Roman province

The Roman provinces (Latin: provincia, pl.

provinciae) were the administrative regions of
Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were
controlled by the Romans under the Roman
Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each
province was ruled by a Roman appointed as
governor.[1 ]

For centuries it was the largest administrative

unit of the foreign possessions of ancient Rome.[1 ]
With the administrative reform initiated by
Diocletian, it became a third level administrative
subdivision of the Roman Empire, or rather a
subdivision of the imperial dioceses (in turn Roman Empire under Augustus (31 BC – AD 14),
showing the empire as of 31 BC in yellow,
subdivisions of the imperial prefectures).[1 ]
additions to 19 BC in dark green, additions in 9 BC
in light green, and additions to AD 6 in pale green.
History Client states in mauve.

A province was the basic and, until the Tetrarchy

(from AD 293), the largest territorial and
administrative unit of the empire's territorial
possessions outside Roman Italy.

During the republic and early empire, provinces

were generally governed by politicians of
senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former
praetors.[1 ] A later exception was the province of
Egypt, which was incorporated by Augustus after
the death of Cleopatra and was ruled by a
governor of only equestrian rank, perhaps as a
discouragement to senatorial ambition.[1 ] That
exception was unique but not contrary to Roman
law, as Egypt was considered Augustus's personal
property, following the tradition of the kings of
The Roman empire under Hadrian (125) showing
the earlier Hellenistic period.[1 ]
the provinces as then organised.

Republican period

The English word province comes from the Latin word provincia.[2] The Latin term provincia had an
equivalent in eastern, Greek-speaking parts of the Greco-Roman world. In the Greek language, a
province was called an eparchy (Greek: ἐπαρχίᾱ, eparchia), with a governor called an eparch (Greek:
ἔπαρχος, eparchos).[3]

Emergence
The Latin provincia, during the middle republic, referred not to a territory, but to a task assigned to a
Roman magistrate. That task might require using the military command powers of imperium but
otherwise could even be a task assigned to a junior magistrates without imperium: for example, the
treasury was the provincia of a quaestor and the civil jurisdiction of the urban praetor was the
urbana provincia.[2] In the middle and late republican authors like Plautus, Terence, and Cicero, the
word referred something akin to a modern ministerial portfolio:[4] "when... the senate assigned
provinciae to the various magistrates... what they were doing was more like allocating a portfolio than
putting people in charge of geographic areas".[5]

The first commanders dispatched with provinciae were for the purpose of waging war and to
command an army. However, merely that a provincia was assigned did not mean the Romans made
that territory theirs. For example, Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus in 211 BC received Macedonia as
his provincia but the republic did not annex the kingdom, even as Macedonia was continuously
assigned until 205 BC with the end of the First Macedonian war. Even though the Second and Third
Macedonian wars saw the Macedonian province revived, the senate settled affairs in the region by
abolishing Macedonia and replacing it with four client republics. Macedonia only came under direct
Roman administration in the aftermath of the Fourth Macedonian war in 148 BC.[6] Similarly,
assignment of various provinciae in Hispania was not accompanied by the creation of any regular
administration of the area; indeed, even though two praetors were assigned to Hispania regularly
from 196 BC, no systematic settlement of the region occurred for nearly thirty years and what
administration occurred was ad hoc and emerged from military necessities.[7 ]

In the middle republic, the administration of a territory – whether taxation or jurisdictrion – had
basically no relationship with whether that place was assigned as a provincia by the senate. Rome
would even intervene on territorial disputes which were part of no provincia at all and were not
administered by Rome.[8] The territorial province, called a "permanent" provincia in the scholarship,
emerged only gradually.

Permanent provincia

The acquisition of territories, however, through the middle republic created the recurrent task of
defending and administering some place. The first "permanent" provincia was that of Sicily, created
after the First Punic War. In the immediate aftermath, a quaestor was sent to Sicily to look out for
Roman interests but eventually, praetors were dispatched as well. The sources differ as to when
sending a praetor became normal: Appian reports 241 BC; Solinus indicates 227 BC instead.
Regardless, the change likely reflected Roman unease about Carthaginian power: quaestors could not
command armies or fleets; praetors could and initially seem to have held largely garrison duties.[9]
This first province started a permanent shift in Roman thinking about provincia. Instead of being a
task of military expansion, it became a recurrent defensive assignment to oversee conquered
territories. These defensive assignments, with few opportunities to gain glory, were less desirable and
therefore became regularly assigned to the praetors.[1 0]

