Decurio
Encyclopedia
Decurio was an official title in Ancient Rome
, used in various connections:
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, used in various connections:
- A member of the senatorial order in the Italian towns under the administration of Rome, and later in provincial towns organized on the Italian model (see Cuai.~ 4). The number of decuriones varied in different towns, but was usually 100. The qualifications for the office were fixed in each town by a special law for that community (lex municipalis). CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
(in Verr. 2. 49,120) alludes to an age limit (originally thirty years, until lowered by AugustusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
to twenty-five),to a property qualification (cf. Pliny, Ep. i. 19. 2), and to certain conditions of rank. The method of appointment varied in different towns and at different periods. In the early municipal constitution ex-magistrates passed automatically into the senate of their town; but at a later date this Order was reversed, and membership of the senate became a qualification for the magistracy. Cicero (l.c.) speaks of the senate in the Sicilian towns as appointed by a vote of the township. But in most towns it was the duty of the chief magistrate to draw up a list (album) of the senators every five years. The decuriones held office for life. They were convened by the magistrate, who presided as in the Roman senate. Their powers were extensive. In all matters the magistrates were obliged to act according to their direction, and in some towns they heard cases of appeal against judicial sentences passed by the magistrate. By the time of the municipal law of Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
(45 BC45 BCYear 45 BC was either a common year starting on Thursday, Friday or Saturday or a leap year starting on Friday or Saturday and the first year of the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...
) special privileges were conferred on the decuriones, including the right to appeal to Rome for trial in criminal cases. Under the principate their status underwent a marked decline, The office was no longer coveted, and documents of the 3rd and 4th centuries show that means were devised to compel members of, the towns to undertake it. By the time of the jurists it had become hereditary and compulsory. This change was largely due to the heavy financial burdens which the Roman government laid on the municipal senates. - The leader of a decuriaDecuryIn Ancient Rome, a decury was a group of ten people, ranged under one chief, or commander, called a decurio. The Roman cavalry was divided into decuries....
, a subdivision of the curiaCuriaA curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
. - An officer in the Roman cavalry, originally commanding a troop of ten men (decuria) during the early republican era. In the late republic and during the empire a decurio commanded a turmaTurmaA turma was a cavalry squadron in the Roman army of the Republic and Empire. In the Byzantine Empire, it became applied to the larger, regiment-sized military-cum-administrative divisions of a thema....
of 32 men in the auxiliary cavalryAuxiliaries (Roman military)Auxiliaries formed the standing non-citizen corps of the Roman army of the Principate , alongside the citizen legions...
. It is the equivalent of the ancient Greek dekarchos, a cavalry officer. - Decurio was also a name given to certain priests intended, as it should seem, for some particular sacrifices, or other religious ceremonies; or for the sacrifices of private families and houses, as Burkhard Gotthelf Struve (1671-1738) conjectures, who from that source derives their name. Whatever the origin of the name, we have an inscription in GruterJan GruterJan Gruter was a Dutch critic and scholar.-Life:Jan Gruter was Dutch on his father's side and English on his mother's, and was born at Antwerp...
's work, which confirms their function: ANCHIALVS. CVB. AED. Q. TER. IN. AEDE. DECVRIO. ADLECTVS. EX. CONSENSV. DECVRIONVM. FAMILIAE. VOLVNTATE., which describes a decurio in the house of a private person, Q. Terentius.