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Praefectus urbanus, or praefectus urbi, prefect of the city of Rome. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and held high importance in late antiquity.

In 753 BC when Romulus founded the city of Rome and instituted the monarchy he also created the office of Custos Urbis (watchman of the city) to serve as the king’s chief lieutenant. Appointed by the king to serve for life, the Custos Urbis served concurrently as the Princeps Senatus. As the second highest office of state, the Custos Urbi was the king’s personal representative. In the absence of the king from the city, the Custos Urbi exercised all of his powers. included the powers of convoking the Senate, the popular assemblies and the exercise of force in the event of an emergency. However, the imperium he possessed was only valid within the walls of Rome.

Under the kings, only three man held the position. The first king Romulus appointed Denter Romulius to serve as the first Custos Urbis, the third king Tullus Hostilius appointed Numa Martius, and the seventh king Tarquinius Superbus appointed Spurius Lucretius.

After the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus in 510 BC and the formation of the Republic in 509 BC, the office of Custos Urbis remained unaltered: having power only within the actual city of Rome and a life term appointed by the Consuls. The Custos Urbis exercised within the city all the powers of the Consuls if they were absent from Rome. These powers included: convoking the Senate and Comitia Curiata, and, in times of war, levying and commanding legions.

The first major change to the office occurred in 487 BC when the office became an elective magistracy. The Comitia Curiata elected the Custos Urbis. The office was only open to those who had formerly served as Consul. Around 450 BC, with the coming of the Decemvirs, the office of the Custos Urbis was renamed the Praefectus Urbi (Prefect of the City of Rome). The Praefectus Urbi, stripped of most of its powers and responsibilities, had become a merely ceremonial role. Most of the powers and responsibilities had been transferred to the Praetor Urbanus. The Praefectus Urbi was appointed each every for the sole purpose of allowing the Consuls to celebrate the Festival of the Latins. The Praefectus Urbi no long held the power to convoke the Senate, or the right of speaking in it, was appointed by the Consuls instead of being elected.

When the first Roman Emperor Augustus transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire in 27 BC, he reformatted the Prefect at the suggestion of his minister and friend Maecenas. Again elevated into a magistracy, Augustus granted the Praefectus Urbi all the powers needed to maintain order within the city. Acting as a quasi mayor of Rome, the Prefect was the superintendent of all butchers, banks, and theatres. The enable the Prefect to exercise his authority, under his command were the cohortes urbanae, Rome’s police force. The Prefect also had jurisdiction in legal cases between slaves and their masters, patrons and their freedmen, and over sons who had violated the pietas towards their parents.

As the Empire expanded, the judicial powers of the Prefect gradually expanded as well. The Prefect began to reassume its old powers from the Praetor Urbanus. Eventually there was no appeal from the Prefect’s sentencing, except to that of the Roman Emperor, unlike the sentencing of other officials. Even the governors of the provinces was subject to the Prefect’s jurisdiction. The Prefect also possessed judicial powers over criminal matters. Originally these powers were exercised in conjunction with those of the Quaestors, but by the third century, they were exercised alone. The office’s powers also expanded beyond the city of Rome to a distant of one hundred miles.

When the Emperor Constantine the Great named Constantinople the capital of the Eastern Empire, he also established a Prefect to oversee the city. As the emperor’s chief lieutenant within Constantinople, all administration of the city, including all corporations and all public institutions, were under the office’s control. The Prefect also exercised superintendence over trade within the city. Once a month, the Prefect delivered a report to emperor on the transactions of the Senate. The Prefect was also the medium through which the emperors received the petitions and gifts from the city.

• Category:Roman urban prefects

• Tac. Ann. 6.11
• Cass. Dio 59.13
• Dig. 1.12; 4.4.16; 5.1.12; 4.8.19