The Formation of Africa Proconsularis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20055970 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brent D Shaw (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Pages | V-369-V-380 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-05 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Rulers, Nomads, and Christians in Roman North Africa (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781003556909-6 |
| OpenAlex | W4402277226 |
| ISBN | 9781003556909 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
Modern scholarship has accepted the convenient date of 27 B. C. for the formation of a unified province of Africa under a proconsular governor 1 . Evidence in support of this communis opinio turns out to be surprisingly slight. Of the two main literary passages usually called in aid that of Dio refers explicitly only to the division of the provinces between princeps and senate: και ένομίσθη διά ταατα ή μεν ‘Αφρική και ή Νουμιδία ή τε Ασία καί ή Ελλάς μετά της ‘Ηπείρου, καί το Δελματικόν τό τε Μακεδονικδν καί Σικελία, Κρήτη τε μετά Λιβύης της περί Κυρήνην καί Βιθυνία μετά του προσκειμένου οι Πόντου, Σαρδώ τε καί Βαιτική του τε δήμου καί της γερουσίας εϊναι, του δε δη Καίσαρος ... (53, 12, 4)· It is true that Dio mentions ‘Africa’ and ‘Numidia’ separately — strictly speaking he should have said Africa Vetus and Africa Nova — but, if any significance is to be placed on this distinction per se, the proper conclusion is surely that the two provinces continued to be administered separately after 27 B. C. For Dio is clearly listing the various provinces in terms appropriate to the period after the settlement of that year : for example, Baetica, the district of Tarraco, Lusitania, Lugdunensis, Aquitania, Belgica. All that he is stating in effect is simply (and loosely 1a ) that the whole of Roman Africa was made a senatorial province in 27 B. C., nothing more. To infer that Africa Nova and Africa Vetus were merged at this particular juncture, thus bringing Proconsularis 2 into being, is a gratuitous assumption
Geography · Political science · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories
| Citations per year | 0.3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2012 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |