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Frumentarii
The ''Frumentarii'' were an ancient Roman military organization used as an intelligence agency. They began their history as a courier service and developed into an imperial spying agency. Their organization would also carry out assassinations. The ''frumentarii'' were headquartered in the Castra Peregrina and were run by the '' princeps peregrinorum''. They were disbanded under the reign of Diocletian due to their poor reputation amongst the populace. History It had been a long-standing policy of the Roman legions and armies of occupation to utilize informers and spies, but never in an organized fashion. This was especially true in the city of Rome which was rife with whispers and endless conspiracies. The ''frumentarii'' was possibly established by Domitian, although they only appear in records shortly after his reign in the early second century. When established, their base was located at the Castra Peregrina on the Caelian hill, though Trajan would later centralize their loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castra Peregrina
The Castra Peregrina ("camp of the strangers") was a castrum (a military barracks) in Rome situated on the Caelian Hill. It was occupied by various military units during the later part of the Roman Empire. Location and archaeology The barracks are situated on the Caelian Hill between the Temple of Claudius and Nero's Macellum Magnum. It is centrally located on a hill known for its housing of wealthy Romans. The fourth-century Regionaries list the ''Castra Peregrina'' in ''regio II''. The remains of the camp were discovered during digging for the foundations of a convent and hospital and partially excavated from 1904 to 1909.Richardson jr., L: ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'', JHU Press, 1992, p. 78 It can now be found just south-east of the well preserved church Santo Stefano al Monte Celio. Within the ''castra'' was a shrine (''templum'') of Jupiter Redux erected in honour of Severus and Mammaea by a ''centurio frumentarius''. A carving of the construction of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legionary
The Roman legionary (in Latin ''legionarius'', plural ''legionarii'') was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms. These soldiers would conquer and defend the territories of ancient Rome during the late Republic and Principate eras, alongside auxiliary and cavalry detachments. At its height, Roman legionaries were viewed as the foremost fighting force in the Roman world, with commentators such as Vegetius praising their fighting effectiveness centuries after the classical Roman legionary disappeared. Roman legionaries were recruited from Roman citizens under age 45. They were first predominantly made up of recruits from Roman Italy, but more were recruited from the provinces as time went on. As legionaries moved into newly conquered provinces, they helped Romanize the native population and helped integrate the disparate regions of the Roman Empire into one polity. They enlisted in a legion for 25 years of service, a change from the early practi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Governor
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. The generic term in Roman legal language was '' Rector provinciae,'' regardless of the specific titles, which also reflects the province's intrinsic and strategic status, and corresponding differences in authority. By the time of the early Empire, two types of provinces existed—senatorial and imperial—and several types of governor would emerge. Only ''proconsuls'' and ''propraetors'' fell under the classification of promagistrate. Duties of the governor The governor was the province's chief judge. He had the sole right to impose capital punishment, and capital cases were normally tried before him. To appeal a governor's decision necessitated travelling to Rome and presenting one's case before either the ''praetor urbanus'', or even the Emperor himself, an expensive, and thus rare, process. An appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consularis
''Consularis'' is a Latin adjective indicating something pertaining to the position or rank of consul. In Ancient Rome it was also used as a noun (plural ''consulares'') to designate those senators who had held the office of consul or attained consular rank as a special honour. In Late Antiquity, the title became also a gubernatorial rank for provincial governors. History In the Roman Republic, the term ''vir consularis'' (rendered in Greek as ὑπατικός, ''hypatikos'') or ''consularis'' designated any senator who had served as consul. The distinction was accompanied by specific privileges and honours, and was normally a necessary qualification for a number of magistracies: the posts of ''dictator'' and his deputy, the '' magister equitum'' (although some cases seem to refute that), the post of '' censor'' as well as the governance of certain provinces as proconsuls. The distinction was attached to their wives as well (''consularis femina'', in Greek ὑπατική or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Province
An imperial province was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Emperor had the sole right to appoint the governor (''legatus Augusti pro praetore''). These provinces were often the strategically located border provinces. The provinces were grouped into imperial and senatorial provinces shortly after the accession of Augustus. The following provinces were imperial provinces: *Aegyptus *Alpes Cottiae *Alpes Maritimae * Alpes Poenninae *Armenia *Assyria *Britannia *Cilicia *Dacia *Dalmatia *Galatia *Gallia Aquitania *Gallia Belgica *Gallia Lugdunensis *Germania Inferior *Germania Superior *Hispania Tarraconensis *Judaea *Lusitania *Moesia *Mesopotamia *Noricum *Pannonia *Raetia *Syria *Thracia Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek ... {{Terms for types of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aedile
