PRAEFECTUS AEGYPTI
PRAEFECTUS AEGYPTI Egypt was not included by Augustus either
in the senatorial or in the imperial provinces, but was reserved for his
more immediate control. None of the senators or
equites
illustres were allowed to set foot in it without the special
permission of the emperor (
Tac. Ann. 2.59;
D. C. 51.17); it was governed for him by a
procurator of equestrian rank, who,
however, as holding a superior position to that of an ordinary procurator
and an
imperium ad similitudinem proconsulis
(
Dig. 1,
17,
1), was entitled
praefectus
Aegypti (
Tac. Hist. 2.74,
&c., and often in inscriptions), or in Greek
ἡγεμών. His staff consisted of freedmen of the emperor.
Everything but the fixing of the revenues and the right of appointment to
certain posts was in his hands: the administration of finance, the judicial
authority, and the supreme military command. He reported directly to the
emperor, and the tenure of his office depended on the emperor's pleasure.
Thus Seius Strabo, the father of Seianus, held this post for only a few
months, but his successor, Vitrasius Pollio, for sixteen years. (Marquardt,
Röm. Staatsv. 1.285.) This praefectus held rank
second in the scale of the non-senatorial dignities, coming after the
praefectus praetorio, but before the praefectus annonae. (Mommsen,
Staatsr. 2.997, 2.)
[
A.S.W]
