Roman province

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Roman Empire under Augustus (31 BC – AD 14). Yellow: 31BC. Dark Green 31–19 BC, Light Green 19–9 BC, Pale Green 9–6 BC. Mauve: Client states

The Roman empire under Hadrian (125) showing the provinces as then organised

In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin, provincia, pl. provinciae) was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy (c. 296), largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy. 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 exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus' personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings.

Republican provinces

The Latin word provincia originally meant any task or set of responsibilities assigned by the Senate to an individual who held imperium ("right of command"), which was often a military command within a specified theater of operations.^[1] Under the Roman Republic, the magistrates were elected to office for a period of one year, and those serving outside the city of Rome, such as consuls acting as generals on a military campaign, were assigned a particular provincia, the scope of authority within which they exercised their command.

The territory of a people who were defeated in war might be brought under various forms of treaty, in some cases entailing complete subjection (deditio). The formal annexation of a territory created a "province" in the modern sense of an administrative unit geographically defined. Republican provinces were administered in one-year terms by the consuls and praetors who had held office the previous year and who were invested with imperium.^[2]

Rome started expanding beyond Italy during the First Punic War. The first permanent provinces to be annexed were Sicily (Sicilia) in 241 BC and Sardinia (Corsica et Sardinia) in 237 BC. Militarized expansionism kept increasing the number of these administrative provinces, until there were no longer enough qualified individuals to fill the posts.^[3] The terms of provincial governors often had to be extended for multiple years (prorogatio), and on occasion the Senate awarded imperium even to private citizens (privati), most notably Pompey the Great.^[4] Prorogation undermined the republican constitutional principle of annual elected magistracies, and the amassing of disproportionate wealth and military power by a few men through their provincial commands was a major factor in the transition from a republic to imperial autocracy.^[5]

List of Republican provinces

240 BC – Sicilia
237 BC – Corsica et Sardinia
203 BC – Gallia Cisalpina (northern Italy)
197 BC – Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior (Iberian peninsula)
167 BC – Illyricum
146 BC – Macedonia
147 BC – Africa (parts of Mediterranean Africa)
129 BC – Asia (parts of Anatolia and Asia Minor)
120 BC – Gallia Transalpina or more specifically Gallia Narbonensis (southern France)
78 BC - Cilicia, after 64 BC Cilicia et Cyprus
74 BC – Bithynia, from 64 BC Bithynia et Pontus
74 BC – Creta et Cyrenaica
66 BC – Corduene
64 BC – Cilicia et Cyprus
64 BC – Syria

Imperial provinces during the Principate

The Roman Empire under Trajan in 117; imperial provinces are shaded green, senatorial provinces are shaded pink, and client states are shaded gray

In the so-called Augustan Settlement of 27 BC, which established the Roman Empire, the governance of the provinces was regulated. 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, the strategically important provinces of Gaul, Hispania and Syria (including Cilicia and Cyprus). Under Augustus, Roman provinces were classified as either public or imperial, meaning that their governors were appointed by either the Senate or by the emperor. Generally, the older provinces that existed under the Republic were public. Public provinces were, as before under the Republic, governed by a proconsul, who was chosen by lot among the ranks of senators who were ex-consuls or ex-praetors, depending on which province was assigned. The major imperial provinces were under a legatus Augusti pro praetore, also a senator of consular or praetorian rank. Egypt and some smaller provinces where no legions were based were ruled by a procurator (praefectus in Egypt), whom the emperor selected from non-senators of equestrian rank. The status of a province could change from time to time. In AD 68, of a total 36 provinces, 11 were public and 25 imperial. Of the latter, 15 were under legati and 10 under procuratores or praefecti.

During the Principate, the number and size of provinces also changed, either through conquest or through the division of existing provinces. The larger or more heavily garrisoned provinces (for example Syria and Moesia) were subdivided into smaller provinces to prevent any single governor from holding too much power.

