Roman Equestrian Magistracies under the Empire

27BC to 284AD

Initial version created 1st September 2015

Updated 6th September 2015: many revisions / additions in all sections.

Lists of prefects, procurators (and similar magistrates) by general category

Clicking on the name of the general category (Prefectures, Palatina, Roma, Italia, Provincia) gives a link to the equestrian magistracies in that category.

Officia Update Notes
Prefectures 2015-09-06 The 4 great prefectures, the legion commanders and Mesopotamia.
Palatina 2015-09-06 The imperial palace procurators / magistrates.
Roma 2015-09-06 Procurators / magistrates responsible for affairs in the capital.
Italia 2015-09-06 Procurators / magistrates responsible for affairs in the regions of Italy.
Provincia 2015-09-06 Procurators etc. responsible for affairs in the individual provinces.
 

Numbers of active procurators (and similar magistrates) by period

Split by salary category before Vespasian is not possible due to lack of evidence.

Salary Rank Abbrev. Annual salary HS 30BC - 14AD 14-37 37-41 41-54 54-68 69-81 81-96 96-117 117-138 138-161 161-180 180-192 192-211 211-249 250-284
Trecenarius CCC 300.000           0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 11 11
Ducenarius CC 200.000           29 29 34 34 35 33 36 36 36 38
Centenarius C 100.000           20 22 29 35 37 49 49 56 58 61
Sexegenarius LX 60.000           10 13 21 35 35 42 50 72 78 77
Umknown X unknown 25 30 29 39 46 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total     25 30 29 39 46 59 64 84 104 107 125 136 174 183 187

Explanatory Notes

  1. Abbreviations of salary ranks can be seen in table above.
  2. An "F" stands for freedman.
  3. Some lower offices not included in the above summary have a salary of only 40.000 HS, indicated as "XL".
  4. If salary rank is in parenthesis, the office is not a long-term office, but an ad-hoc office, examples are the many procurators for taking the census.
  5. A parenthesis may also indicate that the office is already listed under a different province and thus already counted.
  6. Please note there are many uncertainties in the data. Exactly when a freedman is replaced by an eques in a given office is not known.
    The office may also have been in use earlier than the first attested magistrate or later than the last attested office-holder.
    The function of several office-holders are disputed by scholars.
    Also naming of offices is not consistant over time.
  7. Procurators provinciae are generally divided into three types by scholars, although the title may be the same (procurator Augusti provinciae XXX)
    • Patrimonial procurator: in charge of the revenues of a senatorial province.
      Initially only the emperor's personal revenues from his patrimony or private property, later possibly also state revenues, which were administered by a senatorial quaestor.
    • Fiscal procurator: in charge of both private and public revenues in an imperial province
    • Praesidial procurator as governor of certain provinces, e.g. Judaea, the two Mauritanias and the small provinces in the Alpes.
      Initially termed praefectus until Claudius and then procurator. In 2nd century often termed praeses.

Literature on Roman equestrian offices

  1. Domaszhwski, A. von: "Die Rangordnung des Römischen Heeres", Bonn, 1908
  2. Hirschfeld, Otto: "Die Kaiserlichen Verwaltungsbeamten bis auf Diocletian", Berlin, 1905
  3. Liebenam, W: "Beiträge zur Verwaltungsgeschichte des Römischen Kaiserreichs", Jena, 1886
    Band 1 "Die Laufbahn der Procuratoren bis auf die Zeit Diocletians"
  4. Pflaum, H.G.: "Les Carrieres Procuratoriennes Equestres sous le Haut-Empire Romain",1960-1961 with supplement 1982, in my booklist
  5. Pflaum, H.G.: "Les Procurateurs Equestres sous le Haut-Empire Romain",Paris, 1950
  6. Pflaum, H.G.: his entry "Prokurator" in Realencyclopädie Band XXIII, 1, pp.1240-1279 (1957)
  7. Pflaum, H.G.: "Abrégé des procurateurs équestres",Paris, 1974
  8. Saller, Richard P.: "Personal Patronage under the early Empire", Cambridge University Press, 1982
  9. Sherwin-White, A.N.: Procurator Augusti", in Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 15 (1939), pp. 11-26
 

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