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Equestrian Rank in the Cities of the African Provinces under the Principate: An Epigraphic Survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Richard Duncan-Jones
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This article is a study of the relationship between equestrian rank and local affairs in the cities of Africa Proconsularis, Numidia and the Mauretanias, during the period of the Principate. The discussion centres on the conferment of equestrian rank; the question of how far local office was an avenue to equestrian promotion; and the extent to which local men, having once achieved equestrian or juror rank, continued to take part in municipal affairs.

The enquiry is based on a classified list of knights and iudices in African cities, drawn from epigraphic evidence (pp. 166–183, below). Because the purpose is the limited one of investigating knighthood in the municipal context, some knights have been excluded from the list. Knights who held public office, and who would thus probably have spent substantial parts of their adult life away from their native town, have been omitted, except in cases where they are actually recorded as taking some part in municipal affairs. In fact, a substantial number of those who followed equestrian careers (as distinct from merely receiving equestrian rank) did also participate in municipal affairs, often at the beginning of their careers; and fifty-five entries in the list are made up of procurators (nos. 1-23), and holders of military posts (nos. 41–72).

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Research Article
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 35 , December 1967 , pp. 147 - 188
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1967

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References

1 For other procurators whose African origin is certain or probable, see Pflaum, nos. 96, 123,131, 132, 137, 142, 164 bis, 192, 202, 214 bis, 217 bis, 226 ter, 231, 238, 241, 242, 244 bis, 248, 262a, 272, 275, 278, 281, 282, 291, 302, 305, 320, 327. Also C. 7977 = ILAlg II, i, 30; C. 9249, cf. p. 974; 14729; 21830 = ILM 86; IRT 388, 440; 444, 648; AE 1911, 98, 1912, 348; 1955, 264; 1962, 183; Bulletin d'archêologi algérienne, i, 1962-1965 (1967), p. 167Google Scholar, no. IV. Egregiiiviri not explicitly described as procurators have also been included in the list where they are known to have taken part in local affairs (nos. 24-40; see Appendix II). For other holders of the equestrian militiae, see Jarrett, M. G. ‘The African Contribution to the Imperial Equestrian Service’, Historia, xii, 1963, pp. 209–26Google Scholar; and A study of the municipal aristocracies of the Roman Empire in the west, with special reference to North Africa (Ph.D. thesis, Durham 1958)Google Scholar.

2 The office involved supervision of public spending by the town. In some cases it seems to have amounted to little more than an exalted local magistracy, held by men drawn from the same class as local magistrates (cf. ‘cur.r.p.bis’ in a Mauretanian inscription of A.D. 311, AE 1922, 23). In general, Lucas, C. ‘Notes on the Curatores Rei Publicae of Roman Africa’, JRS xxx, 1940, pp. 56–74Google Scholar.

3 The few knights who held only the decurionate have been included under the heading of office holders, since a summa honoraria was payable for membership of the ordo (CSRA, nos. 345-8). Some knights did not even belong to the ordo (C. 8938, cf. p. 1953 = ILS 5078).

4 C. Iulius Crescens Didius Crescentianus, AE 1916, 13, cf. C. 8318-9, etc. (no. 57 in the list).

5 The authors of the two main modern works on the knights do not admit the existence of any additional category of knights who claimed equestrian rank on the basis of wealth and birth under the Principate (Stein, pp. 57 ff.; Nicolet, pp. 177 ff. Also Mommsen, St 3 III, p. 484=Z) Dr. P. VI, 2, p. 79).

6 Strabo III, 169; V, 213.

6a (III, 169,). (V, 213).

7 A possible exception was Laelius Timminus of Madauros, ‘qui rem paravit haud mediocrem familiae,/domumque tenuem ad equestrem promovit gradum’; these words may refer to equestrian wealth without necessarily indicating equestrian rank. But this is uncertain (no. 218).

