Senatorial and Equestrian Governors in the Third Century A.D.

Abstract

In the second half of the third century a.d., a large number of Roman provinces which used to be governed by legati Augusti pro praetore of senatorial rank, came to be governed by praesides of equestrian rank. In this article the evidence for this change in provincial administration has been collected as fully as possible, and thereupon the question investigated whether the change was in any way the outcome of military considerations.The principles according to which such an investigation must be conducted, should be self-evident. The inscriptions of the latter half of the third century are considerably fewer in number than those of the earlier Empire, and the inscriptions concerning the provincial governors of this period make no exception. They should, therefore, be interpreted with the utmost care and caution. I have tried both to avoid forcing the evidence of inscriptions which have obviously been copied badly, and to avoid utilizing identifications of persons which are either improbable, or demonstrably mistaken: I believe that such evidence should not be used to support any pre-conceived views concerning supposed changes in the administrative system.

Power and Status. Administration, Appointment Policies and Social Hierarchies in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284

“…In areas which experienced frequent internal or external military crises, the equestrian praesides probably carried out mainly civil-administrative and judicial tasks; the military responsibilities of these regions went increasingly into the hands of duces and praepositi, as will be discussed below. In other regions, however, maintaining order may have 15 Petersen (1955), 47, who claims that the cumulation of vicariates in Timesitheus" career does not indicate imperial policy, but that he was entrusted with many vicariates because he was closely related to Gordianus III, obviously did not take into account that these replacements were held under Gordianus III"s predecessors, Elagabalus, Severus Alexander and Maximinus Thrax. Other examples of equites who functioned vice praesidis can be found in the lists of Pflaum (1950), 134-136;Rémy (1976), 466-470;Peachin (1996) By the end of our period, in the 270s and early 280s, equestrians were administering a considerable number of provinces.…”