52 Roman Empire under Augustus (31 BC – AD 14).

Roman Empire under Augustus (31 BC – AD 14).

In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin: provincia, pl. provinciae) was the basic, and, until theTetrarchy (293 AD), largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy. The word province in modern English has its origins in the term used by the Romans.

Provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors. A later exception was the province of Egypt, incorporated by Augustus after the death of Cleopatra: it was ruled by a governor of equestrian rank only, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition. This exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus' personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings.

The Latin word provincia originally meant any task or set of responsibilities assigned by theSenate to an individual who held imperium ("right of command"), which was often a military command within a specified theater of operations.^[1] Under the Roman Republic, the magistrateswere elected to office for a period of one year, and those serving outside the city of Rome, such as consuls acting as generals on a military campaign, were assigned a particular provincia, the scope of authority within which they exercised their command.

The territory of a people who were defeated in war might be brought under various forms of treaty, in some cases entailing complete subjection (deditio). The formal annexation of a territory created a "province" in the modern sense of an administrative unit geographically defined. Republican provinces were administered in one-year terms by the consuls and praetors who had held office the previous year and who were invested with imperium.^[2]

Rome started expanding beyond Italy during the First Punic War. The first permanent provinces to be annexed were Sicily (Sicilia) in 241 BC and Sardinia (Corsica et Sardinia) in 237 BC. Militarized expansionism kept increasing the number of these administrative provinces, until there were no longer enough qualified individuals to fill the posts.^[3] The terms of provincial governors often had to be extended for multiple years (prorogatio), and on occasion the Senate awarded imperium even to private citizens (privati), most notably Pompey the Great.^[4] Prorogation undermined the republican constitutional principle of annual elected magistracies, and the amassing of disproportionate wealth and military power by a few men through their provincial commands was a major factor in the transition from a republic to imperial autocracy.^[5]

List of Roman provinces

• 241 BC – Sicilia (Sicily) taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed at the end of the First Punic War.
• 237 BC – Corsica et Sardinia; these two islands were taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed soon after the Mercenary War, in 238 BC and 237 BC respectively.
• 197 BC – Hispania Citerior; along the east coast of the (Iberian Peninsula); part of the territories taken over from the Carthaginians .
• 197 BC - Hispania Ulterior; along the southern coast of the (Iberian Peninsula); part of the territories taken over from the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War.
• 147 BC – Macedonia; mainland Greece. It was annexed after a rebellion by the Achaean League.
• 146 BC – Africa; modern day Tunisia and western Libya; home territory of Carthage; annexed after the descruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War.
• 129 BC – Asia; formerly the Kingdom of Pergamon in western Anatolia (modern Turkey) by its last king, Attalus III, in 133 BC.
• 120 BC – Gallia Narbonensis (southern France); prior to its annexation it was called Gallia Transalpina (Gallia the other side of the Alps) to distinguish it fromGallia Cisalpina (Gaul this side of the Alps, in northern Italy). It was annexed following attacks on the allied Greek city of Massalia (Marseille).
• 67 BC – Creta et Cyrenaica; Cyrenaica was bequeathed to Rome in 78 BC. However, it was not organised as a province. It was incorporated into the provice of Creta et Cyrenaica when Crete was annexed in 67 BC.
• 63 BC – Bithynia; the Kingdom of Bithynia (in North-western Anatolia - Turkey)was bequeathed to Rome by its last king, Nicomedes IV in 74 BC. It was organised as a Roman province at the end of the Third Mithridatic War (73-63 BC) by Pompey who incorporated the eastern part of the defeated Kingdom of Pontus into it in 63 BC.
• 63 BC – Syria; Pompey annexed Syria at the end of the Third Mithridatic War.
• 58 BC – Cilicia et Cyprus Cilicia was created as a province in the sense of area of military command in 102 BC in a campaign against piracy. The Romans controlled only a small area. In 74 BC Lycia and Pamphylia (to the east) were added to the smal Roman possessions in Cilicia. Cilicia came fully under Roman control towards the end of the Third Mithridatic War - 73-63 BC. The province was reorganised by Pompey in 63 BC. Cyprus was annexed and added to this province in 58 BC.
• 46 BC - Africa Nova (eastern Numidia - Algeria), Julius Caesar annexed eastern Numidia and the new province called Africa Nova (new Africa) to distinguish it from the older province of Africa, which become known as Africa Vetus (Old Africa).

Gallia Cisalpina (in northern Italy) was a province in the sense of an area of military command, but was never a province in the sense of an administrative unit. During Rome's expansion in Italy the Romans assigned some areas as provinces in the sense of areas of military command assigned to consuls or praetors (not proconsuls or propraetors as in the case of administrative provinces) due to risks of rebellions or invasions. This was applied to Liguria because there was a series of rebellions,Bruttium and to (Calabria) because of perceived risks of rebellion. In the early days of Roman presence in Gallia Cisalpina the issue was rebellion. Later the issue was risk of invasions by warlike peoples east of Italy. The city of Aquileia was founded to protect northern Italy form invasions. Julius Caesar granted the inhabitants of this region Roman citizenship and incorporated the region into Italy.

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