# Consularis

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{{Short description|Ancient Roman title, given to those who had served as consuls}}
'''''Consularis''''' is a [Latin](/source/Latin) adjective indicating something pertaining to the [position or rank of consul](/source/Roman_consul). In [Ancient Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome) it was also used as a noun (plural ''consulares'') to designate those [senators](/source/Roman_Senate) who had held the office of consul or attained consular rank as a special honour. In [Late Antiquity](/source/Late_Antiquity), the title became also a gubernatorial rank for [provincial](/source/Roman_province) [governors](/source/Roman_governor).

==History==
In the [Roman Republic](/source/Roman_Republic), the term ''vir consularis'' (rendered in Greek as {{lang|grc|ὑπατικός}}, ''hypatikos'') or ''consularis'' designated any [senator](/source/Roman_Senate) who had served as [consul](/source/Roman_consul). The distinction was accompanied by specific privileges and honours, and was normally a necessary qualification for a number of [magistracies](/source/Roman_magistrate): the posts of ''[dictator](/source/Roman_dictator)'' and his deputy, the ''[magister equitum](/source/magister_equitum)'' (although some cases seem to refute that), the post of ''[censor](/source/Roman_censor)'' as well as the governance of certain [provinces](/source/Roman_province) as [proconsuls](/source/proconsuls). The distinction was attached to their wives as well (''consularis femina'', in Greek ὑπατική or ὑπάτισσα).<ref name="PW">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Kübler | first = B. |title = Consularis | encyclopedia = [Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft](/source/Realencyclop%C3%A4die_der_Classischen_Altertumswissenschaft) | volume = Band IV, Halbband 7, Claudius mons-Cornificius | year = 1900 | at=col. 1138–1142}}</ref> Under the Principate, the status of ''consularis'' could be gained, without holding the consulship, by the gift of the emperor, either through admission to the senate (''adlectio inter consulares'') or (more rarely) through the award of the consular insignia (''ornamenta/insignia consularia'').<ref name="PW"/>

Under the Principate, a number of senior magistracies were created for ''consulares'':<ref name="PW"/>
* The position of ''[praefectus urbi](/source/praefectus_urbi)'', governor of [Rome](/source/Rome) and its environs.
* Under [Hadrian](/source/Hadrian) (r. 117–138), [Italy](/source/Italy_(Roman_Empire)) was divided into four judicial jurisdictions, each with a ''consularis'' at its head. This institution was abolished soon after Hadrian's death, however.
* Under [Alexander Severus](/source/Alexander_Severus) (r. 222–235), a council of fourteen ''consulares'', the ''consulares sacrae urbis'', was created to assist the ''praefectus urbi'', with each one representing one of the [fourteen regions](/source/14_regions_of_Augustan_Rome) of Rome.
* The ''consulares operum publicorum, alvei Tiberis et cloacarum'', public officials (''[curator](/source/curator)es'') responsible for public works, the regulation of the [Tiber](/source/Tiber) and the maintenance of [Rome's sanitation system](/source/Sanitation_in_ancient_Rome).

=== Provincial governors ===
Already during the Republic, certain provinces were reserved for ex-consuls. This tradition carried into the Principate following the grant of an enormous provincial command to Augustus in 27 BC effectively dividing the empire between so-called [Imperial](/source/Imperial_provinces) and [Senatorial](/source/Senatorial_provinces) provinces. Of the latter, two were specifically reserved for ''consulares'', the proconsular provinces of [Asia](/source/Asia_(Roman_province)) and [Africa proconsularis](/source/Africa_proconsularis).<ref name="PW"/> ''Consulares'' could also hold office in Imperial provinces as the Emperor's legates (''[legatus Augusti pro praetore](/source/legatus_Augusti_pro_praetore)''), alongside legates who held the rank of ''[praetor](/source/praetor)'' and officials from the [equestrian](/source/Equestrian_order) order styled ''[procuratores](/source/procurator_(Roman))''.