List of provinces created during the Principate

27 BC – Achaea separated from Macedonia, public propraetorial province
25 BC – Galatia, imperial propraetorial province
22 BC – reorganization of Gaul following the conquests of Julius Caesar into Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis, imperial propraetorial provinces
15 BC – Raetia, imperial procuratorial province
c. 13 BC – Hispania Ulterior divided into Baetica and Lusitania (public propraetorial and imperial propraetorial respectively)
12 BC – Germania Magna, lost after 9 AD
6 AD – Judaea, imperial procuratorial province (renamed Syria Palaestina by Hadrian, and upgraded to proconsular province).
14 BC – Alpes Maritimae, imperial procuratorial province
18 – Cappadocia, imperial propraetorial (later proconsular) province
c. 20–50 – Illyricum divided into Illyricum Superior (Dalmatia) and Illyricum Inferior (Pannonia), imperial proconsular provinces
40 – Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis, imperial procuratorial provinces
c. 40 – Noricum, imperial procuratorial province
43 – Britannia, imperial proconsular province
43 – Lycia et Pamphylia, imperial propraetorial province
46 – Thracia, imperial procuratorial province
c. 47 – Alpes Poeninae, imperial procuratorial province
63 – Alpes Cottiae, imperial procuratorial province
67 – Epirus, imperial procuratorial province
72 – Commagene annexed to Syria
c. 84 – Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, imperial proconsular provinces
85 – Moesia divided into Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior, imperial proconsular provinces
105 – Arabia, imperial propraetorial province
107 – Dacia, imperial proconsular province (split into Dacia Superior and Dacia Inferior between 118 and 158)
107 – Pannonia divided into Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior, imperial provinces (proconsular and propraetorial respectively)
c. 115 – Armenia, Assyria and Mesopotamia, formed by Trajan, abandoned by Hadrian in 118
166 – Tres Daciae formed: Porolissensis, Apulensis and Malvensis, imperial procuratorial provinces
193 – Syria divided into Syria Coele and Syria Phoenicia, imperial provinces (proconsular and propraetorial respectively)
193 – Numidia separated from Africa proconsularis, imperial propraetorial province
c. 197 – Mesopotamia, imperial praefectorial province
197 (formalized c. 212) – Britannia divided into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior, imperial provinces (proconsular and propraetorial respectively)
214 AD – Osroene

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.

Late Antiquity

See also: List of Late Roman provinces

The Roman Empire and its administrative divisions, c. 395

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 new capital, known after him as Constantinople, which was sometimes called 'New Rome' because it became the permanent seat of the government. In Italy itself, Rome had not been the imperial residence for sometime and 286 Diocletian formally moved the seat of government to Mediolanum (modern Milan), while taking up residence himself in Nicomedia. During the 4th century, the administrative structure was modified several times, including repeated experiments with Eastern-Western co-emperors. Provinces and dioceses were split to form new ones, the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was abolished and reformed. In the end, with the rise of Odoacer in 476 and the death of Julius Nepos in 480, administration of the effectively reduced Empire was permanently unified in Constantinople.

Detailed information on the arrangements during this period is contained in the Notitia 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 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.

Justinian I made the next great changes 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. Some scholars use the reorganization of the empire into themata in this period as one of the demarcations between the Dominate period and the Byzantine (or "Later Roman") period. (As a matter of scholarly convenience, the medieval phase of the Roman Empire is today conventionally referred to as Byzantine, after the original name of the city Constantine rebuilt into the new capital.)

Primary sources for lists of provinces

Early Roman Empire provinces

Germania (book) (ca. 100)
Geography (Ptolemy) (ca. 140)

Late Roman Empire provinces

Laterculus Veronensis (ca. 310)
Notitia dignitatum (ca. 400-420)
Laterculus Polemii Silvii (ca. 430)
Synecdemus (ca. 520)

References

↑ John Richardson, "Fines provinciae," in Frontiers in the Roman World. Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Durhan, 16–19 April 2009) (Brill, 2011), p. 2ff., and "The Administration of the Empire," in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 1994), vol. 9, pp. 564–565, 580.
↑ Clifford Ando, "The Administration of the Provinces," in A Companion to the Roman Empire (Blackwell, 2010), p. 179.
↑ Andrew Lintott, The Constitution of the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 113ff.; T. Corey Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 626–627.
↑ Lintott, Constitution, p. 114; Brennan, Praetorship, p. 636.
↑ Claude Nicolet, Space, Geography, and Politics in the Early Roman Empire (University of Michigan Press, 1991, originally published in French 1988), pp. 1, 15; Olivier Hekster and Ted Kaizer, preface to Frontiers in the Roman World, p. viii; Lintott, Constitution, p. 114; W. Eder, "The Augustan Principate as Binding Link," in Between Republic and Empire (University of California Press, 1993), p. 98.

