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Information about Roman Province

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Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after 120.
In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin, provincia, pl. provinciae) was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy (circa 296), largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italian peninsula (long without full citizenship). The word province in modern English has its origins in the term used by the Romans.

Provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors. A later exception was the province of Egypt, incorporated by Augustus after the death of Cleopatra: it was ruled by a governor of equestrian rank only, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition. This differentiation of Egypt's governor's rank was, though unique, not in contrary with Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus' personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings.

Republican provinces

Under the Roman Republic, the governor of a province was appointed for a period of one year. At the beginning of the year, the provinces were distributed to future governors by lots or direct appointment. Normally, the provinces where more trouble was expected — either from barbaric invasions or internal rebellions — were given to former consuls, men of the greatest prestige and experience. The distribution of the legions across the provinces was also dependent of the amount of danger that they represented. In 14, for instance, the province of Lusitania had no permanent legion but Germania Inferior, where the Rhine frontier was still not pacified, had a garrison of four legions. These problematic provinces were the most desired by future governors. Problems meant war, and war always brought plunder, slaves to sell and opportunities for enrichment. Sicilia (the island of Sicily) constituted the first Roman province from 241 BC, having been progressively conquered by the Republic during the First Punic War (264–241 BC).

The number and size of provinces changed according with internal Roman politics. During the Empire, the biggest or more garrisoned provinces (example Pannonia and Moesia) were subdivided into smaller provinces in order to prevent the situation whereby a sole governor held too much power in his hands, thus discouraging ambition for the Imperial throne itself.

With the formation of the Principate after the civil wars which ended the Roman Republican period, Augustus retained the power to choose governors for the provinces in which he and his successors held supreme military and administrative control. Thus the more strategically critical provinces, generally located along the contested borders of the Empire, became Imperial provinces. The remaining provinces were maintained as Senatorial provinces, in which the Senate had the right to appoint a governor.

List of Republican provinces

Early Imperial provinces

In the so-called Augustan Settlement of 27 BC, which established the Roman Empire, the governance of the provinces was . Octavian Caesar, having emerged from the Roman civil wars as the undisputed victor and master of the Roman state, officially laid down his powers, and in theory restored the authority of the Roman Senate. Octavian himself assumed the title "Augustus" and was given to govern, in addition to Egypt, Gaul, Hispania and Syria (including Cilicia and Cyprus). These "imperial provinces" were governed by men (legati Augusti propraetore) appointed solely by the emperor, selected from either the patricians or the equestrian class. They were assisted by equestrian procuratores as chief financial officials. The remaining provinces, usually in the Empire's interior and with weak military forces, often termed "senatorial provinces", were governed by former magistrates for terms of one to two years, who were assisted by quaestores. The system remained flexible however, and in subsequent years provinces would change status as the situation required. Nevertheless, as the centrality of the emperors in the administration grew, the practical differences between the "imperial" and "senatorial" provinces diminished.

The Roman provinces in 120 AD

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Roman Imperial Provinces (AD 120)
Achaea
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Roman Empire

Diocletian's reforms

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The Roman Empire and its administrative divisions, ca. 395 AD
Emperor Diocletian introduced a radical reform known as the Tetrarchy (284-305), with a western and an eastern Augustus or senior emperor, each seconded by a junior emperor (and designated successor) styled Caesar, and each of these four defending and administering a quarter of the Empire. In the 290s, Diocletian divided the Empire anew into almost a hundred provinces, including Italy. Their governors were hierarchically ranked, from the proconsuls of Africa proconsularis and Asia through those governed by consulares and correctores to the praesides. These last were the only ones recruited from the equestrian class. The provinces in turn were grouped into (originally twelve) dioceses, headed usually by a vicarius, who oversaw their affairs. Only the proconsuls and the urban prefect of Rome (and later Constantinople) were exempt from this, and were directly subordinated to the tetrarchs.

Although the Caesars were soon eliminated from the picture, the four administrative resorts were restored in 318 by Emperor Constantine I, in the form of praetorian prefectures, whose holders generally rotated frequently, as in the usual magistracies but without a colleague. Constantine also created a second capital, Nova Roma, known after him as Constantinople, which became the permanent seat of the Eastern government. In Italy itself, Rome ceased to be the imperial residence, Mediolanum (Milan) and later Ravenna being favoured by the emperors. During the 4th century, the administrative structure was modified several times. Provinces and dioceses were split to form new ones, the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was abolished and reformed, and changed hands between East and West several times. In the end, with the death of Theodosius I in 395, the permanent division of the Empire into Western and Eastern halves was complete.

Detailed information on these arrangements is contained in the Notitia Dignitatum (Record of Offices), a document dating from the early 5th century. It is from this authentic imperial source that we draw most data, 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 the Notitia, and it seems clear that some of its own sources are earlier than others.

It is interesting to compare this with the list of military territories under the duces, in charge of border garrisons on so-called limites, and the higher ranking Comites rei militaris, with more mobile forces, and the later, even higher magistri militum.

