Conventus

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As conventus ( Latin for "gathering", plural conventūs ; the Greek counterpart is διοίκησις / dioíkēsis) both the judicial districts into which the provinces of the Roman Empire were divided and the regular court sessions of the governor are referred to.

Function and process

The jurisdiction in Roman provinces was carried out by the governor, who continuously traveled through his area of ​​office. In order to regulate this activity clearly, judicial districts were defined in whose main town the governor held a court day at least once a year. At these locations, the local population could raise their concerns and accusations on the respective dates. Of these, the minor offenses could be dealt with by assistants, while the more serious offenses were judged personally by the governor. Due to the large number of inquiries, the actual judgments were usually not made directly during the day of the court, but only some time later from the seat of the governor. The governor's travels through the province are likely to have taken three to four months per year and took place mainly in the summer months.

The delimitation of the Conventus was often not based on the ethnic divisions of the provinces, but on the population density and the accessibility of the regions. As a rule, the judicial districts were named after their main town. For him, the function as the center of a conventus meant not only a special distinction, but also a tangible economic advantage through the regular presence of the governor and large crowds. A report on the governor's travels through the judicial districts gives Gaius Iulius Caesar , among others , who had to return to the jurisdiction of his provinces of Gallia cisalpina and Illyria almost every year between the campaigns in Gaul .

Diffusion and development

Judicial districts are not attested for all provinces; however, it can be assumed that they existed everywhere. In some cases they may have coincided with other administrative units such as the civitates , so that they are not mentioned separately in the sources. The first permanent court places of Roman governors are around 200 BC. In Sicily . The first systematic division of a province in Conventus seems to have taken place in Asia , where the districts were first established for 62 BC. Are attested, but presumably already in the first decades after the Roman conquest, i.e. between 129 and 90 BC. BC, and possibly go back to even older administrative structures of the Attalid Empire . For Asia, judicial district developments are generally relatively well known; in this way, several surveys from cities to main locations or, conversely, withdrawals of this status can be proven. In addition to Asia, Pliny the Elder passed on lists of the Conventus in his Naturalis historia for two other regions , namely for the Iberian Peninsula and for Dalmatia . In Egypt, due to the rich papyrus finds , some details about the days of judgment are also known, which were called Dialogismos ( Greek  διαλογισμός ) there.

The importance of the judicial districts slowly declined in the course of the imperial era . Some of their tasks seem to have been taken over by the provincial diets (in the east of the Roman Empire Koina , in the west called Concilia ), in which the local upper classes also played a more important role. The last evidence of a convent comes from the time of Emperor Tacitus (275–276 AD) ; presumably this administrative structure was abandoned in the late 3rd or early 4th century with the Diocletian reforms of the empire .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For the responsibilities and the workload see Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Die Provinzen des Imperium Romanum. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-534-26438-4 , p. 53 f.
  2. ^ Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Provincia. Occupation and administration of the provinces of the Imperium Romanum from the occupation of Sicily to Diocletian. A demolition. Lit, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-0866-2 , p. 127 f. In contrast, Anthony T. Marshall: Governors on the Move. In: Phoenix . Volume 20, Number 3, 1966, pp. 240-242.
  3. ^ Anthony T. Marshall: Governors on the Move. In: Phoenix. Volume 20, number 3, 1966, pp. 231-246, here 236-238. See e.g. Strabo , Geography 13,4,12.
  4. ^ François Jaques, John Scheid: Rome and the Empire. Constitutional law, religion, army, administration, society, economy. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86820-012-6 , p. 188 f.
  5. ↑ Gaius Iulius Caesar, De bello Gallico 1,54,3; 5.1.5; 5.2.1; 6.44.3; 7.1.1.
  6. ↑ Gabriele Wesch-Klein: The Provinces of the Imperium Romanum. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-534-26438-4 , p. 52 f.
  7. ↑ Meret Strothmann: Conventus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/2, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01487-8 , Sp. 933-934, here Sp. 933 .; Gabriele Wesch-Klein: The provinces of the Imperium Romanum. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-534-26438-4 , p. 52.
  8. ^ François Jaques, John Scheid : Rome and the Empire. Constitutional law, religion, army, administration, society, economy. Licensed edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86820-012-6 , p. 188.
  9. ↑ Meret Strothmann: Conventus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/2, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01487-8 , Sp. 933-934, here Sp. 933.
  10. ^ AE 1989, 724
  11. ^ Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Provincia. Occupation and administration of the provinces of the Imperium Romanum from the occupation of Sicily to Diocletian. A demolition. Lit, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-0866-2 , p. 126 f.