Procurator (ancient Rome)

Procurator(plural:Procuratores) was a title of certain officials (not magistrates) in ancient Rome who were in charge of the financial affairs of a province, or imperial governor of a minor province.

Fiscal officers

A fiscal procurator (procurator Augusti) was the chief financial officer of aprovinceduring thePrincipate(30 BC – AD 284). A fiscal procurator worked alongside thelegatus Augusti pro praetore(imperial governor) of his province but was not subordinate to him, reporting directly to the emperor. The governor headed the civil and judicial administration of the province and was the commander-in-chief of all military units deployed there. The procurator, with his own staff and agents, was in charge of the province's financial affairs, including the following primary responsibilities:

• the collection of taxes, especially the land tax (tributum soli),poll tax(tributum capitis), and theportorium,an imperial duty on the carriage of goods on public highways
• collection of rents on land belonging toimperial estates
• management of mines
• the distribution of pay to public servants (mostly in the military)

The office of fiscal procurator was always held by an equestrian, unlike the office of governor, which was reserved for members of the highersenatorial order.The reason for the dual administrative structure was to prevent excessive concentration of power in the hands of the governor, as well as to limit his opportunities forpeculation.It was not unknown for friction to arise between governors and procurators over matters of jurisdiction and finance.

Provincial governors

Aprocurator Augusti(often called thePraesidial Procurator,i.e., a garrison- or troop-commanding procurator), however, might also be the governor of the smallerimperial provinces(i.e., those provinces whose governor was appointed by the emperor, rather than theRoman Senate). The same title was held by the fiscal procurators, who assisted governors of thesenatorial provinces,who were always senators.

In addition, procurator was the title given to various other officials inRomeand Italy.

After the mid-first century, as a result of thePax Romana,the provinces previously governed byprefects,who were military men, were gradually moved into the hands of procurators, who were essentially civilian fiscal officials. Egypt, as the special private domain of the emperor, which was administered by aPraefectus Augustalis,remained the exception.This transfer created some confusion among scholars dealing withPontius Pilate,governor ofJudaea,who was often thought to have been a procurator, until the excavation of the inscribed so-calledPilate Stone,which proved his title was prefect.

See also

• Roman governor
• Roman province
• Procurator at Rome(Catholic, canon law)
• Procurator fiscal(Scotland)

Bibliography

• Mattingly, David (2006)An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire
• Salway, Peter (2015)Roman Britain: A Very Short Introduction