In the surviving Eastern half, which evolved into what is known as the Byzantine Empire, this administrative subdivision was gradually changed. Justinian I made the first great changes during his great reforms in 534-536 by abolishing, in some provinces, the strict separation of civil and military authority that Diocletian had established. This process was continued on a larger scale with the creation of extraordinary Exarchates in the 580s and culminated with the adoption of the military theme system in the 640s, which replaced the older administrative arrangements entirely.

List of Late Roman provinces

Praetorian prefecture of Galliae

In Latin, Gallia was also sometimes used as a general term for all Celtic peoples and their territories, such as all Brythons, including the Germanic and Iberian provinces which also had a population with a Celtic culture. The plural, Galliae in Latin, indicates that all of these are meant, not just Caesar's Gaul (several modern countries).

Diocese of Galliae

Galliae covered about half of the Gallic provinces of the early empire:
  • in what is now northern France roughly the part north of the Loire (called after the capital Lugdunum, modern Lyon)
  • Gallia Lugdunensis I
  • Gallia Lugdenensis II
  • Gallia Lugdunensis III
  • Gallia Lugdunensis IV
  • in Belgium, Luxembourg, the parts of the Netherlands on the left bank (west) of the Rhine
  • Belgica I
  • Gallia Belgica II
  • Germany on the left bank (west) of the Rhine
  • Germania I
  • Germania II
  • the Helvetic tribes (parts of Switzerland):
  • Alpes Poenninae et Graiae
  • Maxima Sequanorum

Diocese of Viennensis

Viennensis was named after the city of Vienna (now Vienne), and entirely in present-day France, roughly south of the Loire. It was originally part of Caesar's newly conquered province of Transalpine Gaul, but a separate diocese from the start. In the fifth century, Viennensis was replaced by a diocese of Septem Provinciae ('7 Provinces') with similar boundaries.

Diocese of Hispaniae

Hispania was the name of the whole Iberian Peninsula. It covered Hispania and the westernmost province of Roman Africa:

Diocese of Britanniae

Britanniae was again a plural

Praetorian prefecture of Italy and Africa (western)

Originally there was a single diocese of Italia, but it was eventually split into a northern section and a southern section. The division of Italy into regions had already been established by Aurelian.

Diocese of Italia suburbicaria

Suburbicaria indicates proximity to Rome, the Urbs (capital city). It included the islands, not considered actually Italian in Antiquity (hence they were provinces while the peninsular regions still had a superior status), given their different ethnic stock (e.g. Sicily was named after the Siculi) and history of piracy.

Diocese of Italia annonaria

Annonaria refers to a reliance on the area for the provisioning of Rome. It encompassed northern Italy and Raetia.

Diocese of Africa

Africa included the central part of Roman North Africa:

Praetorian Prefecture of Illyricum

The Prefecture of Illyricum was named after the former province of Illyricum.

The Prefecture of Illyricum originally included two dioceses: the Diocese of Pannoniae and the Diocese of Moesiae. The Diocese of Moesiae was later split into two dioceses: the Diocese of Macedonia and the Diocese of Dacia.

Diocese of Pannonia

Pannonia was one of the two dioceses in the eastern quarters of the Tetrarchy not belonging to the cultural Greek half of the empire (the other was Dacia); It was transferred to the western empire when Theodosius I fixed the final split of the two empires in 395.

Diocese of Dacia

The Dacians had lived in the Transylvania area, annexed to the Empire by Trajan. However, during the invasions of the third century Dacia was largely abandoned. Some inhabitants evacuated from the abandoned province were settled on the south side of the Danube and their new homeland renamed Dacia accordingly, in order to diminish the impact that abandoning the original Dacia had on the Empire's prestige. The diocese was transferred to the western empire in 384 by Theodosius I, probably in partial compensation to the empress Justina for his recognition of the usurpation of Magnus Maximus in Britannia, Gaul and Hispania.

Diocese of Macedonia

The Diocese of Macedonia was transferred to the western empire in 384 by Theodosius I, probably in partial compensation to the empress Justina for his recognition of the usurpation of Magnus Maximus in Britannia, Gaul and Hispania.

Praetorian Prefecture of Oriens

As the rich home territory of the eastern emperor, the Oriens ("East") prefecture would persist as the core of the Byzantine Empire long after the fall of Rome. Its praetorian prefect would be the last to survive, but his office was transformed into an essentially internal minister.

Diocese of Thrace

Thrace was the eastern-most corner of the Balkans (the only part outside the Illyricum prefecture) and the European hinterland of Constantinople.

Diocese of Asiana

Asia (or Asia Minor) in Antiquity stood for Anatolia. This diocese (the name means 'the Asian ones') centred on the earlier Roman province of Asia, and only covered the rich western part of the peninsula, mainly near the Aegean Sea.

Diocese of Pontus

Pontus is Latinized from Greek Pontos: the name of a Hellenistic kingdom derived from Pontos (Euxinos), i.e. the (Black) Sea, earlier used for a major Hellenistic kingdom.