''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order and duties to ensure the city of Rome was well supplied and its civil infrastructure well maintained, akin to modern local government. There were two pairs of aediles: the first were the "plebeian aediles" (Latin ''aediles plebis'') and possession of this office was limited to plebeians; the other two were "curule aediles" (Latin ''aediles curules''), open to both plebeians and patricians, in alternating years. An ''aedilis curulis'' was classified as a '' magister curulis''. The office of the aedilis was generally held by young men intending to follow the ''cursus honorum'' to high political office, traditionally after their quaestorship but before their praetorship. It was not a compulsory part of the cursus, and henc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optio
An , plural ( lat, italic=yes, optiō, , from , "to choose", so-called because an was chosen by a centurion), was a position in a '' centuria'' (century) of a Roman army similar to that of an executive officer. The main function of an was as an , the second-in-command of a century, although there were many other roles an could adopt. were vital in the Roman army. An was stationed at the rear of the ranks to keep the troops in order. Their duties would include enforcing the orders of the centurion, taking over the centurion's command in battle should the need arise, supervising his subordinates, and a variety of administrative duties. pay was double the standard legionary pay and they were the most likely men to replace the centurion if the position became vacant. Types of Titles held by included: *: chosen man on prison duty ( incarceration). *: being groomed for promotion to the rank of centurion. *: being groomed or marked out for promotion to the rank of centurio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetorian Prefect
The praetorian prefect ( la, praefectus praetorio, el, ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides. Under Constantine I, the office was much reduced in power and transformed into a purely civilian administrative post, while under his successors, territorially-defined praetorian prefectures emerged as the highest-level administrative division of the Empire. The prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name. In this role, praetorian prefects continued to be appointed by the Eastern Roman Empire (and the Ostrogothic Kingdom) until the reign of Heraclius in the 7th century AD, when wide-ranging reforms reduced their power and converted them to mere overseers of provincial administration. The last traces of the prefecture disappeared in the Byzantine Em ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 legionaries. In a Roman legion, centuries were grouped into cohorts and commanded by their senior-most centurion. The prestigious first cohort was led by the ''primus pilus'', the most senior centurion in the legion and its fourth-in-command who was next in line for promotion to Praefectus Castrorum, and the primi ordines who were the centurions of the first cohort. A centurion's symbol of office was the vine staff, with which they disciplined even Roman citizens, who were otherwise legally protected from corporal punishment by the Porcian Laws. Centurions also served in the Roman navy. After the 107 BC Marian reforms of Gaius Marius, centurions were professional officers. In Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Byzantine army's cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agentes In Rebus
The ''agentes in rebus'' ( grc, ἀγγελιαφόροι, angeliaphóroi, messengers, or , ''magistrianoí'', ' magister's men'.) were the late Roman imperial courier service and general agents of the central government from the 4th to the 7th centuries. History The exact date of their institution is unknown. They are first mentioned in 319, but may date to Diocletian's reforms in the late 3rd century, when they replaced the earlier and much-detested ''frumentarii''. The central imperial administration still needed couriers, and the ''agentes in rebus'' filled this role. Originally they acted as dispatch carriers, but eventually assumed a variety of duties—the title itself translates as "Those Active in Matters". They fell under the jurisdiction of the ''magister officiorum'' (Master of the Offices), hence their alternate Greek name of ''magistrianoi''. They were eventually abolished sometime in the early 8th century, as most of the ''magister''s functions were taken over by t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poverty In Ancient Rome
Modern scholars of ancient Rome have found difficulty in defining who was considered to be living in poverty due to their lack of significant coverage in the historical record, and the difficulty in defining the lines between poverty and middle class. Roman writers describe the poorer parts of the population as unvirtuous and immoral masses who were threats to the nation and unconcerned with the values of the Roman world. Ancient Roman Christian depictions tend to depict the poor as more sympathetic and often call for the wealthy to help them. There were other efforts to help the poor, such as the ''Cura Annonae'', a policy which redistributed grain. The Roman poor also had limited rights. They were unable to access political offices, had higher tax rates, and were unable to afford most status symbols. Definition It can be difficult to define ancient Roman poverty. The conditions of most people in the Roman world resembled modern ideas of poverty. They had high rates of infant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