8 CSRA, nos. 1; 77 (HS600.000 and HS1 million); SCRI, nos. 468+646+653+654; 643+648 (HS 1,600,000 and HS1 million).

9 Loc. cit., n. 5 above.

10 Henderson, M. I., ‘The establishment of the equester ordo’, JRS liii, 1963, pp. 61–72Google Scholar, at p. 65.

11 CIL XIV, 353 & 4642; cf. SCRI, no. 672.

12 CIL III, 3626 = 10570= ILS 7127.

13 Nicolet, p. 181.

14 id., p. 183.

15 Pliny, , Ep. I, 19Google Scholar; IV, 29. Cf. A. N. Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny, 1966, pp. 130-1.

16 TLL V, 2, 713-7.

17 id. V, 2, 734-5.

18 In African inscriptions ‘eq(ues) R(omanus)’ was mainly a later usage than ‘equo publico’ (below p. 152 and Appendix I).

19 St 3 III, pp. 496-8 = Dr. P. VI, 2, pp. 93-5.

20 id., p. 522=p. 125; Stein, p. 55, nn. 3-4.

21 Cf. St 3 III, pp. 567-9 = Dr. P VI, 2, pp. 178-181.

21a The grandfather of the Emperor Septimius Severus ‘in decuriis et inter selectos Romae iudicavit’ (no. 155).

22 loc. cit., pp. 513-21 = 113-24.

23 Compare the promotions of children to equestrian rank discussed below, p. 157 and n. 52.

24 The mentions of the decuriae in the present list are as follows: nos. 72, 21, 155, 68, 96, 147, 167, 178, 50, 93, 101, 102, 103, 129, 146, 152, 166,9, 158, 137, 10, 45, 72, 90, 138, 144, 168, 180. Other African iudices (who followed public careers and are not known to have taken part in local affairs): C. 15872; 27572; AE 1925, 44; 1953, 73; 1954, 140; 1957, 249; 1962, 183.,

24a The median date is the date of the middle inscription in the series when all the inscriptions are arranged in chronological order.

26 The African inscriptions (many of them discovered since the Staatsrecht was written) do not contradict Mommsen's observation that evidence for the decuriae virtually ceases with the accession of Septimius Severus. St 3 III, p. 539, n. l= Dr. P. VI, 2, p. 144, n. 2.

26 Imperial initiative in extending the membership of the equestrian order in Dio LIX, 9, 5. Initiative by a local figure, who sought the equus publicus for himself, and was questioned by the Emperor Hadrian, in Ps. Dositheus (G. Goetz, Corp. Gloss. Lat. III, 1892, pp. 33, 1-25 and 388 11-21). Initiative by a senator in obtaining the equus publicus and membership of the decuriae for a friend, in Pliny, Ep. I, 19 and IV, 29 (n. 15 above).

27 For the Emperor's personal responsibility for maintaining the membership of the decuriae, Suetonius, Tib. 41 (adlections are said to have lapsed altogether while Tiberius was on Capreae).

28 ‘Eq(ues) R(omanus) ex inquisitione allectus’, and ‘probatus ab Imp(eratoribus) L. Septimio Severo Pio Pertinace Aug. et M. Aurelio Antonino Aug.’ (nos. 91, 158).

29 Cf. TLL III, 1236, 39-40; CIL II, 6278, 1. 24; IX 1683; Pliny, Ep. III, 2, 2, etc.

30 See below, p. 158.

31 Procurators, egregii, and holders of military posts are omitted from this count, since they have only been included in the present list in cases where their local involvement is attested.

32 Even the highest local office did not provide automatic access to equestrian promotion. The majority of the known priests of the province of Africa did not reach equestrian rank, although the holders of this office were ‘die Spitzen der municipalen Nobilität’ (Dessau, H., Hermes xlv, 1910, p. 12Google Scholar). Of 14 priests, 4 are known to have become equites or indices (nos. 10, 90, 128, 144), 9 appear not to have had either rank (C. 12039; 14611; 14731; 22727, cf. ILTun 36; ILAlg I, 1295; ILAf 458 + AE 1964, 177; IRT 397; BCB, p. 318, cf. C. 2343 etc.; AE 1949, 40); and one man appears in a fragmentary text which leaves the issue in doubt (BAC 1951-2, p. 197).