Only around 180 BC did provinces take on a more geographically-defined position when a border was
established to separate the two commanders assigned to Hispania on the river Baetis.[1 1 ] Later
provinces, once campaigns were complete, were all largely defined geographically.[1 2] Once this
division of permanent and temporary provinciae emerged, magistrates assigned to permanent
provinces also came under pressures to achieve as much as possible during their terms. Whenever a
military crisis occurred near some province, it was normally reassigned to one of the consuls; praetors
were left with the garrison duties.[1 3] In the permanent provinces, the Roman commanders were
initially not intended as administrators. However, the presence of the commander with forces
sufficient to coerce compliance made him an obvious place to seek final judgement. A governor's legal
jurisdiction thus grew from the demands of the provincial inhabitants for authoritative settlement of
disputes.[1 4]
In the absence of opportunities for conquest and with little oversight for their activities, many
praetorian governors settled on extorting the provincials. This profiteering threatened Roman control
by unnecessarily angering the province's subject populations and was regardless dishonourable. It
eventually drew a reaction from the senate, which reacted with laws to rein in the governors.[1 5]
After initial experimentation with ad hoc panels of inquest, various laws were passed, such as the lex
Calpurnia de repetundis in 149 BC, which established a permanent court to try corruption cases;
troubles with corruption and laws reacting to it continued through the republican era.[1 6] By the end
of the republic, a multitude of laws had been passed on how a governor would complete his task,
requiring presence in the province, regulating how he could requisition goods from provincial
communities, limiting the number of years he could serve in the province, etc.[1 7 ]

Assignment

Prior to 123 BC, the senate assigned consular provinces as it wished, usually in its first meeting of the
consular year. The specific provinces to be assigned were normally determined by lot or by mutual
agreement among the commanders; only extraordinarily did the senate assign a command extra
sortem (outside of sortition).[1 8] But in 123 or 122 BC, the tribune Gaius Sempronius Gracchus
passed the lex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus, which required the senate to select the consular
provinces before the consular elections and made this announcement immune from tribunician
veto.[1 9] The law had the effect of, over time, abolishing the temporary provinciae, as it was not
always realistic for the senate to anticipate the theatres of war some six months in advance. Instead,
the senate chose to assign consuls to permanent provinces near expected trouble spots. From 200 to
124 BC, only 22 per cent of recorded consular provinciae were permanent provinces; between 122
and 53 BC, this rose to 60 per cent.[20]

While many of the provinces had been assigned to sitting praetors in the earlier part of the second
century, with new praetorships created to fill empty provincial commands, by the start of the first
century it had become uncommon for praetors to hold provincial commands during their formal
annual term. Instead they generally took command as promagistrate after the end of their term. The
use of prorogation was due to an insufficient number of praetors, which was for two reasons: more
provinces needed commands[21 ] and the increased number of permanent jury courts (quaestiones
perpetuae), each of which had a praetor as president, exacerbated this issue.[22] Praetors during the
second century were normally prorogued pro praetore, but starting with the Spanish provinces and
expanding by 167 BC, praetors were more commonly prorogued with the augmented rank pro
consule; by the end of the republic, all governors acted pro consule.[23]

Also important was the assertion of popular authority over the assignment of provincial commands.
This started with Gaius Marius, who had an allied tribune introduce a law transferring to him the
already-taken province of Numidia (then held by Quintus Caecilius Metellus), allowing Marius to
assume command of the Jugurthine War.[24] This innovation destabilised the system of assigning
provincial commands, exacerbated internal political tensions, and later allowed ambitious politicians
to assemble for themselves enormous commands which the senate would never have approved: the
Pompeian lex Gabinia of 67 BC granted Pompey all land within 50 miles of the Mediterranean;
Caesar's Gallic command that encompassed three normal provinces.[25]

Transition to empire

The increasing practices of prorogation and statutorily-defined "super commands" driven by

popularis political tactics[26] undermined the republican constitutional principle of annually-elected
magistracies. This allowed the powerful men to amass disproportionate wealth and military power
through their provincial commands, which was one of the major factors in the transition from a
republic to an imperial autocracy.[27 ][28][29][30][31 ]
The senate attempted to push back against these commands in many instances: it preferred to break
up any large war into multiple territorially separated commands; for similar reasons, it opposed the
lex Gabinia which gave Pompey an overlapping command over large portions of the
Mediterranean.[32] The senate, which had long acted as a check on aristocratic ambitions, was unable
to stop these immense commands, which culminated eventually with the reduction of the number of
meaningfully-independent governors during the triumviral period to three men and, with the end of
the republic, to one man.

