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Ducenarius - Roman official title
Ducenarius was a rank within the hierarchy of Imperial officals of equestrian rank known as procuratores. It originally indicated that the person so distinguished held a post with a salary of Sestertia 200/year – i.e. 200,000 Sesterces[a]. The rank appears to have come into use in the First Century AD, but the first record of its use is towards the end of the Second Century. By that time it may have come to serve the additional purpose of indicating the relative societal status of members of the lowest class of the Equestrian Order, the viri egregii (i.e. "Best of Men"), who included in their ranks the great majority of procuratorial and military officers in the Imperial Service as well as equestrians with no official function. The use of the term Ducenarius to indicate procuratorial rank appears to have been abandoned by the end of the Third Century. In the late-Empire it had a purely military connotation indicating a middle-ranking army officer - see Ducenarius.
Early use of the term edit
Salaried officials known as Ducenarii may have been appointed by the Emperor Augustus[1], but it seems likely he used them on an ad hoc basis in the management of his private estate[2]. They were first appointed on a regular basis in the reign of the Emperor Claudius I who systemised the employment of procuratores to carry out various official tasks throughout the Empire[3]. Officers of the high rank of Ducenarii would usually have been Procuratores Fiscii in the larger Imperial provinces. (i.e. they would have been charged with the collection of public taxes as well as the administration of the Imperial domain within . The creation of the office of Procurator Fiscii appearance seems to have heralded a significant reform of (i.e. the Legati Augusti who were of Senatorial rank).
Notes edit
- ^ The other procuratorial ranks were: Trecenarius (Sestertia 300/year); Centenarius (Sestertia 100/year); and Sexagenarius (Sestertia 60/year).