Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The end of local magistrates in the Roman Empire

2014; Complutense University of Madrid; Volume: 32; Issue: 32 Linguagem: Inglês

1988-3080

Leonard A. Curchin,

Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

Previous studies of the status of local magistrates in the Late Empire are unsatisfying and fail to explain when and why local magistracies ended. With the aid of legal, epigraphic, papyrological and literary sources, the author re-examines the functions and chronology of both regular and quasi-magistrates, among them the curator, defensor and pater civitatis. He finds that the expense of office-holding was only part of the reason for the extinction of regular magistracies. More critical was the failure of local magistrates to control finances and protect the plebeians