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A ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' (literally: "envoy of the emperor – acting for the praetor") was the official title of the governor or general of some

Imperial provinces 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 pro ...

s of the Roman Empire during the Principate era, normally the larger ones or those where legions were based. Provinces were denoted imperial if their governor was selected by the emperor, in contrast to senatorial provinces, whose governors (called proconsuls) were elected by the Roman Senate. A ''legatus Augusti'' was always a senator of consular or praetorian rank (i.e., who had previously held the office of consul or praetor). However, the position of the governor of Egypt (''

praefectus Aegypti During the Roman Empire, the governor of Roman Egypt ''(praefectus Aegypti)'' was a prefect who administered the Roman province of Egypt with the delegated authority ''(imperium)'' of the emperor. Egypt was established as a Roman province in cons ...

'') was unparalleled, for though an ''

eques Eques, ''horseman'' or ''rider'' in Latin, may refer to: * Equites, a member of the Roman Equestrian order * the Latin word for a knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or ...

'' (Roman knight) he had legions under his command. Some smaller imperial provinces where no legions were based (e.g.

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, ...

, Thrace,

Rhaetia Raetia ( ; ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west with Tr ...

, Noricum, and Judaea) were administered by equestrian ''praefecti'' (prefects) later designated ''procuratores'' ( procurators) who commanded only

auxilia The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of inf ...

ry forces. The ''legatus Augusti'' was both the head of the provincial administration, chief judicial officer and commander-in-chief of all military forces based in the province (legions and auxiliaries). The only function outside the remit of the ''legatus'' was finance (the collection of imperial taxes and revenues), which was handled by an independent ''procurator'', who reported direct to the emperor. In the military hierarchy, the ''legatus'' ' direct subordinates were the '' legati legionis'' (the commanders of the legions based in the province), who in turn commanded the '' tribuni militum'' (the legion's senior staff officers) and the ''praefecti'' (commanders) of the auxiliary regiments attached to the legion. In AD 68, 15 out of a total of 36 provinces were ruled by ''legati Augusti'':

Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the ...

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...

Gallia Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gallia ...

, Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Belgica, Britannia, Germania Inferior,

Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio' ...

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...

, Cappadocia, Lycia et Pamphylia,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

.CAH X 369 (Table 2)

Citations

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References

* Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed. : Vol X (1996) ''The Augustan Empire'' * A.H.J.Greenidge. Roman Public Life (1901) pp. 434 ff * The Oxford Classical Dictionary 3rd Edition revised (2003) * G.H. Stevenson. Roman Provincial Administration Till The Age of The Antonines (1939) * John Richardson. Roman Provincial Administration 227 BC to AD 117 (1976) * A.H.M. Jones. 'Procurators and Prefects in the Early Principate' "Studies in Roman Government and Law" pp. 117-125 (1960) * John Rogan. Roman Provincial Administration (2011) Ancient Roman titles Gubernatorial titles Military ranks of ancient Rome

See also

Citations

References