary governors of the public provinces, allowing him to interfere in their affairs.[43]
Within the public and imperial provinces there also existed distinctions of rank. In the public provinces, the provinces of Africa and Asia were given only to ex-consuls; ex-praetors received the others. The imperial provinces eventually produced a three-tier system with prefects and procurators, legatespro praetore who were ex-praetors, and legatespro praetore who were ex-consuls.[44] The public provinces' governors normally served only one year; the imperial provinces' governors on the other hand normally served several years before rotating out.[45] The extent to which the emperor exercised control over all the provinces increased during the imperial period: Tiberius, for example, once reprimanded legates in the imperial provinces for failing to forward financial reports to the senate; by the reign of Claudius, however, the senatorial provinces' proconsuls were regularly issued with orders directly from the emperor.[46]
The emperorDiocletian introduced a radical reform known as thetetrarchy (AD 284–305), with a western and an eastern senior emperor styledAugustus, each seconded by a junior emperor (and designated successor) styledcaesar.[1][better source needed] Each of these four defended and administered a quarter of the empire. In the 290s, Diocletian divided the empire anew into almost a hundred provinces, includingRoman Italy.[1] Their governors were hierarchically ranked, from theproconsuls ofAfrica Proconsularis andAsia through those governed byconsulares andcorrectores to thepraesides. The provinces in turn were grouped into (originally twelve)dioceses, headed usually by avicarius, who oversaw their affairs. Only the proconsuls and theurban prefect of Rome (and later Constantinople) were exempt from this, and were directly subordinated to the tetrarchs.[1]
Although the Caesars were soon eliminated from the picture, the four administrative resorts were restored in 318 by EmperorConstantine I, in the form ofpraetorian prefectures, whose holders generally rotated frequently, as in the usual magistracies but without a colleague.[1] Constantine also created a new capital, named after him asConstantinople, which was sometimes called 'New Rome' because it became the permanent seat of the government.[1] In Italy itself, Rome had not been the imperial residence for some time and 286 Diocletian formally moved the seat of government toMediolanum (modernMilan), while taking up residence himself inNicomedia.[1] During the 4th century, the administrative structure was modified several times, including repeated experiments with Eastern-Western co-emperors.[47]
Detailed information on the arrangements during this period is contained in theNotitia Dignitatum (Record of Offices), a document dating from the early 5th century. Most data is drawn from this authentic imperial source, as the names of the areas governed and titles of the governors are given there. There are however debates about the source of some data recorded in theNotitia, and it seems clear that some of its own sources are earlier than others. Some scholars compare this with the list of military territories under theduces, in charge of border garrisons on so-calledlimites, and the higher rankingComites rei militaris, with more mobile forces, and the later, even highermagistri militum.[48]
Justinian I made the next changes in 534–536 by abolishing, in some provinces, the strict separation of civil and military authority that Diocletian had established.[1] This process was continued on a larger scale with the creation ofExarchates in the 580s and culminated with the adoption of the militarytheme system in the 640s, which replaced the older administrative arrangements entirely.[1][better source needed] Some scholars use the reorganization of the empire intothemata in this period as one of the demarcations between theDominate and the Byzantine (or the Later Roman) period.[citation needed]
Initially created as a military command area in 102 BC during a campaign againstpiracy. Fully came under Roman control at the end of theThird Mithridatic War (73–63 BC), reorganised by Pompey in 63 BC. Western mountainous parts ofCilicia, formed into three client kingdoms established byAugustus, were merged with the imperial province of Cilicia in AD 72 byVespasian.
Eastern Numidia annexed byJulius Caesar after the death of kingJuba I and namedAfrica Nova (new Africa) to distinguish it fromAfrica Vetus (old Africa).Western Numidia was added toAfrica Nova in 40 BC.
Cisalpine Gaul (in northernItaly) was occupied by Rome in the 220s BC and became considered geographically andde facto part ofRoman Italy,[49] but remained politically andde jure separated. It was legally merged into the administrative unit of Roman Italy in 42 BC by the triumvirAugustus as a ratification ofCaesar's unpublished acts (Acta Caesaris).[50][51][52][53][54]
The client kingdom of Numidia under kingJuba II (30 - 25 BC), previously between 46 - 30 BC the provinceAfrica Nova, was abolished, and merged with the provinceAfrica Vetus, creating the provinceAfrica Proconsularis (except territory ofWestern Numidia).
Created after the deposition of ethnarchHerod Archelaus, formed initially from the territory ofSamaria,Judea, andIdumea. Reverted to the status of client kingdom under kingHerod Agrippa in AD 41 byClaudius and became province again after Herod Agrippa's death in AD 44, enlarged by territories ofGalilee andPeraea; renamedSyria Palaestina byHadrian in AD 135 and upgraded to proconsular province.
Many of the above provinces were under Roman military control or under the rule of Roman clients for a long time before being officially constituted as civil provinces. Only the date of the official formation of the province is marked above, not the date of conquest.
^Drogula 2015, p. 311. "The use of populär legislation to manipulateprovinciae and provincial assignment would also create the armies that brought down the republic".
^Drogula 2015, p. 370. Drogula also notes that appointing a person of such low status would mean that he would not have the support necessary among the elite to challenge the emperor successfully.
^Bowman 1996, pp. 347–48, noting also that Tiberius regularly remitted embassies from cities in the senatorial provinces to the senate to allow it "an illusion of its traditional functions".
^Nuovo Atlante Storico De Agostini, 1997, pp. 40–41. (In Italian)
The Provinces of the Roman Empire from Caesar to Diocletian (1885), published as volume 5 ofTheodor Mommsen'sHistory of Rome, is a description of all Roman regions during the early imperial period.
As found in theNotitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed anddioceses established byDiocletian,c. 293. Permanentpraetorian prefectures established after the death ofConstantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates ofRavenna andAfrica established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by thetheme system in c. 640–660, although inAsia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
