Imperial Phrygia: A “Procuratorial Province” Governed by liberti Augusti?
Öz
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”.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
- Abbott – Johnson, Municipal Administration F. F. Abbott – A. C. Johnson, Municipal Admin-istration in the Roman Empire, New York 1968².
- Alpers, Finanzsystem M. Alpers, Das nachrepublikanische Finanzsystem: Fiscus und Fisci in der frühen Kaiserzeit, Berlin 1995.
- Birley, Hadrian A. R. Birley, Hadrian: The Restless Emperor, London 1997.
- Boatwright, Hadrian and the Cities M. T. Boatwright, Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire, Princeton 2000.
- Boulvert, Esclaves G. Boulvert, Esclaves et affranchis impériaux sous le Haut-Empire romain. Rôle politique et administrative, Naples 1970.
- Bowersock, Martyrdom G. W. Bowersock, Martyrdom and Rome, Cambridge 1995.
- Burton 1975 G. P. Burton, Proconsuls, Assizes and the Administration of Justice under the Empire, JRS 65, 1975, 92–106.
- Campanile 2001 M. D. Campanile, Provincialis molestia. Note su Cicerone procon-sole, in: B. Virgilio (ed.) Studi Ellenistici 13, Pisa 2001, 243–271.
Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
Dilbilim
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Marco Vıtale
Bu kişi benim
Yayımlanma Tarihi
1 Aralık 2015
Gönderilme Tarihi
9 Haziran 2015
Kabul Tarihi
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Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2015 Cilt: 1