Praefectus fabrum

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The Praefectus fabrum was a post in the Roman administration. A Roman commander usually appointed such a praefectus fabrum as his personal adjutant .

Originally the name derives from the fabri (Latin for "craftsman", singular form faber ; fabrum is a subsidiary form of the plural genitive, actually fabrorum ). In Republican times there were two Centuries in the Roman Army under this name , which were specifically responsible for manual and other worker and pioneer activities. The term praefectus fabrum indicates that the incumbent originally commanded these units. The post itself is not documented for this time, but appears for the first time in the middle of the 1st century BC. In the sources. At that time the activities of the fabri were already being carried out by the normal legionaries.

The first praefecti fabrum can be detected in the late Roman Republic . They were appointed by Roman magistrates and promagistrates , that is, officials who held the authority of an empire . These were especially the consuls , praetors and proconsuls , who appointed themselves a personal confidante and registered with the state treasury ( Aerarium ). The precise areas of activity of the appointed praefecti could be of various kinds. Since the official authority of an empire was only granted for a limited time - originally and usually one year - the activity of a praefectus fabrum was also limited in time, but, as is known from inscriptions, was sometimes taken over several times in a row.

Until the middle of the 1st century AD, the praefecti fabrum are often found in the context of the Roman officer's career, in later times, however, this function often appears before the beginning of military activity in the lives known from honorary and grave inscriptions. This also went hand in hand with a shift to civilian areas of activity. At some point this prefecture even seems to have been a purely honorary position without a defined area of ​​responsibility, since inscriptions also reveal minors to be officials.

Occasionally the office of praefectus fabrum is also occupied in local government in the Roman Empire, but there it seems to have been a different phenomenon, namely more of a head post in a local college and not a position on the staff of a high official.

literature

  • Werner Eck : Praefectus 8th In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , column 244 f.
  • Kathryn E. Welch: The office of prefectus fabrum in the late republic. In: Chiron . Volume 25, 1995, pp. 131-145.
  • Brian Dobson: The prefectus fabrum in the early principate. In: Brian Dobson, David H. Breeze (eds.): Roman officers and frontiers (= Mavors. Roman army researches. Volume 10). Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06181-9 , pp. 218-241.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Sage: Fabri, military. In: Roger S. Bagnall et al. (Ed.): The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Volume 5, Wiley-Blackwell, Malden (MA) 2013, ISBN 978-1-4051-7935-5 , pp. 2618 f.
  2. ↑ a b Werner Eck : Praefectus 8. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , column 244 f.
  3. ↑ CIL VI, 3512 ; CIL IX, 223
  4. ^ A b Brian Dobson: The prefectus fabrum in the early principate. In: Brian Dobson, David H. Breeze (Eds.): Roman officers and frontiers. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-515-06181-9 , pp. 218-241, here p. 225.