Early imperial period

During his sixth and seventh consulships (28 and 27 BC), Augustus began a process which saw the
republic return to "normality": he shared the fasces that year with his consular colleague month-by-
month and announced the abolition of the triumvirate by the end of the year in accordance with
promises to do so at the close of the civil wars.[33] At the start of 27 BC, Augustus formally had a
provincial command over all of Rome's provinces. That year, in his "first settlement", he
ostentatiously returned his control of them and their attached armies to the senate, likely by
declaring that the task assigned to him either by the lex Titia creating the Triumvirate or that the
war on Cleopatra and Antony was complete.[34] In return, at a carefully-managed meeting of the
senate, he was given commands over Spain, Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt to hold for ten
years; these provinces contained 22 of the 28 extant Roman legions (over 80 per cent) and contained
all prospective military theatres.[35]

The provinces that were assigned to Augustus became known as imperial provinces and the
remaining provinces, largely demilitarised and confined to the older republican conquests, became
known as public or senatorial provinces, as their commanders were still assigned by the senate
on an annual basis consistent with tradition.[36] Because no one man could command in practically all
the border-regions of the empire at once, Augustus appointed subordinate legates for each of the
provinces with the title legatus Augusti pro praetore. These lieutenant legati probably held
imperium but, due to their lack of an independent command, were unable to triumph and could be
replaced by their superior (Augustus) at any time.[37 ] These arrangements were likely based on the
precedent of Pompey's proconsulship over the Spanish provinces after 55 BC entirely through legates,
while he stayed in the vicinity of Rome.[38][39] In contrast, the public provinces continued to be
governed by proconsuls with formally independent commands.[36] In only three of the public
provinces were there any armies: Africa, Illyricum, and Macedonia; after Augustus' Balkan wars, only
Africa retained a legion.[40]

To make this monopolisation of military commands palatable, Augustus separated prestige from
military importance and inverted it. The title pro praetore had gone out of use by the end of the
republic and was regardless in inferior status to a proconsul. More radically, Egypt (which was
sufficiently powerful that a commander there could start a rebellion against the emperor) was
commanded by a equestrian prefect, "a very low title indeed" as prefects were normally low-ranking
officers and equestrians were not normally part of the elite.[41 ] In Augustus' "second settlement" of
23 BC, he gave up his continual holding of the consulship in exchange for a general proconsulship –
with a special dispensation from the law that nullified imperium within the city of Rome – over the
imperial provinces.[42] He also gave himself, through the senate, a general grant of imperium maius,
which gave him priority over the ordinary governors of the public provinces, allowing him to interfere
in their affairs.[43]

Within the public and imperial provinces there also existed distinctions of rank. In the public
provinces, the provinces of Africa and Asia were given only to ex-consuls; ex-praetors received the
others. The imperial provinces eventually produced a three-tier system with prefects and
procurators, legates pro praetore who were ex-praetors, and legates pro praetore who were ex-
consuls.[44] The public provinces' governors normally served only one year; the imperial provinces'
governors on the other hand normally served several years before rotating out.[45] The extent to
which the emperor exercised control over all the provinces increased during the imperial period:
Tiberius, for example, once reprimanded legates in the imperial provinces for failing to forward
financial reports to the senate; by the reign of Claudius, however, the senatorial provinces' proconsuls
were regularly issued with orders directly from the emperor.[46]

Late imperial period

The emperor Diocletian introduced a radical
reform known as the tetrarchy (AD 284–305),
with a western and an eastern senior emperor
styled Augustus, each seconded by a junior
emperor (and designated successor) styled
caesar.[1 ] Each of these four defended and
administered a quarter of the empire. In the
290s, Diocletian divided the empire anew into
almost a hundred provinces, including Roman
Italy.[1 ] Their governors were hierarchically
ranked, from the proconsuls of Africa
Proconsularis and Asia through those governed
The new territorial division of tetrarchic system,
by consulares and correctores to the praesides.
promoted by Diocletian (c. AD 300).
The provinces in turn were grouped into
(originally twelve) dioceses, headed usually by a
vicarius, who oversaw their affairs. Only the
proconsuls and the urban prefect of Rome (and later Constantinople) were exempt from this, and
were directly subordinated to the tetrarchs.[1 ]

Although the Caesars were soon eliminated from the picture, the four administrative resorts were
restored in 318 by Emperor Constantine I, in the form of praetorian prefectures, whose holders
generally rotated frequently, as in the usual magistracies but without a colleague.[1 ] Constantine also
created a new capital, named after him as Constantinople, which was sometimes called 'New Rome'
because it became the permanent seat of the government.[1 ] In Italy itself, Rome had not been the
imperial residence for some time and 286 Diocletian formally moved the seat of government to
Mediolanum (modern Milan), while taking up residence himself in Nicomedia.[1 ] During the 4th
century, the administrative structure was modified several times, including repeated experiments
with Eastern-Western co-emperors.[47 ]

