Praefectus urbi

The Urban Prefect was the city prefect of Rome. The Office may be observed from the mythical king of the Romans until the late middle ages. Since the 4th century AD, there was also proved beneficial in a Opel Konstantin Urban Prefect with comparable skills.

Early period and the Roman Republic

Among the Prefect of the Roman Empire the Praefectus urbi had a particularly excellent position, even if it only slightly protrudes up to the beginning of the Empire. He had the task in the absence or elimination of the heads of government, such as the king or according to later tradition - in the early republic - when both consuls (or the praetor maximus previously ) worked as a military leader and far were from the city, the administration of the capital and its immediate surroundings to take over. In such cases, the short-term appointed praefectus urbi represented in the city immediately the heads of the Roman state, his tenure lasted a maximum of one year.

In the first half of the 4th century BC, the ordinary place of a praetor urbanus was in the course of internal structural changes created that specifically had the task to relieve the consuls of essential tasks within the city and for that to be constantly available, that the occasional appointment of a praefectus urbi was no longer necessary. The office had become obsolete and no longer appears until the end of the republic. Due to the poor source material - not a contemporary witness mentions a praefectus urbi - keep it some researchers for quite possible that the existence of a city prefecture at this early stage is just an anachronistic back-projection of a later date anyway.

Principate

Emperor Augustus found it necessary to re-organize the ever more demanding managing a large city, and attacked it ( maybe) on the old office of the Urban Prefect back - or he invented it again. The Office was entrusted with new tasks and re-equipped, which was Urban Prefect appointed by the Emperor from the ranks of the senatorial ( basically from the highest ranking class of the former consuls ) and with the many administrative tasks of a " mayor " of the imperial capital and its surroundings within charge of 100 miles. For specific tasks (eg, construction, water and food supply, fire department, roads and bridges, market nature, and others), there were other officials ( Prefect vigilum, curator aquarum and others).

In particular, was for the Urban Prefect criminal jurisdiction in his district office, while the same outside was perceived in Italy by the Praetorian Prefect. Although the Urban Prefect member of the Senate and was also temporarily led his presidency, he was not concerned with tasks of a political nature; military affairs were not at all to his sphere, aside from the command of the city of Rome police and guard units ( urban cohorts ); therefore he stepped to the 6th century always in the toga, although it was more common in other state officials to wear military clothing. This purely on Civilian oriented activity, so vital it was for the city's residents also left understandably only few traces in the historical record, however, justified the high rank which the Urban Prefect occupied in the hierarchy of imperial officials. So when Emperor Macrinus Marcus 217 Oclatinius Adventus made ​​to the city prefect, who had not undergone senatorial career, it was felt by aristocrats as the historian Cassius Dio as a great scandal, because Adventus the city prefecture was not worthy.

Late Antiquity

The enormous prestige of the Office shall in particular in Late Antiquity (after Diocletian or Constantine I ) clearly, as the imperial administration according to fixed rules and a meticulous re- structured rank system with titles, badges and privileges was created. In this system, the Urban Prefect ranked in the highest class of viri illustrious ( Illustrissimi ), second only to the Praetorian Prefect, and was basically the members of the senatorial ( viri clarissimi ) - mostly from the city itself - removed. To represent the Urban Prefect and also to his control in Late Antiquity, a vicar urbis was appointed, who belonged to the second rank class of viri spectabiles. In the Senate, the city prefect, was in the chair, as did the court senatorial committee ( iudicium quiquevirale ). 525 condemned such a court, for example, the philosopher and senator Boethius to death for treason.

This close connection with the senatorial districts of Rome, which constituted the core of the conservative resistance to the Christianization of the empire in the later 4th and early 5th century, made ​​the Urban Prefect multiply the spokesman of paganism and ancient Roman tradition in conflict with Christian emperors (see also Vettius Agorius Praetextatus ). A testimony of this ultimately futile defense struggle is the input received to let ( relatio ) of the city prefect Quintus Aurelius Symmachus to the Emperor Valentinian II from the year 384, with which he tried to set up the altar of the goddess of victory, Victoria again in the meeting room of the Senate, the Augustus had consecrated celebration of the victory at Actium as a symbol of divine protection for the Roman people, who had been but already 375 from Emperor Gratian as unchristian (see dispute over the Victoria altar). The request failed because of the intervention of the imperial adviser, Bishop Ambrose of Milan. The office of city prefect survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire 476, since almost all elements of the Roman administration were preserved under the new power structures. Also, the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I, 554 managing Italy's newly arranged and most of the Western Roman senatorial offices abolished, the office of city prefect left untouched.

A city prefecture was established in the 4th century for Konstantin Opel with the praefectus urbis Constantinopolitanae, but this office was never given the almost constant presence of the Emperor in the city to a comparable importance - but also the city prefect (Greek ἔπαρχος eparchos ) of Constantinople Opel was one the highest civilian dignitaries of the Empire was formally on a par with that of the city of Rome and was also a vir illustris.

The Metropolitan Prefecture in the Middle Ages

Even Pope Gregory the Great ( 590-604 ) had probably been on the Roman bishop's throne in 570 city prefect before his elevation, even in later times repeatedly encounter names of prefects, the primary remit it remained in Rome, and a considerable part of central Italy, the high exercise and criminal jurisdiction. Who determined the prefects and started, is difficult to determine, it may be the Pope have been as a city bishop or other local authorities, who saw themselves enforce a participation of the people of Rome, the exarch of Ravenna or of the Eastern Roman - Byzantine Emperor is conceivable.

In the high Middle Ages, the office became increasingly the sphere of influence of the leading political rivals ( German ) Emperor and Pope and their parties, but lost more and more actual validity in the government of the city; the prefect became a imperial soon, soon (and then final) papal functionary in the area of ​​jurisdiction. In the 13th century the city prefecture to a permanent and hereditary title in the house of lords of Vico, who owned large estates in the area of Rome was the city itself but neither inhabited nor managed. With the end of this house in 1435 and the long-established office of the Roman city prefect disappeared, even though the empty title was awarded by the Pope still there and there honorary.

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