The comitatus of the period 284-305 AD were moving structures. Diocletian and Maximian Herculius daily dumped heavy checks on dignitaries and palatine officers who followed them in their respective comitatus. The Caesares (293-305 AD) had a reduced comitatus compared to that of the Augusti, without the praetorian prefect and the chefs of the financial departments, but endowed with an officium a memoria and the offices for the correspondence. The ‘bureaucrats’ flanking the Caesares seem to have been nominated by the Augusti. The comitatus of the two Augusti appears similar to that of the Severan age, with the new magistri at the head of the palatine offices (perhaps already called scrinia). Few holders of palatine functions are known in the period 284-305. Only the two Augusti had a complete ‘central government organization chart’: one praetorian prefect each, still at the top of the civil and military administration; a ‘two-headed’ financial section (rationalis summae rei, rationalis rei privatae). At court the ‘bureaucratic’ officia were complete: memoriae, censum, a commentariis, epistularum; in the ‘judicial’ sector: libellorum; studiorum; sacrarum cognitionum. New is the a consiliis sacris. The only cursus honorum of an dignitary, who has played a palatine career during the age of Diocletian and the Tetrarchs, is C. Caelius Saturninus signo Dogmatius (CIL VI, 1704, re-examined). Some important jurists working in Diocletian's palace (Gregorius, author of the major Codex of the time, Aurelius Arcadius Charisius, magister libellorum of Diocletian, Aurelius Hermogenianus, also perhaps magister libellorum, probably praetorian prefect of Diocletian around 297-304 AD). The comitatus of the period 284-305 AD seem to represent the last, extreme facies of the palatium of the High Empire. However, the introduction of the new ritual of the adoratio, or proskýnesis, marks an irreversible change in the relationship with the prince. About the relationship between this new and fortunate ceremonial apparatus and the evolution of the consilium principis in the late consistorium, Diocletian surely has innovated in the ceremonial apparatus, but probably he didn’t create the late consistorium, a structure dated from the reorganization operated by Constantine in the years 326-330 AD.
Porena, P. (2018). L’amministrazione palatina di Diocleziano e dei tetrarchi. Comitatus, consilium, consistorium. In S.P. Werner Eck (a cura di), Diocleziano: la frontiera giuridica dell’impero (pp. 63-110). Pavia : Pavia University Press.
L’amministrazione palatina di Diocleziano e dei tetrarchi. Comitatus, consilium, consistorium
Pierfrancesco Porena
2018-01-01
Abstract
The comitatus of the period 284-305 AD were moving structures. Diocletian and Maximian Herculius daily dumped heavy checks on dignitaries and palatine officers who followed them in their respective comitatus. The Caesares (293-305 AD) had a reduced comitatus compared to that of the Augusti, without the praetorian prefect and the chefs of the financial departments, but endowed with an officium a memoria and the offices for the correspondence. The ‘bureaucrats’ flanking the Caesares seem to have been nominated by the Augusti. The comitatus of the two Augusti appears similar to that of the Severan age, with the new magistri at the head of the palatine offices (perhaps already called scrinia). Few holders of palatine functions are known in the period 284-305. Only the two Augusti had a complete ‘central government organization chart’: one praetorian prefect each, still at the top of the civil and military administration; a ‘two-headed’ financial section (rationalis summae rei, rationalis rei privatae). At court the ‘bureaucratic’ officia were complete: memoriae, censum, a commentariis, epistularum; in the ‘judicial’ sector: libellorum; studiorum; sacrarum cognitionum. New is the a consiliis sacris. The only cursus honorum of an dignitary, who has played a palatine career during the age of Diocletian and the Tetrarchs, is C. Caelius Saturninus signo Dogmatius (CIL VI, 1704, re-examined). Some important jurists working in Diocletian's palace (Gregorius, author of the major Codex of the time, Aurelius Arcadius Charisius, magister libellorum of Diocletian, Aurelius Hermogenianus, also perhaps magister libellorum, probably praetorian prefect of Diocletian around 297-304 AD). The comitatus of the period 284-305 AD seem to represent the last, extreme facies of the palatium of the High Empire. However, the introduction of the new ritual of the adoratio, or proskýnesis, marks an irreversible change in the relationship with the prince. About the relationship between this new and fortunate ceremonial apparatus and the evolution of the consilium principis in the late consistorium, Diocletian surely has innovated in the ceremonial apparatus, but probably he didn’t create the late consistorium, a structure dated from the reorganization operated by Constantine in the years 326-330 AD.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