Detailed information on the arrangements during this period is contained in the Notitia Dignitatum
(Record of Offices), a document dating from the early 5th century. Most data is drawn from this
authentic imperial source, as the names of the areas governed and titles of the governors are given
there. There are however debates about the source of some data recorded in the Notitia, and it seems
clear that some of its own sources are earlier than others. Some scholars compare this with the list of
military territories under the duces, in charge of border garrisons on so-called limites, and the higher
ranking Comites rei militaris, with more mobile forces, and the later, even higher magistri
militum.[48]

Justinian I made the next great changes in 534–536 by abolishing, in some provinces, the strict
separation of civil and military authority that Diocletian had established.[1 ]This process was continued
on a larger scale with the creation of extraordinary Exarchates in the 580s and culminated with the
adoption of the military theme system in the 640s, which replaced the older administrative
arrangements entirely.[1 ] Some scholars use the reorganization of the empire into themata in this
period as one of the demarcations between the Dominate and the Byzantine (or the Later Roman)
period.

List of provinces

Republican provinces
241 BC – Sicilia (Sicily) taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed at the end of
the First Punic War
237 BC – Sardinia and Corsica; these two islands were taken over from the
Carthaginians and annexed soon after the Mercenary War, in 238 BC and 237 BC
respectively
197 BC – Hispania Citerior; along the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula; part of the
territories taken over from the Carthaginians
197 BC – Hispania Ulterior; along the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula; part of
the territories taken over from the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War
147 BC – Macedonia was annexed after the Achaean War
146 BC – Africa (modern-day Tunisia, eastern Algeria and western Libya); created
after the destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War
129 BC – Asia, formerly the Attalid kingdom, in western Anatolia (now in Turkey),
bequeathed to Rome by its last king, Attalus III, in 133 BC.
120 BC – Gallia Narbonensis (southern France); prior to its annexation it was called
Gallia Transalpina (Gallia on the other side of the Alps) to distinguish it from Gallia
Cisalpina (Gaul on this same side of the Alps, in northern Italy). It was annexed
following attacks on the allied Greek city of Massalia (Marseille).
67 BC – Crete and Cyrenaica; Cyrenaica was bequeathed to Rome in 78 BC. However,
it was not organised as a province. It was incorporated into the province of Creta et
Cyrenae when Crete was annexed in 67 BC.
63 BC – Bithynia et Pontus; the Kingdom of Bithynia (in North-western Anatolia) was
bequeathed to Rome by its last king, Nicomedes IV, in 74 BC. It was organised as a
Roman province at the end of the Third Mithridatic War (73–63 BC) by Pompey, who
incorporated the western part of the defeated Kingdom of Pontus into it in 63 BC.
63 BC – Syria; Pompey deposed the last Seleucid king Philip II Philoromaeus, creating
the province of Syria.
63 BC – Cilicia; Cilicia was created as a province in the sense of area of military
command in 102 BC in a campaign against piracy. The Romans controlled only a small
area. In 74 BC Lycia and Pamphylia (to the east) were added to the small Roman
possessions in Cilicia. Cilicia came fully under Roman control at the end of the Third
Mithridatic War (73–63 BC), reorganised by Pompey in 63 BC.
58 BC – Cyprus was annexed and added to the province of Cilicia, creating the
province of Cilicia et Cyprus.
46 BC – Africa Nova (Eastern Numidia – Algeria), Julius Caesar annexed Eastern
Numidia and the new province called Africa Nova (new Africa) to distinguish it from
the older province of Africa, created in 146 BC, which became known as Africa Vetus
(old Africa). Western Numidia was annexed and added to the province of Africa Nova
in 40 BC. The territory remained the direct part of the Roman Empire except for a
brief period when Augustus restored Juba II (son of Juba I) as a client king (30–25 BC).
Cisalpine Gaul (in northern Italy) was occupied by Rome in the 220s BC and became considered
geographically and de facto part of Roman Italy,[49] but remained politically and de jure separated. It
was legally merged into the administrative unit of Roman Italy in 42 BC by the triumvir Augustus as
a ratification of Caesar's unpublished acts (Acta Caesaris).[50][51 ][52][53][54]