33 N. 15 above.

34 Cf. Morris, J., The Roman Senate, A.D. 69-193 (Ph.D., London 1952)Google Scholar; Hammond, M., ‘The Composition of the Senate, A.D. 68-235’, JRS xlvii, 1957, pp. 74–81Google Scholar; Pelletier, A., ‘Les Sénateurs d'Afrique proconsulaire d'Auguste à Gallien’, Latomus xxiii, 1964, pp. 511–31Google Scholar. H.-G. Pflaum, Les procurateurs équestres 1950, pp. 179-94.

35 Tacitus, , Ann. XI, 23–5Google Scholar; CIL XIII, 1668 = ILS 212.

36 Q. Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto of Cirta, cos. suff. A.D. 80, CIL VI, 2059, cf. 32363; C. 7057-8, cf. 19426-7 = ILAlg II, i,642,644; Stein, pp.219-20, 266.

37 Surdinius Gallus, Dio LX, 29, 2; PIR 1 S 747.

38 Q. Lollius Urbicus, legate of Britain and prefect of the city under Antoninus Pius (ILAlg II, i, p. 322, nos. 3605, 3446, 3563, PIR 1 L 240); Q. Sittius Faustus, no. 158 in the present list. The inscriptions of Tiddis are ILAlg II, i, 3570-1177; cf. A. Berthier, Tiddis, antique Castellum Tidditanorum, 1951.

39 Cirtan knights : nos. 46, 97, 98, 99, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 138, 145, 169, 174, 197, 198, 199, 222, 223, 235, 246, 251. It is curious that the abundant epigraphy of Cirta (ILAlg II, i, 468-2083) mentions no local men as procurators. Possibly Cirtan connections with the Senate were strong enough to allow most of those destined for major public careers to serve as senators (cf. nn. 36 and 41).

40 N. 36 above.

41 ‘Alii quoque plurimi sunt in senatu Cirtenses clarissimi viri’, Fronto ad amicos II, 11, 2 (van den Hout I, p. 189 = Naber, p. 201).

42 For local office as a preliminary to active equestrian careers, see RO, pp. 123, 131; Stein, pp. 129-35; Jarrett, p. 221.

43 C. 9663, commented by Hirschfeld, (Annali dell'Inst. di Corrispondenza Archeologica xxxviii, 1866, p. 53)Google Scholar. CSRA, nos. 353 & 370. The largest public gifts were often made in honour of the flaminate.

44 This is evidently the meaning of ‘probati ab Imp(eratoribus)’, a reference to the probatio equitum (Pflaum, , ILAlg II, i, 3610Google Scholar).

45 For instance, nos. 92, 98, 108. 46 In senatorial career-inscriptions, the consul ship was sometimes placed out of sequence at the head of the list of offices (ILS 1024, 1025, 1059, etc.).

46a Holders of priesthoods without magistracies: nos. 2, 5, 10, 12, 13, 18, 21, 22, 26, 27, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 46, 49, 53, 54, 62, 71, 73, 79, 84, 85, 88, 92, 95, 102, 104, 105, 106, 111, 114, 115, 121, 122, 125, 131, 132, 135, 137, 146, 147,150,151,153,154,156,157,165. Holders of magistracies and priesthoods: nos. 1, 3, 6, 25, 31, 45, 50, 56, 57, 65, 68, 90, 91, 93, 94, 96, 101, 103, 108, 112, 119, 129, 134, 139, 140, 141, 144, 145, 155, 158, 160, 163, 166, 168, 169. Holders of magistracies without priesthoods : nos. 8, 28, 41, 47, 52, 59, 64, 77, 89, 97, 98, 99, 100, 107, 109, 110, 113, 118, 120, 124, 127, 130, 133, 136, 138, 148, 149, 152, 161, 164.