Sources

Early Imperial Roman provinces, at livius.org
Pauly-Wissowa
Lintott, Andrew (1993). Imperium Romanum. London: Routledge.
Mommsen, Theodor (1909). The Provinces of the Roman Empire. 2 vols. London: Ares Publishers.
Scarre, Chris (1995). "The Eastern Provinces," The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome. London: Penguin Books, 74–75.
Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (German)
Loewenstein, Karl (1973). The Governance of Rome. Springer. ISBN 90-247-1458-3.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roman provinces.

v t e Provinces of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent (117 AD)

Achaea Aegyptus Africa Alpes Cottiae Alpes Maritimae Alpes Poeninae Arabia Petraea Armenia Asia Assyria Bithynia et Pontus Britannia Cappadocia Cilicia Corsica et Sardinia Creta et Cyrenaica Cyprus Dacia Dalmatia Epirus Galatia Gallia Aquitania Gallia Belgica Gallia Lugdunensis Gallia Narbonensis Germania Inferior Germania Superior Hispania Baetica Hispania Tarraconensis Italia Iudaea Lusitania Lycia et Pamphylia Macedonia Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana Mesopotamia Moesia Inferior Moesia Superior Noricum Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Superior Raetia Sicilia Syria Thracia

Late Roman provinces (4th–7th centuries AD)

History

As found in the Notitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed and dioceses established by Diocletian, c. 293. Permanent praetorian prefectures established after the death of Constantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates of Ravenna and Africa established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by the theme system in c. 640–660, although in Asia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.

Western Empire (395–476)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Gaul

Diocese of Gaul	Alpes Poeninae et Graiae Belgica I Belgica II Germania I Germania II Lugdunensis I Lugdunensis II Lugdunensis III Lugdunensis IV Maxima Sequanorum

Diocese of Vienne¹	Alpes Maritimae Aquitanica I Aquitanica II Narbonensis I Narbonensis II Novempopulania Viennensis

Diocese of Spain	Baetica Balearica Carthaginensis Gallaecia Lusitania Mauretania Tingitana Tarraconensis

Diocese of Britain	Britannia I Britannia II Flavia Caesariensis Maxima Caesariensis Valentia (369)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Italy

Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy	Apulia et Calabria Campania Corsica Lucania et Bruttii Picenum Suburbicarium Samnium Sardinia Sicilia Tuscia et Umbria Valeria

Diocese of Annonarian Italy	Alpes Cottiae Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium Liguria et Aemilia Raetia I Raetia II Venetia et Istria

Diocese of Africa²	Africa proconsularis (Zeugitana) Byzacena Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Sitifensis Numidia Cirtensis Numidia Militiana Tripolitania

Diocese of Pannonia³	Dalmatia Noricum mediterraneum Noricum ripense Pannonia I Pannonia II Savia Valeria ripensis

Eastern Empire (395–c.640)

Praetorian Prefecture
of Illyricum

Diocese of Dacia	Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Ripensis Dardania Moesia I Praevalitana

Diocese of Macedonia	Achaea Creta Epirus nova Epirus vetus Macedonia I Macedonia II Salutaris Thessalia

Praetorian Prefecture
of the East

Diocese of Thrace⁵	Europa Haemimontus Moesia II⁴ Rhodope Scythia⁴ Thracia

Diocese of Asia⁵	Asia Caria⁴ Hellespontus Insulae⁴ Lycaonia (370) Lycia Lydia Pamphylia Pisidia Phrygia Pacatiana Phrygia Salutaria

Diocese of Pontus⁵	Armenia I⁵ Armenia II⁵ Armenia Maior⁵ Armenian Satrapies⁵ Armenia III (536) Armenia IV (536) Bithynia Cappadocia I⁵ Cappadocia II⁵ Galatia I⁵ Galatia II Salutaris⁵ Helenopontus⁵ Honorias⁵ Paphlagonia⁵ Pontus Polemoniacus⁵

Diocese of the East⁵	Arabia Cilicia I Cilicia II Cyprus⁴ Euphratensis Isauria Mesopotamia Osroene Palaestina I Palaestina II Palaestina III Salutaris Phoenice I Phoenice II Libanensis Syria I Syria II Salutaris Theodorias (528)

Diocese of Egypt⁵	Aegyptus I Aegyptus II Arcadia Augustamnica I Augustamnica II Libya Superior Libya Inferior Thebais Superior Thebais Inferior

Other territories

Taurica Quaestura exercitus (536) Spania (552)

¹ Later the Septem Provinciae.
² Re-established after reconquest by the Eastern Empire in 534 as the separate Prefecture of Africa
³ Later the Diocese of Illyricum.
⁴ Joined the Quaestura exercitus in 536.
⁵ Affected (i.e. boundaries modified, abolished or renamed) by Justinian I's administrative reorganization in 534–536.

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