As the formal title of ''legatus Augusti'' did not otherwise distinguish rank, those of consular standing occasionally attached the form ''consularis'' to their title, a practice which became commonplace in the 3rd century. As a result, the latter, simpler title began to replace the formal title, and to acquire a generic meaning of "provincial governor".<ref name="PW"/> This evolution was formalized in the reforms of [Diocletian](/source/Diocletian) (r. 284–305) and [Constantine the Great](/source/Constantine_the_Great) (r. 306–337). Aside from its traditional meaning, designating holders of consular rank, the term ''consularis'' now came to designate a class of provincial governors. Its holders outranked the ''[corrector](/source/corrector)es'' and ''[praesides](/source/praeses)'', but were still at the very bottom of the senatorial hierarchy, with the senatorial rank of ''[vir clarissimus](/source/vir_clarissimus)'', while a holder of consular rank was styled ''[vir illustris](/source/vir_illustris)''.<ref name="PW"/> In a handful of cases, serving ''consulares'' were raised to proconsular rank, while [Valentinian I](/source/Valentinian_I) (r. 364–375) and [Valens](/source/Valens) (r. 364–378) gave the ''consulares'' of [Numidia](/source/Numidia) the exceptional right to be preceded by six instead of five ''[fasces](/source/fasces)''-bearing ''[lictor](/source/lictor)es''.<ref name="PW"/>

According to the ''[Notitia Dignitatum](/source/Notitia_Dignitatum)'' (circa 400), the following provinces were administered by a ''consularis'':
; in fifteen provinces in the [Eastern Roman Empire](/source/Eastern_Roman_Empire)<ref name="PW"/><ref name="OriensI">''Notitia Dignitatum'', [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0212/_P17.HTM ''in partibus Orientis'', I]</ref>
* five in the [Diocese of the East](/source/Diocese_of_the_East): [Palaestina Prima](/source/Palaestina_Prima), [Phoenice](/source/Phoenice_(Roman_province)), [Syria Prima](/source/Syria_(Roman_province)), [Cilicia Prima](/source/Cilicia_Prima) and [Cyprus](/source/Cyprus)
* three in the [Diocese of Asia](/source/Diocese_of_Asia): [Pamphylia](/source/Pamphylia), [Hellespontus](/source/Hellespontus_(province)) and [Lydia](/source/Lydia)
* two in the [Diocese of Pontus](/source/Diocese_of_Pontus): [Galatia](/source/Galatia) and [Bithynia](/source/Bithynia)
* two in the [Diocese of Thrace](/source/Diocese_of_Thrace): [Europa](/source/Europa_(Roman_province)) and [Thracia](/source/Thracia)
* three in the [Diocese of Illyricum](/source/Diocese_of_Illyricum): [Creta](/source/Creta) (Crete), [Macedonia](/source/Macedonia_(Roman_province)) and [Dacia Mediterranea](/source/Dacia_Mediterranea)
* the [Diocese of Egypt](/source/Diocese_of_Egypt_(Late_Antiquity))—''sui generis'' as the imperial crown domain—is explicitly said to have none

;in twenty-one provinces in the [Western Roman Empire](/source/Western_Roman_Empire)<ref name="PW"/><ref name="OccidensI">''Notitia Dignitatum'', [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0212/_P1.HTM ''in partibus Occidentis'', I]</ref> 
* one in the [Diocese of Pannonia](/source/Diocese_of_Pannonia): [Pannonia Secunda](/source/Pannonia_Secunda)
* eight in the two Italian dioceses: [Venetia et Histria](/source/Venetia_et_Histria), [Aemilia](/source/Aemilia_(Roman_province)), [Liguria](/source/Liguria_(Roman_province)), [Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium](/source/Flaminia_et_Picenum_Annonarium), [Tuscia et Umbria](/source/Tuscia_et_Umbria), [Picenum Suburbicarium](/source/Picenum_Suburbicarium), [Campania](/source/Campania_(Roman_province)) and [Sicilia](/source/Sicilia)
* two in the [Diocese of Africa](/source/Diocese_of_Africa): [Byzacena](/source/Byzacena) and Numidia
* three in the [Diocese of Spain](/source/Diocese_of_Spain): [Baetica](/source/Baetica), [Lusitania](/source/Lusitania), [Gallaecia](/source/Gallaecia)
* six in the [Diocese of Gaul](/source/Diocese_of_Gaul): [Viennensis](/source/Viennensis), [Lugdunensis Prima](/source/Gallia_Lugdunensis), [Germania Prima](/source/Germania_Prima), [Germania Secunda](/source/Germania_Secunda), [Belgica Prima](/source/Belgica_Prima) and [Belgica Secunda](/source/Belgica_Secunda)
* two in the [Diocese of Britain](/source/Diocese_of_Britain): [Maxima Caesariensis](/source/Maxima_Caesariensis) and [Valentia](/source/Valentia_(Roman_Britain))

