Praefectus urbi

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The praefectus urbanus, also called praefectus urbi or urban prefect in English, was

late Antiquity. The office survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the last urban prefect of Rome, named Iohannes, is attested in 599.[1]
In the East, in Constantinople, the office survived until the 13th century.

Regal period

According to Roman tradition, in 753 BC when

princeps Senatus. As the second highest office of state, the custos urbis was the king's personal representative. In the absence of the king from the city, the custos urbis exercised all of his powers, which included the powers of convoking the Senate, the popular assemblies and the exercise of force in the event of an emergency. However, the imperium
he possessed was only valid within the walls of Rome.

Under the kings, only three men held the position. The first king Romulus appointed Denter Romulius to serve as the first custos urbis, the third king

Tarquinius Superbus appointed Spurius Lucretius
.

Republican period

After the expulsion of

Comitia Curiata, and, in times of war, levying and commanding legions
.

The first major change to the office occurred in 487 BC, when the office became an elective

Latin Festival
, which required them to leave Rome. The praefectus urbi no longer held the power to convoke the Senate, or the right of speaking in it, and was appointed by the Consuls instead of being elected.

Imperial period

Rome

See also: List of urban prefects of Rome

When the first

provision with grain from overseas, the oversight of the officials responsible for the drainage of the Tiber and the maintenance of the city's sewers and water supply system, as well as its monuments.[3][4] The provisioning of the city's large population with the grain dole was especially important; when the Prefect failed to secure adequate supplies, riots often broke out.[5]

To enable the Prefect to exercise his authority, the

Roman Emperor, unlike the sentencing of other officials. Even the governors of the Roman provinces were subject to the Prefect's jurisdiction. The Prefect also possessed judicial powers over criminal matters. Originally these powers were exercised in conjunction with those of the quaestors
, but by the 3rd century, they were exercised alone.

In late Antiquity, the office gained in effective power, as the imperial court was removed from the city, meaning that the prefects were no longer under the emperor's direct supervision. The office was usually held by leading members of Italy's senatorial aristocracy, who remained largely pagan even after Emperor Constantine the Great's conversion to Christianity. Over the following thirty years, Christian holders were few.[7] In such a capacity, Quintus Aurelius Symmachus played a prominent role in the controversy over the Altar of Victory in the late 4th century.

The urban prefecture survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and remained active under the Ostrogothic Kingdom and well after the Byzantine reconquest. The last mention of the Roman urban prefect occurs as late as 879.[7]

Constantinople

See also: List of urban prefects of Constantinople

When the Emperor

Senate and set it as equal to that of Rome. Correspondingly, on 11 September or 11 December 359, Constantinople was also granted an urban prefect, commonly called in English the Eparch from his Greek title (ὁ ἔπαρχος τῆς πόλεως, ho eparchos tēs poleōs).[8] The prefect was one of the emperor's chief lieutenants: like his Roman counterpart, the Constantinopolitan prefect was a member of the highest senatorial class, the illustres, and came immediately after the praetorian prefects in the imperial hierarchy.[9] As such, the office possessed great prestige and extensive authority, and was one of the few high state offices which could not be occupied by a eunuch.[10] The prefect was also the formal head of the Senate, presiding over its meetings.[11] Hence, the prefect's nomination had to be formally ratified by the Senate, and unlike the other senior administrative positions of the state (praetorian prefects and diocesan vicars) with their military connotations, the office's ancient and purely civilian origins were emphasized by the prefect's wearing of the toga as a ceremonial garb.[4][12]

The prefect was solely responsible for the administration of the city of Constantinople and its immediate area. His tasks were manifold, ranging from the maintenance of order to the regulation and supervision of all guilds, corporations and public institutions. The city police, the ταξιῶται (taxiōtai), came under the prefect's authority,

praitōr of the demoi (πραίτωρ τῶν δήμων; praetor plebis in Latin), who commanded 20 soldiers and 30 firemen, was put in charge of policing and firefighting, while in 539, the office of the quaesitor (κοιαισίτωρ) was established and tasked with limiting the uncontrolled immigration to the city from the provinces, with supervising public mores, and with prosecuting sexual offenders and heretics.[10][14]

In the middle Byzantine period (7th–12th centuries), the prefect was regarded as the supreme judge in the capital, after the emperor himself.[15] His role in the economical life of the city was also of principal importance. The 10th-century Book of the Prefect stipulates the various rules for the various guilds that fell under the prefect's authority. The prefect was also responsible for the appointment of the teachers to the University of Constantinople, and for the distribution of the grain dole to the city.[16] According to the late 9th-century Klētorologion, his two principal aides were the symponos and the logothetēs tou praitōriou. In addition, there were the heads (γειτονιάρχαι, geitoniarchai, the old curatores regionum) and judges (kritai) of the city's districts (Latin regiones, in Greek ρεγεῶναι, regeōnai), the parathalassitēs (παραθαλασσίτης), an official responsible for the capital's seashore and ports, as well as their tolls, and several inspectors (epoptai), the heads of the guilds (exarchoi) and the boullōtai, whose function was to check and append the seal of the eparch on weights and scales as well as merchandise.[15][17]

The office continued until the early 13th century with its functions and authority relatively intact,

Palaiologan period (1261–1453) by several kephalatikeuontes (sing. kephalatikeuōn, κεφαλατικεύων, "headsman"), who each oversaw a district in the now much less populous capital.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b Lançon (2000), p. 45
  2. doi:10.3406/mefr.2007.10407
    .
  3. ^ Lançon (2000), pp. 21, 46
  4. ^ a b c Bury (1923), Book I, Ch. 2, pp. 28–29
  5. ^ Lançon (2000), pp. 46–47
  6. ^ a b Lançon (2000), p. 46
  7. ^ a b Kazhdan (1991), p. 2144
  8. ^ a b Heather & Moncur (2001), p. 45
  9. ^ Notitia Dignitatum, Pars Orientalis, I.
  10. ^ a b c Evans (1996), p. 43
  11. ^ Heather & Moncur (2001), pp. 225, 285, 292
  12. ^ Heather & Moncur (2001), pp. 294–295
  13. ^ Evans (1996), p. 25
  14. ^ Bury (1911), p. 70
  15. ^ a b c d Kazhdan (1991), p. 705
  16. ^ Evans (1996), pp. 27, 32
  17. ^ Bury (1911), pp. 70–73
  18. ^ Van Tricht (2011), pp. 114–115

Bibliography

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