47 N. 43 above.

48 Other equestrian munerarii in nos. 27, 34, 172; donors of munera not called munerarii, nos. 65, 68 (the difference is one of terminology, not of substance). The term munerarius meant specifically the donor of a gladiatorial munus (TLL VIII, 1640, 47-1641, 28), and not merely ‘un personnage qui offre des libératés à sa cité (Leschi, p. 122, n. 3).

49 CSRA, p. 51, cf. Digesta L, 12, ‘De Pollicitationibus’; Veyne, P., Karthago ix, 1958, pp. 93–7Google Scholar. Promises made to the city in honour of local office were legally binding (Digesta L, 12, 1, 1).

50 For substantial delays in fulfilling promises in honour of local office, see WM, p. 161, n. 8.

51 Cf. Stein, p. 424, n. 1.

52 Cf. id., pp. 423-4. Twelve instances from non-African evidence of the grant of equestrian rank to those aged 16 or less in St 3 III, p. 496, n. 2= Dr. P. VI, 2, p. 93, n. 3 and Stein, p. 56, n. 4. The youngest knight was aged 3 years and 9 months (ILS 1317).

53 N. 19 above.

54 The legal age for entry into the ordo was 25, cf. Ulpian, Digesta L, 2, 11.

55 Cf. Stein, pp. 423-4 and n. 1.

56 For the voting of public statues of the relations of a donor, compare no. 146, where the building gift in question was a Capitol. At Calama, the promise of an outlay of HS400,000 on a theatre was recognised by the vote of 5 statues of the donor, a flaminica Augg. perpetua, together with a single statue of her father, a flamen Aug. perpetuus (probably under Marcus and Verus, C. 5365-6 = ILAlg I, 286-7).

57 Also C. 20651 (Tubusuctu), omitted from the present list because the sons followed military careers without local activities; the father held the laminate and duovirate.

58 Cf. RO, p. 172.

59 M Membership of the equus publicus followed at a later date by membership of the decuriae: nos. 68, 166, CIL X, 53. The reverse sequence : nos. 50, 158; ILS 5016, 6713.

10 St 3 III, p. 535 = Dr. P. VI, 2, pp. 140-1.

61 Nos. 102-3. The theatre probably cost several hundred thousand sesterces, and the Capitol at least HS 100,000. Cf. CSRA, nos. 27, 28 and p. 62, n. 41; nos. 1-23. For details of the buildings, Cagnat, R., Gauckler, F., Monuments historiques de la Tunisie I, 1898, pp. 1–4Google Scholar and pl. 1-2; C. Poinssot, Ruines de Dougga 1958, pp. 27 ff., 34 ff.; Pfeiffer, H., Mem. Amer. Acad. Rome ix, 1931, pp. 145–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

62 CIL X, 53; St 3 III, p. 537, n. 5 = Dr. P. VI, 2, p. 142, n. 5; n. 19 above.

62a The public horse combined with membership of the decuriae: nos. 10, 21, 50, 68, 90, 96, 101, 137, 152,166. The public horse alone : nos. 57, 63, 70, 81, 83, 88, 89, 92, 97, 98, 100, 104, 105, 108, 109, 110, 112, 114, 118, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, 139, 142, 143, 145, 149, 151, 159, 162, 169, 171, 172, 173, 184, 185, 188, 190, 194, 196, 213, 214, 226, 227, 227a, 1229, 229a, 230, 232, 234, 246, 251, 253, 254.

63 Cf. Pliny, , Ep. IV, 29Google Scholar, where Romatius Firmus is chided for not taking up his membership of the decuriae. The inscription of L. Septimius Severus, grandfather of the Emperor, says explicitly ‘in decuriis et inter selectos Romae iudicavit’ (no. 155).

64 L. Teutsch, Das Städtewesen in Nordqfrika, 1962, pp. 136-7; the Forum was begun under Claudius, C. 11002, cf. BAC 1886 (1887), pp. 54–65Google Scholar.

