Imperial Phrygia: A “Procuratorial Province” Governed by liberti Augusti?
Abstract
During imperial times, Phrygia seems to have formed an administrative sub-district
in terms of a ‘sub-province’ of the gubernatorial provincia Asia. A striking number of epigraphic records of freedman
procurators refer to that Phrygia. Some of the
office holders are explicitly attested as procurators “of Phrygia”. Moreover, one
inscription mentions Phrygia not simply as a place name, but as a provincia. In all known cases, the
Phrygian procurators were liberti Augusti,
in contrast to the high-ranking equestrian procuratores Asiae residing in
Ephesus. However, a freedman procurator
Phrygiae reported directly to the governor of Asia, and was apparently not
under the supervision of the equestrian procurator
Asiae. Considering the spread of epigraphic attestations of procuratorial
office holders, Phrygia did certainly not constitute a
mere imperial estate within the province of Asia in terms of a regio or tractus. On the contrary, e.g. the
imperial freedman Aurelius Philocyrius covered several estates that lay quite
far apart. “Procurators of Phrygia” are attested in connection with several
functions, e.g. resolving legal disputes about the distribution of
“requisitions” (ἀγγαρεία), dealing
with boundaries between communities or guaranteeing the export
of important local products, in particular the so-called “Phrygian” marble from
Docimium. The seat of the procurators of Phrygia was most likely located in
Synnada. Hence, as an
area with freedman procurators of its own, Phrygia occupied a special position
in relation to most of the other sub-provinces of Asia Minor: no independent
procurators are known for example for the sub-provinces Armenia Minor, Bithynia
or Pamphylia. Rather, equestrian procurators governed several sub-provinces jointly. Of
course, because of the special social status of the Phrygian procurators as liberti, it’s not possible to define
Phrygia’s administrative status in analogy to the
two Syrian sub-provinces Judaea and Commagene. However,
under the financial and judicial administration of a
freedman procurator Phrygia seems to have actually constituted an imperial
“procuratorial province”.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
Linguistics
Journal Section
Research Article
Authors
Marco Vıtale
This is me
Publication Date
December 1, 2015
Submission Date
June 9, 2015
Acceptance Date
-
Published in Issue
Year 2015 Volume: 1