Magister equitum
The office of magister equitum (lat. For cavalry colonel ) was a temporary office in the Roman Republic and in the late imperial period it was temporarily the title of commander-in-chief of the cavalry of the Western Roman Empire .
Republic time
During the Republican period, the magister equitum was only appointed by the dictator as his military deputy in times of crisis . Legally, the magister equitum was equated with the rank of praetor . Accordingly, he had six lictors as an outward sign of his authority. Like all high Roman magistrates, he wore the toga praetexta (a purple toga).
In principle, the office was open to every Roman citizen , even without having previously completed the course honorum . A dismissal of the respective office bearer by a third party was not possible, after the end of the state of emergency his office (together with that of the dictator) automatically expired. With the abolition of dictatorship after Caesar's death , the republican office of magister equitum also disappeared .
Late antiquity
After 312 the title was reintroduced as part of the Diocletian - Constantinian reforms, but now with a completely different function. The emperors, especially in the western part of the empire, appointed a supreme commander for the cavalry, the magister equitum , and the infantry ( magister peditum ). From the middle of the 4th century, separate magistri for regional associations (such as the magister equitum galliorum ) were also appointed. From 400 onwards, the two offices for cavalry and infantry were usually merged in the post of magister militum ("army master").
literature
- Wolfgang Kunkel , Roland Wittmann : State order and state practice of the Roman Republic. Second section: the magistracy. Munich, 1995.
- The new Pauly . Encyclopedia of Antiquity (DNP). Edited by Hubert Cancik. Metzler, Stuttgart 1996–2010, ISBN 3-476-01470-3 (16 volumes in 19 sub-volumes and 6 supplement volumes published)