Provinces of the Principate

Under Augustus

30 BC – Aegyptus, taken over by

Augustus after his defeat of Mark
Antony and Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. It
was the first imperial province in
that it was Augustus' own domain as
the Egyptians recognised him as
their new pharaoh. Its proper initial
name was Alexandrea et Aegyptus.
It was governed by Augustus'
praefectus, Alexandreae et Aegypti.
27 BC – Achaia (southern and central The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, under Trajan
Greece), Augustus separated it from (117); imperial provinces are shaded green, senatorial
Macedonia (senatorial propraetorial provinces are shaded pink, and client states are
province) shaded gray.
27 BC – Hispania Tarraconensis;
former Hispania Citerior (northern,
central and eastern Spain), created with the reorganisation of the provinces in
Hispania by Augustus (imperial proconsular province).
27 BC – Lusitania (Portugal and Extremadura in Spain), created with the
reorganisation of the provinces in Hispania by Augustus (imperial proconsular
province)
27 BC – Illyricum, Augustus conquered Illyria and southern Pannonia in 35–33 BC.
Created as a senatorial province in 27 BC. Northern Pannonia was conquered during
the Pannonian War (14–10 BC). Subdivided into Dalmatia (a new name for Illyria) and
Pannonia, which were officially called Upper and Lower Illyricum respectively in 9 BC,
towards the end of the Batonian War. Initially a senatorial province, it became an
imperial propraetorial province in 11 BC, during the Pannonian War. It was dissolved
and the new provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia were created during the reign of
Vespasian (69–79). In 107, Pannonia was divided into Pannonia Superior and Pannonia
Inferior – imperial provinces (proconsular and propraetorial respectively).
27 BC or 16–13 BC – Aquitania (south-western France) province created in the
territories in Gaul conquered by Julius Caesar; there is uncertainty as to whether it
was created with Augustus’ first visit and the first census on Gaul or during Augustus'
visit in 16–13 (imperial proconsular province)
27 BC or 16–13 BC – Gallia Lugdunensis (central and part of northern France)
province created in the territories in Gaul conquered by Julius Caesar; there is
uncertainty as to whether it was created with Augustus’ first visit and the first census
on Gaul or during Augustus’ visit in 16–13 (imperial proconsular province)
25 BC – Galatia (central Anatolia, Turkey), formerly a client kingdom, it was annexed
by Augustus when Amyntas, its last king, died (imperial propraetorial province)
 25 BC – Africa Proconsularis. The client kingdom of Numidia under king Juba II (30 -
25 BC), previously between 46 - 30 BC the province Africa Nova, was abolished, and
merged with the province Africa Vetus, creating the province Africa Proconsularis
(except territory of Western Numidia).
22 BC – Gallia Belgica (Netherlands south of the Rhine river, Belgium, Luxembourg,
part of northern France and Germany west of the Rhine; there is uncertainty as to
whether it was created with Augustus’ first visit and the first census on Gaul or
during Augustus' visit in 16–13 (imperial proconsular province)
15 BC – Raetia (imperial procuratorial province)
14 BC – Hispania Baetica; former Hispania Ulterior (southern Spain); created with the
reorganisation of the provinces in Hispania by Augustus (senatorial propraetorial
province). The name derives from Betis, the Latin name for the Guadalquivir River.
7 BC – Germania Antiqua, lost after three Roman legions were routed in 9 AD
AD 6? – Moesia (on the east and south bank of the River Danube part of modern
Serbia, the north part of North Macedonia, northern Bulgaria), Conquered in 28 BC,
originally it was a military district under the province of Macedonia. The first mention
of a provincial governor was for 6 AD, at the beginning of the Batonian War. In 85
Moesia was divided into Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior (imperial proconsular
provinces).
AD 6 – Judaea, imperial procuratorial province , created after the deposition of
ethnarch Herod Archelaus, formed initially from the territory of Samaria, Judea, and
Idumea. Reverted to the status of client kingdom under king Herod Agrippa in AD 41
by Claudius and became province again after Agrippa's death in AD 44, enlarged by
territories of Galilee and Peraea; renamed Syria Palaestina by Hadrian in AD 135 and
upgraded to proconsular province.

Under Tiberius

AD 17 – Cappadocia (central Anatolia – Turkey); imperial propraetorial (later

proconsular) province, created after the death of its last client king Archelaus.

