Dux Wasconum 1150

''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms ( doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' could refer to anyone who commanded troops, both Roman generals and foreign leaders, but was not a formal military rank.

Roman Empire

Original usage

Until the 3rd century, ''dux'' was not a formal expression of rank within the Roman military or administrative hierarchy.

In the Roman army, a ''dux'' would be a general in charge of two or more legions. While the title of ''dux'' could refer to a consul or imperator, it usually refers to the Roman governor of the provinces. As the governor, the dux was both the highest civil official as well as the commander-in-chief of the legions garrisoned within the province.

In writing his commentaries on the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar uses the term only for Celtic generals, with one exception for a Roman commander who held no official rank.

Change in usage

By the mid-3rd century AD, it had acquired a more precise connotation defining the commander of an expeditionary force, usually made up of detachments (i.e., '' vexillationes'') from one or more of the regular military formations. Such appointments were made to deal with specific military situations when the threat to be countered seemed beyond the capabilities of the province-based military command structure that had characterised the Roman army of the High Empire.

From the time of Gallienus onwards for more than a century were invariably ''Viri Perfectissimi'', i.e., members of the second class of the equestrian order. Thus, they would have out-ranked the commanders of provincial legions, who were usually ''Viri Egregii'' – equestrians of the third class.

''Duces'' differed from ''praesides'' who were the supreme civil as well as military authority within their provinces in that the function of the former was purely military. However, the military authority of a ''dux'' was not necessarily confined to a single province and they do not seem to have been subject to the authority of the governor of the province in which they happened to be operating. It was not until the end of the 3rd century that the term ''dux'' emerged as a regular military rank held by a senior officer of '' limitanei'' – i.e. frontier troops as opposed those attached to an Imperial field-army ('' comitatenses'') – with a defined geographic area of responsibility.

The office under the Dominate

During the time of the Dominate, the powers of a ''dux'' were split from the role of the governor and were given to a new office called ''dux''. The dux was now the highest military office within the province and commanded the legions, but the governor had to authorize the use of the ''duxs powers. However, once those powers were authorized, the ''dux'' could act independently from the governor and handle all military matters. The '' Dux Belgicae secundae'' ("commander of the second Belgic province") is an example of this office.

After Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform, the provinces were organized into dioceses with each dioceses administered by a vicarius. As with the governors, the vicarius was assisted by a ''dux''. This ''dux'' was superior to all other ''duces'' within the dioceses—when the vicarius called the legions of the dioceses into action, all of the legions were at the command of the ''dux''. The office of ''dux'' was, in turn, made subject to the magister militum of his respective praetorian prefecture, and above him to the emperor. The ''Dux per Gallias'', ''dux'' of the diocese of Gaul, is an example of this office.

Later developments

In the Byzantine era of the Roman Empire, the position of dux survived (Byzantine Greek: "δούξ", ''doux'', plural "δούκες", ''doukes'') as a rank equivalent to a general (''strategos''). In the late 10th and early 11th centuries, a ''doux'' or '' katepano'' was in charge of large circumscriptions consisting of several smaller '' themata'' and of the professional regiments ('' tagmata'') of the Byzantine army (as opposed to the largely militia-like forces of most ''themata''). In the Komnenian period, the title of ''doux'' replaced altogether the ''strategos'' in designating the military official in charge of a ''thema''. In the Byzantine navy, ''doukes'' of the fleet appear in the 1070s, and the office of '' megas doux'' ("grand duke") was created in the 1090s as the commander-in-chief of the entire navy.

The title also gave rise to a family name, the aristocratic Doukas clan, which in the 9th–11th centuries provided several Byzantine emperors and generals, while later bearers of the name (maternally descended from the original family) founded the Despotate of Epirus in northwestern Greece.

Post-Roman uses

King Arthur, in one of his earliest literary appearances, is described as ''dux bellorum'' ("''dux'' of battles") among the kings of the Romano-Britons in their wars against the Anglo-Saxons. A chronicle from St Martin's monastery in Cologne states that the monastery had been pillaged by the Saxons in 778, but that it was rebuilt by an "Olgerus, dux Daniæ" (who may have been the historical person around whom the myth of Ogier the Dane formed), with the help of Charlemagne.

''Dux'' is also the root of various high feudal noble titles of peerage rank, such as the English '' duke'', the French ''duc'', the Spanish and Portuguese ''duque'', the Venetian '' doge'', the Italian '' duca'' and '' duce'', and the Byzantine Greek ''dukas'' or ''doukas'' (Gr. δούκας) (see Doukas).

Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini used the title of ''dux'' (and '' duce'' in Italian) to represent his leadership. One fascist motto was "DVX MEA LVX", Latin for " heDuce smy light" or " heLeader smy light".

In pre-revolutionary Russia, the Dux Factory built bicycles, automobiles and aircraft in Moscow.

Education

* In Hong Kong, Scotland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand ''dux'' is a modern title given to the highest-ranking student in academic, arts or sporting achievement ('' Dux Litterarum'', ''Dux Artium'' and ''Dux Ludorum'' respectively) in each graduating year. This can lead to scholarships at universities. The runner-up may be given the title '' proxime accessit'' (meaning "he/she came next") or ''semidux''.
* In Portuguese universities the Dux is the most senior of students, usually in charge of overseeing the praxe (initiation rituals for the freshmen).

See also

* Valedictorian
* Salutatorian

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* '' Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft'' (''Pauly–Wissowa'')

External links

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{{Authority control

Ancient Roman titles
Latin words and phrases
Military ranks of ancient Rome
Late Roman military ranks