Praepositus (Roman army)

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The title Praepositus ( Latin for "superior") denoted a number of ranks in the Roman army, although it was usually not the official name of the respective post.

Principate

In general, the term Praepositus in ancient Rome stood for superiors or special representatives, for example in the civil service or in other public or private contexts. It seems to have been partly an official official title, but partly just a general title without a concrete definition of content. The term was used in a similarly diverse manner in the Roman military from the principle onwards. First of all, the commanders of the Numbers, which emerged as an independent class of troops in the 2nd century AD, were designated as such - praepositus numeri actually seems to have been the official official designation for these commanders . In addition, the heads of special commandos, such as vexillations , were also referred to as Praepositus . In this context, however, the title could be just as diverse as the range of the vexillations and their tasks themselves. These praepositi could be officials of Centurion rank who were, for example, assigned to monitor a marble quarry, but also to commanders from the senatorial rank , who commanded a whole legion at the same time and had been entrusted with an extensive, extraordinary maneuver. Some special units of the Roman army such as the Symmachiarii or Exploratores were also commanded by a Praefectus or a Praepositus .

After the introduction of the term Praepositus as a fixed official title for the commanders of Numbers, other commanders who actually bore the title of Praefectus were also called Praepositus in exceptional cases, such as the top commanders of a cohort or Ala . Finally, praepositi of a legion or a classis (fleet) are occasionally mentioned in the ancient sources - however, as a rule, at least up to the 3rd century, these seem to have been special representatives who performed a special task within the legion or fleet in question , but not as commanders of the entire unit. For example, there is evidence of Praepositi , which were responsible for coordinating the supplies and the supply of food during a major campaign.

Late antiquity

The use of the term was also very inconsistent in late antiquity . In general, however, Praepositus seems to have remained a general term in the sense of “Commander”, which could refer to both military tribunes and Praefecti , i.e. generally to the commanders of certain units. At the same time, however, there are also documents in which the tribunes mention Praepositi separately and generally seem to have been subordinate to them. The late antique military writer Vegetius wrote that the individual cohorts of the Roman army were commanded by tribunes or by praepositi , depending on the wishes of the emperor . In the handbook of the Notitia Dignitatum , however, Praepositi are nowhere mentioned as commanders of the cohorts , only prefects or tribunes. The other commanders of the small late antique troop units are called either praefectus or praepositus in this source , without making a clear distinction between the two names. The commanders now deployed on a large scale in the individual sections of the North African Limes , on the other hand, are invariably addressed as Praepositi . In addition, there are some sources that seem to indicate that, in addition to the general meaning, there was also a fixed title praepositus in the Roman officer's career.

The Praepositi labarum , who guarded the Labarum as the highest standard of the Roman army, had a special function .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Enßlin: Praepositus 1-5. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Supplementary Volume VIII, Stuttgart 1956, Sp. 539-548.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Enßlin: Praepositus 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Supplementary volume VIII, Stuttgart 1956, Sp. 548–555, here Sp. 548–551 (with numerous ancient sources).
  3. ^ Wilhelm Enßlin: Praepositus 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Supplementary volume VIII, Stuttgart 1956, Sp. 548–555, here Sp. 551–553 (with numerous ancient sources).
  4. ^ Arnold Hugh Martin Jones : The Later Roman Empire. A Social Economic and Administrative Survey. Volume 2, Basil Blackwell, Oxford 1964, p. 640.
  5. ↑ Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris 2,12.
  6. ↑ For the numerous and partly contradicting documents see the overview in Wilhelm Enßlin: Praepositus 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Supplementary volume VIII, Stuttgart 1956, Sp. 548-555, here Sp. 553-555.
  7. ↑ Robert Grosse : Labarum. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XII, 1, Stuttgart 1924, Col. 240-242, here Col. 240.