Under Claudius

AD 42 – Mauretania Tingitana (northern Morocco); after the death of Ptolemy, the last
king of Mauretania, in AD 40, his kingdom was annexed. It was begun by Caligula
and was completed by Claudius with the defeat of the rebels. In AD 42, Claudius
divided it into two provinces (imperial procuratorial province).
AD 42 – Mauretania Caesariensis, (western and central Algeria), after the death of
Ptolemy, the last king of Mauretania, in AD 40, his kingdom was annexed. It was
begun by Caligula and was completed by Claudius with the defeat of the rebels. In
AD 42 Claudius divided it into two provinces( imperial procuratorial province).
AD 41/53 – Noricum (central Austria, north-eastern Slovenia and part of Bavaria), it
was incorporated into the empire in 16 BC. It was called a province, but it remained a
client kingdom under the control of an imperial procurator. It was turned into a
proper province during the reign of Claudius (41–54) (imperial propraetorial
province).
AD 43 – Britannia; Claudius initiated the invasion of Britannia. Up to AD 60, the
Romans controlled the area south of a line from the River Humber to the Severn
Estuary. Wales was finally subdued in 78. In 78–84 Agricola conquered the north of
England and Scotland. Scotland was then abandoned (imperial proconsular province).
 In 197 Septimius Severus divided Britannia into Britannia Superior and Britannia
Inferior. Imperial provinces (proconsular and propraetorial respectively).
AD 43 – Lycia annexed by Claudius (in 74 AD merged with Pamphylia to form Lycia et
Pamphylia).
AD 46 – Thracia (Thrace, north-eastern Greece, south-eastern Bulgaria and European
Turkey), it was annexed by Claudius (imperial procuratorial province).
AD 47? – Alpes Atrectianae et Poeninae (between Italy and Switzerland), Augustus
subdued its inhabitants, the Salassi, in 15 BC. It was incorporated into Raetia. The
date of the creation of the province is uncertain. It is usually set at the date of
Claudius' foundation of Forum Claudii Vallensium (Martigny), which became its
capital (imperial procuratorial province).

Under Nero

AD 62 – Pontus (the eastern half of the Kingdom of Pontus) together with Colchis
annexed, later incorporated in the Province of Cappadocia (probably under Emperor
Trajan).
AD 63 – Bosporan Kingdom incorporated as part of the Roman province of Moesia
Inferior. In 68 AD Galba restored the Bosporan Kingdom as a client kingdom.
AD 63? – Alpes Maritimae (on the French Alps), created as a protectorate by
Augustus, it probably became a province under Nero when Alpes Cottiae became a
province (imperial procuratorial province)
AD 63 – Alpes Cottiae (between France and Italy), in 14 BC it became a nominal
prefecture which was run by the ruling dynasty of the Cotii. It was named after the
king, Marcus Julius Cottius. It became a province in 63 (imperial procuratorial
province).

Under Vespasian

AD 72 – Commagene, its last client king Antiochus IV was deposed and Commagene
was annexed to Syria.
AD 72 – Lesser Armenia, its last client king Aristobulus of Chalcis was deposed and
Lesser Armenia was annexed to Syria.
AD 72 – Western mountainous parts of Cilicia, formed into three client kingdoms
established by Augustus, were disestablished, and merged with the imperial
province of Cilicia.
AD 74 – Lycia et Pamphylia. Vespasian (reigned AD 69–79) merged Lycia, annexed by
Claudius, and Pamphylia which had been a part of the province of Galatia.

Under Domitian

AD 83/84 – Germania Superior (southern Germany) The push into southern Germany
up to the Agri Decumates by Domitian created the necessity to create this province,
which had been a military district in Gallia Belgica when it was restricted to the west
bank of the River Rhine (imperial proconsular province).
AD 83/84 – Germania Inferior (Netherlands south of the River Rhine, part of Belgium,
and part of Germany west of the Rhine) originally a military district under Gallia
Belgica, created when Germania Superior was created (imperial proconsular
province).
 AD 92 – Chalcis was annexed to Syria after the death of its last ruler, tetrarch
Aristobulus of Chalcis.

Under Trajan

AD 100 – Territories of Iturea, Trachonitis, Batanea, Gaulanitis, Auranitis and Paneas

were annexed to Syria after the death of king Herod Agrippa II.
AD 106 – Arabia, formerly the Kingdom of Nabataea, it was annexed without
resistance by Trajan (imperial propraetorial province)
AD 107 – Dacia "Trajana" (the Romanian regions of south-eastern Transylvania, the
Banat, and Oltenia), conquered by Trajan in the Dacian Wars (imperial proconsular
province). Divided into Dacia Superior and Dacia Inferior in 158 by Antoninus Pius.
Divided into three provinces (Tres Daciae) in 166 by Marcus Aurelius: Porolissensis,
Apulensis and Malvensis (imperial procuratorial provinces). Abandoned by Aurelian in
271.
AD 103/114 - Epirus Nova (in western Greece and southern Albania), Epirus was
originally under the province of Macedonia. It was placed under Achaia in 27 BC
except for its northernmost part, which remained part of Macedonia. It became a
separate province under Trajan, sometime between 103 and 114 AD, and was
renamed Epirus Nova (New Epirus) (imperial procuratorial province).
AD 114 – Armenia, annexed by Trajan, who deposed its client king. In 118 Hadrian
restored this client kingdom
AD 116 – Mesopotamia (Iraq) seized from the Parthians and annexed by Trajan, who
invaded the Parthian Empire in late 115. Given back to the Parthians by Hadrian in
118. In 198 Septimius Severus conquered a small area in the north and named it
Mesopotamia. It was attacked twice by the Persians (imperial praefectorial province).
AD 116 – Assyria, Trajan suppressed a revolt by Assyrians in Mesopotamia and
created the province. Hadrian relinquished it in 118.

