Roman province

• published: 18 Oct 2015
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In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy, largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy. The word province in modern English has its origins in the term used by the Romans. Provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors. A later exception was the province of Egypt, incorporated by Augustus after the death of Cleopatra: it was ruled by a governor of equestrian rank only, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition. This exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus' personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings. This video is targeted to blind users. Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA Creative Commons image source in video