The ''Notitia'' gives the following staff (''[officium](/source/officium_(Ancient_Rome))'') for a ''consularis'' of the West: ''princeps officii'' (detached from the [praetorian prefecture](/source/praetorian_prefecture)), a ''[cornicularius](/source/cornicularius)'', two ''tabularii'', an ''[adiutor](/source/adiutor)'', a ''[commentariensis](/source/commentariensis)'', an ''[ab actis](/source/ab_actis)'', a ''[subadiuva](/source/subadiuva)'', and various ''exceptores'' and ''cohortalini'', i.e. menial staff.<ref>''Notitia Dignitatum'', [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0212/_P14.HTM ''in partibus Occidentis'', XLIII]</ref> For the East, the ''officium'' was slightly different: ''princeps officii'', ''cornicularius'', ''commentariensis'', ''adiutor'', ''numerarius'', ''ab actis'', ''a libellis'', and the usual ''exceptores'' and ''cohortalini''.<ref>''Notitia Dignitatum'', [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0212/_P28.HTM ''in partibus Orientis'', XLIII]</ref>

The ''[Synecdemus](/source/Synecdemus)'', written some time shortly before 535, lists the following provinces under ''consulares'':<ref name="PW"/> 
Europa, Thracia, Macedonia Prima, Creta, [Epirus Nova](/source/Epirus_Nova), Dacia Mediterranea, Hellespontus, [Phrygia Pacatiana](/source/Phrygia_Pacatiana) and [Phrygia Salutaris](/source/Phrygia_Salutaris), Lydia, [Pisidia](/source/Pisidia), [Lycaonia](/source/Lycaonia), Pamphylia, [Lycia](/source/Lycia), [Caria](/source/Caria), Pontica Prima (Bithynia), Galatia, [Cappadocia Prima](/source/Cappadocia_Prima), [Helenopontus](/source/Helenopontus), Cilicia Prima, Cyprus, Syria Prima, Phoenice, Palaestina Prima, [Arabia](/source/Arabia_Petraea), and one whose name is illegible. 

Following the [reconquest](/source/Vandalic_War) of [North Africa](/source/Roman_North_Africa), in 534, [Tripolitania](/source/Tripolitania) was given a ''consularis'', while Numidia was downgraded to a mere ''praeses''.<ref name="PW"/> However, in 535 Emperor [Justinian I](/source/Justinian_I) (r. 527–565) carried out a wide-ranging administrative reorganization. The provinces of [Palaestina Secunda](/source/Palaestina_Secunda), [Syria Secunda](/source/Syria_Secunda), [Theodorias](/source/Theodorias_(province)), [Osrhoene](/source/Osrhoene), [Armenia Secunda](/source/Armenia_Secunda), [Armenia Magna](/source/Armenia_Magna), [Cappadocia Secunda](/source/Cappadocia_Secunda), [Rhodope](/source/Rhodope_(Roman_province)), [Haemimontus](/source/Haemimontus) and Augustamnica (this is possibly an error) were placed under ''consulares'', while Epirus Nova, Dacia Mediterranea, Phrygia Pacatiana, Galatia, Syria Prima and Arabia were placed under governors of other ranks.<ref name="PW"/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{italic title}}
Category:Ancient Roman titles
Category:Gubernatorial titles
Category:Government of the Roman Empire
Category:Byzantine administrative offices
Category:Roman consuls

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Consularis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consularis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consularis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.