Praeses

Praeses (Latin pl. praesides) is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions.

Praeses began to be used as a generic description for provincial governors—often through paraphrases, such as qui praeest ("he who presides")—already since the early Principate, but came in general use under the Antonines. The jurist Aemilius Macer, who wrote at the time of Caracalla (reigned 198–217), insists that the term was applied only to the governors who were also senators—thereby excluding the equestrian procuratores—but, while this may reflect earlier usage, it was certainly no longer the case by the time he wrote. In the usage of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the term appears originally to have been used as an honorific, affixed to the formal gubernatorial titles (legatus Augusti etc.), and even, occasionally, for legion commanders or fiscal procuratores. By the mid-3rd century, however, praeses had become an official term, including for equestrian officials. The form vice praesidis had also come into common use for equestrian procuratores entrusted with the governance of provinces in the absence of, or in lieu of, the regular (senatorial) governor. This marks a decisive step in the assumption of full provincial governorships by equestrians, with the first equestrian praesides provinciae appearing in the 270s.

This evolution was formalized in the reforms of Diocletian (r. 284–305) and Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), when the term praeses came to designate a specific class of provincial governors, the lowest after the consulares and the correctores. In the East, however, they ranked between the two other classes, possibly because the few correctores there were instituted after the praesides. The term praeses remained in general use for provincial governors, and was still used in legal parlance to designate all classes of provincial governors collectively. In common usage, the praesides were often also designated by more generic titles such as iudex ("judge"), rector or moderator, and sometimes archaically as praetor. In Greek, the term was rendered as ἡγεμὼν (hegemon).

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