Under Septimius Severus

AD 193 – Numidia, was separated from Africa Proconsularis by Septimius Severus

(imperial propraetorial province).
AD 194 – Syria Coele and Syria Phoenice, Septimius Severus divided Syria into these
two units in the north and the south respectively. Imperial provinces (proconsular
and propraetorial respectively).

Under Caracalla

AD 214 – Osrhoene, this kingdom (in northern Mesopotamia, in parts of today's Iraq,
Syria and Turkey) was annexed.

Under Aurelian

AD 271 – Dacia Aureliana (most of Bulgaria and Serbia) created by Aurelian in the
territory of the former Moesia Superior after his evacuation of Dacia Trajana beyond
the River Danube.

Many of the above provinces were under Roman military control or

under the rule of Roman clients for a long time before being officially
 constituted as civil provinces. Only the date of the official formation of
the province is marked above, not the date of conquest.

Provinces of the late empire

Primary sources for lists of provinces

Early Roman Empire provinces

Germania (ca. 100)
Geography (Ptolemy) (ca. 140)

Late Roman Empire provinces

Laterculus Veronensis (ca. 310)
Notitia dignitatum (ca. 400–420)
Laterculus Polemii Silvii (ca. 430)
Synecdemus (ca. 520)

See also
Ancient
Rome portal

Ancient geography
Classical antiquity
Early world maps
Ecumene
Geography
History of cartography
History of the Mediterranean region
Latin spelling and pronunciation
List of Graeco-Roman geographers
List of historical maps
Local government (ancient Roman)

References

Citations
1. "Le province romane" (https://www.romanoimpero.com/2013/01/le-province-roman
e.html) (in Italian). Retrieved 20 November 2021.
2. Richardson 1992, p. 564.
3. Mason 1974, p. 81, 84-86, 138-139.
 4. Richardson 1992, p. 564–65, citing, among others, Plaut. Capt., 156, 158, 474; Ter.
Haut., 516; Cic. Cael., 26.63.
5. Richardson 1992, p. 565.
6. Richardson 1992, pp. 566–67.
7. Richardson 1992, p. 567.
8. Richardson 1992, p. 570.
9. Drogula 2015, pp. 242–45.
10. Drogula 2015, p. 247.
11. Drogula 2015, pp. 250–51.
12. Drogula 2015, pp. 253–54.
13. Drogula 2015, pp. 256–57, 263.
14. Drogula 2015, pp. 266–68.
15. Drogula 2015, pp. 275–76.
16. Drogula 2015, pp. 279–81.
17. Drogula 2015, p. 292.
18. Richardson 1992, p. 573.
19. Drogula 2015, p. 298; Richardson 1992, p. 573.
20. Drogula 2015, pp. 299–300.
21. Brennan, T Corey (2000). The praetorship in the Roman republic. Oxford University
Press. pp. 626–27.
22. Badian 2012. Formally, the presidency of one of the permanent courts was in fact the
provincia of the praetor-president.
23. Drogula 2015, pp. 229–30, 341.
24. Drogula 2015, p. 304; Richardson 1992, pp. 573–74.
25. Drogula 2015, p. 306.
26. Drogula 2015, p. 307.
27. Drogula 2015, p. 311. "The use of populär legislation to manipulate provinciae and
provincial assignment would also create the armies that brought down the republic".
28. Nicolet, Claude (1991) [1988]. Space, geography, and politics in the early Roman
empire (https://archive.org/details/spacegeographypo00nico). University of Michigan
Press. pp. 1 (https://archive.org/details/spacegeographypo00nico/page/n9), 15.
ISBN 9780472100965.
29. Hekster, Olivier; Kaizer, Ted. Frontiers in the Roman world. p. 8.
30. Eder, W (1993). "The Augustan principate as binding link". Between republic and
empire . University of California Press. p. 98.
31. Lintott 1999, p. 114.
32. Drogula 2015, p. 309.
33. Crook 1996, pp. 76–77.
34. Drogula 2015, p. 354; Aug. RG 34.
35. Drogula 2015, pp. 354–55.
36. Drogula 2015, p. 355.
37. Drogula 2015, pp. 355–56.
38. Bowman 1996, pp. 346–47.
39. Drogula 2015, pp. 356–57.
40. Drogula 2015, p. 364.
41. Drogula 2015, p. 370. Drogula also notes that appointing a person of such low status
would mean that he would not have the support necessary among the elite to
challenge the emperor successfully.
42. Drogula 2015, pp. 358–59.
43. Drogula 2015, pp. 360–63.
44. Bowman 1996, pp. 346, 369–70.
45. Bowman 1996, p. 347.
46. Bowman 1996, pp. 347–48, noting also that Tiberius regularly remitted embassies
from cities in the senatorial provinces to the senate to allow it "an illusion of its
traditional functions".
47. Nuovo Atlante Storico De Agostini, 1997, pp.40-41. (In Italian)
48. "Note sull'«anzianità di servizio» nel lessico della legislazione imperiale romana" (htt
ps://www.dirittoestoria.it/11/tradizione/De-Francesco-Anzianita-servizio-lessico-le
gislazione-imperiale.htm) (in Italian). Retrieved 20 November 2021.
49. Carlà-Uhink, Filippo (25 September 2017). The "Birth" of Italy: The Institutionalization
of Italy as a Region, 3rd–1st Century BCE (https://books.google.com/books?id=dSY-D
wAAQBAJ&q=Tota+Italia+essays&pg=PT454). ISBN 978-3-11-054478-7.
50. Williams, J. H. C. (22 May 2020). Beyond the Rubicon: Romans and Gauls in Republican
Italy - J. H. C. Williams - Google Books (https://web.archive.org/web/202005220006
30/https://books.google.it/books?id=RPj_FkEeVO4C&dq=beyond+the+Rubicon&hl=
en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI5YrC6rbkAhUvDmMBHXZOCMAQ6AEIKTAA).
ISBN 9780198153009. Archived from the original (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=RPj_FkEeVO4C&q=beyond+the+Rubicon) on 22 May 2020.
51. Long, George (1866). Decline of the Roman republic: Volume 2. London.
52. Cassius, Dio. Historia Romana. Vol. 41. 36.
53. Laffi, Umberto (1992). "La provincia della Gallia Cisalpina". Athenaeum (in Italian)
(80): 5–23.
54. Aurigemma, Salvatore. "Gallia Cisalpina" (http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/gallia-
cisalpina_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/). www.treccani.it (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana.
Retrieved 14 October 2014.