It mainly contains parts of Asia minor near those coasts (as well as the mountainous centre), but also includes the north of very variable border with Rome's enemy Parthia/Persia.

Diocese of Oriens

The Eastern diocese shares its geographic name with the prefecture, even after it lost its rich part, Egypt, becoming a separate diocese; but militarily crucial on the Persian (Sassanid) border and unruly desert tribes.

It comprised mainly the modern Arabic Machrak (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine/-Israel and Jordan) except for the desert hinterland: Further it contained the southeastern coast of Asia Minor and the close island of Cyprus

Diocese of Aegyptus

This diocese, comprising north eastern Africa — mainly Egypt, the rich granary and traditional personal domain of the emperors — was the only diocese that was not under a vicarius, but whose head retained the unique title of Praefectus Augustalis. It was created by a split of the diocese of Oriens.

All but one, the civilian governors were of the modest rank of Praeses provinciae.
  • Aegyptus came to designate Lower Egypt around Alexandria. Originally it was named Aegyptus Iovia (from Jupiter, for the Augustus Diocletian). Later it was divided into two provinces
  • Augustamnica was the remainder of Lower Egypt, together with the eastern part of the Nile delta (13 'cities') - the only Egyptian province under a Corrector, a lower ranking governor. Originally it was named Aegyptus Herculia (for Diocletian's junior, the Caesar; with ancient Memphis). Later it was divided in two provinces
  • Thebais was Upper Egypt. Nubia south of Philae had been abandoned to tribal people. Later it was divided into two provinces, Superior and Inferior.
  • Arcadia (also Arcadia Ægypti; not Arcadia in Greece)
Apart from modern Egypt, Aegyptus also comprised the former province of Cyrenaica, being the east of modern Libya (an ancient name for the whole African continent as well). Cyrenaica was split into two provinces, each under a praeses:

See also

References

  • "Provinces (Roman)" at livius.org
  • Pauly-Wissowa
  • Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
  • Loewenstein, Karl (1973). The Governance of Rome. Springer. ISBN 9024714583. 

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Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea.
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Tetrarchy (Greek: "leadership of four people") can be applied to any system of government where power is divided between four individuals but is rarely used. The most famous Tetrarchy is that instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293 and lasted until c. 313.
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Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Italian: Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the greatest peninsulas of Europe, spanning 1,000 km from the Alps in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in
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province is a territorial unit, almost always a country subdivision.

Roman provinces

The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province (13th c.
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The Roman Senate (Latin: Senatus) was the main governing council of both the Roman Republic, which started in 509 BC, and the Roman Empire. Although the West Roman Empire ended in the 5th century (in 476), the Roman Senate continued to meet until the latter part of the 6th
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Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic and the Empire.

During the time of the Republic, the Consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for
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Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, either before it was mustered or more typically in the field, or an elected magistrate assigned duties that varied depending on the
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An equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites - also known as a vir egregius, lit. "excellent man" from the 2nd century AD onwards) was a member of one of the two upper social classes in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire.
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A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire.
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Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France before the Napoleonic
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Roman Legion (from Latin legio "military levy, conscription", from lego — "to collect") is a term that can apply both as a transliteration of legio
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This article is about the year 14.

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Lusitania was an ancient Roman province approximately including all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river, and part of modern Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a small part of the province of Salamanca).
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Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's southern and western Netherlands, and Nordrhein-Westfalen left of the Rhine.
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Regione Autonoma Siciliana


Map highlighting the location of Sicilia in Italy

Capital Palermo
President Salvatore Cuffaro
(UDC-CdL)
Provinces Agrigento
Caltanissetta
Catania
Enna
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Regione Autonoma Siciliana


Map highlighting the location of Sicilia in Italy

Capital Palermo
President Salvatore Cuffaro
(UDC-CdL)
Provinces Agrigento
Caltanissetta
Catania
Enna
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3rd century BC - 2nd century BC
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Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c.
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First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) was the first of three major wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea.
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The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. This article however is about the latter.
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Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia.
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Moesia (Greek: Μοισία, Moisia; Bulgarian: Мизия, Miziya; Romanian: Moesia ;Serbian: Мезија,
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Etymology

The Principate is, according to its etymological derivation from the Latin word princeps, meaning chief or first, the political regime dominated by such a political leader, whether or not he is formally head of state and/or head of
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Augustus Caesar
Emperor of the Roman Empire

Reign January 16 27 BC – August 19 AD 14
Full name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
Born September 23, 63 BC
Rome, Roman Republic
Died August 19, AD 14 (age 76)
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An imperial province was a Roman province where the Emperor had the sole right to appoint governors. These provinces were often the strategically located border provinces.
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A senatorial province was a Roman province where the Roman Senate had the right to appoint governors. These provinces were away from the Empire's borders and free from the likelihood of rebellion, and so had few if any legions stationed in them (thus lessening the chance the Senate
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Sicilia (Latin for Sicily) was the name given to the first province acquired by the Roman Republic, organised in 241 BC as a proconsular governed territory, in the aftermath of the First Punic War with Carthage.
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