65 C. 22707; C. Saumagne, Le droit latin et les cités romaines sous l'Empire, 1965, pp. 121-9.

65a In addition to texts cited under no. 96, see C. 26467-8; ILAf 568; ILTun 1511-2.

66 To judge from a posthumous statue-base set up in his honour, whose text survives complete (C. 26605).

67 Hirschfeld, cited in n. 43 above.

68 The context (the fulfilment by his son of a promise made in honour of the pontificate) does not necessarily give the father' offices in full.

69 Cf. Marshall, A. J., ‘Governors on the move’, Phoenix xx, 1966, pp. 231–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The fasti of Africa occasionally show proconsuls at secondary towns, but not frequently enough to suggest that their visits were habitual. The occasion was usually the dedication of a major public building, for which a specific detour could well have been made, (C. 11002, 11006 Zitha; ILAlg I, 1230 Thubursicu Numidarum; ILAf 13 Chemmakh; C. 11798 Mactaris; ILTun 672 Avitta Bibba; ILAlg I, 1030 Thagura; IRT 21 Sabratha; ILTun 699 thuburbo Maius).

70 N. 39 above.

71 No. 93. Cf. R. Cagnat, CRAI 1915, p. 316 ff.

72 Cf. Pflaum, H.-G., Libyca v, 1957, pp. 61–75Google Scholar; Gsell, S., Encidopedia italiana XX, 1933, p. 413, 1Google Scholar.

73 For Calama, Gsell, AAA fe. 9, 146; ILAlg I, p. 20.

74 Apuleius, Apol. 77; 75; 23-4.

75 ibid., 23-4.

75a The epigraphy of Madauros has survived exceptionally well. Nos. 11, 12, 27, 49, 87, 91, 125, 153, 165, 189, 217 (cf. also Appendix II (ii)).

76 Comparative evidence in SEHRE 2, pp. 599-600.

77 Cf. n. 49 above.

78 N. 65 above.

79 The inscription apparently comes from above the doorway of the cella of a temple, inside the portico. The corresponding inscription from the Thugga Capitol has the same format and the same brevity (C. 15514). The portico inscription of the Thugga temple, giving fuller details, has also survived (C. 15513).

80 Nos. 20, 3a, 9, 17, 14, 7, 11, 23, 15, 19, 4, 29, 30; 67, 66, 51, 60.

81 Nos. 170, 176-7, 179, 175, 173.

82 Gifts by municipal figures: nos. 88-114; gifts by knights with public careers who also held local office: nos. 3, 27, 34, 46, 50, 53, 57, 62, 65, 68.

83 A knight at Manliana described his wife as the ‘soror fratrum et av(u)nculorum e(gregiorum) v(irorum) et eq(uitum) Romanor(um)’ (no. 206). The son of a knight at Caesarea called himself ‘equitis Roman, filio’ (no. 58). A magistrate at Beneventum was described as ‘eq(uitis) R(omani) adne(pos)’ (CIL IX, 1540 = ILS 4186). Cf. Stein, p. 76, n. 2.

84 The second-generation knight who contributed to the gift of a portico at Thuburbo Maius in A.D. 225 was the son of a primus pilus, not of a municipal figure (no. 175).

85 L. Titinius Maximus Clodianus, son of L. Titinius Clodianus who was ducenarian procurator ludi magni in A.D. 247. C. 8329, etc.

86 Cf. Stein, pp. 213 ff. Pflaum nos. 202; 231; 242.

87 Under Augustus the Senate had 600 members (Dio LIV, 14, 1); de Laet estimates the number of knights at this date at 10,000 (Revue beige de philologie et d'histoire xx, 1941, p. 511Google Scholar, n. 1).

88 C. 8938, cf. p. 1953 = ILS 5078. Other survivals at Saldae include the inscriptions of 2 procurators, 2 military tribunes, and 2 local knights (Pflaum nos. 132, 137; C. 20685, present list nos. 64; 123, 127).