Proconsul


 
 

:For the Miocene ape, see Proconsul (genus)

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  • In the Roman Republic, a proconsul was a promagistrate who, after serving as consul, spent a year as a governor of a province. Certain provinces were reserved for proconsuls; who received which one by senatorial appointment was determined by random choosing or negotiation between the two proconsuls.
  • Under the Empire, the Emperor derived a good part of his powers (alongside the military imperium and the tribunician power and presidency of the senate in Rome) from a constitutionally 'exceptional' (but permanent) mandate as the holder of proconsular authority over all hence so-called Imperial provinces, generally with one or more legions garrisoned; however, he would appoint legates and other promagistrates to govern them in his name. The former Consuls (constitutionally still eponymic chief magistrates, politically powerless) would still receive a term as proconsul of one of the other, so-called Senatorial provinces.
  • The notitia dignitatum (a unique early 5th century imperial chancery document) still mentions three Proconsuls (Propraetors have completely disappeared), protocollary apparently even above the Vicars of the dioceses which had been set, in turn under the 4 praetorian prefects, above all governors since Diocletian's Tetrarchy :
  • in the eastern empire Asia (, part of Anatolia) and Achaia (i.e. Greece)
  • in the western empire only Africa (mainly modern Tunisia).
  • The many other, often new or split, provinces are under governors of various other -younger, usually less prestigious- styles : Comes, Praefectus Augustalis (unique to Egypt, the emperor's 'pharaonic crown domain'), Consularis, Praeses (provinciae), Corrector provinciae; these are not to be confused with the also territorially -but overlapping- organised strictly military governors: Comes militaris, Dux, and later ].


     

    Miocene: The Miocene epoch is a period of time that extends from about 23 to 5.3 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified, but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain. The Miocene was named...

    Comes: Comes (genitive: comitis) is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus (compare comitatenses), especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes deri...

    Praefectus Augustalis: redirect Diocese of Egypt...

~ Table of Content ~

Introduction
In ancient Rome's empire
By analogy
 
FR: proconsul


 

~ Related Subjects ~

Greek (1) - Oligocene (1) - Period of time (1) - Sir Charles Lyell (1) - Pliocene (1) - Comitatenses (1) - Cohors amicorum (1) - Neogene (1) - Genitive (1) - Dux (1) - Proconsul (genus) (1) - Comes (1) - Miocene (1) - Ape (1) - Praefectus Augustalis (1) -
 

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