Sources

Modern sources

Badian, Ernst (2012). "provincia" (https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acre

fore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5393). Oxford Classical
Dictionary. Oxford University Press.
Bowman, Alan K; et al., eds. (1996). The Augustan empire, 43 BC–AD 69 (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=JZLW4-wba7UC). Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 10
(2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-26430-8.
Bowman, Alan K. "Provincial administration and taxation". In CAH2 10 (1996),
pp. 344–70.
Crook, J A. "Political history, 30 BC to AD 14". In CAH2 10 (1996), pp. 70–112.
Drogula, Fred (2015). Commanders & command in the Roman republic and early
empire (https://books.google.com/books?id=XJ6_BwAAQBAJ). Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1-4696-2314-6. OCLC 905949529 (https://www.w
orldcat.org/oclc/905949529).
Lintott, Andrew (1993). Imperium Romanum: politics and administration (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=E5vVb0W3IwcC). Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-09375-0.
Lintott, Andrew (1999). The constitution of the Roman republic (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=yaFPohP2lB8C). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-815068-7.
Loewenstein, Karl (1973). The Governance of Rome . Springer. ISBN 90-247-1458-3.
 Mason, Hugh J (1974). Greek Terms for Roman Institutions: A Lexicon and Analysis (ht
tps://books.google.com/books?id=k2QPAQAAMAAJ). Toronto: Hakkert.
ISBN 9780888660138.
Richardson, John (1992). "The administration of the empire". In Crook, John; et al.
(eds.). The last age of the Roman Republic, 146–43 BC (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=3yUkzNLiY4oC). Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 9 (2nd ed.). Cambridge
University Press. pp. 564–98. ISBN 0-521-85073-8. OCLC 121060 (https://www.world
cat.org/oclc/121060).

Other sources

"Early imperial Roman provinces" (https://www.livius.org/gi-gr/governor/provinces.h

tml). Livius.org.
Scarre, Chris (1995). The Penguin historical atlas of ancient Rome (https://books.goo
gle.com/books?id=XIlPEAAAQBAJ). Penguin. pp. 74–75. ISBN 978-0-14-051329-5.
Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German).

External links
Map of the Roman Empire in the year 300 (http://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/3
00/index.html)
https://web.archive.org/web/20060409205643/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-
dgra/

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roman_province&oldid=1160671632"