Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 2 - Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire

230 The Imperial Government

have more fully lived up to the old-fashioned English description of ‘‘a
scholarandagentleman.’’

DependentKingdomsintheEarlyRomanEmpire

Wewillbeginwiththreewell-knownpassages.Firstly,thelastsentenceof
Strabo’sGeography:‘‘Moreover,kingsanddynastsanddekarchiaibelongtohis
(theemperor’s)portion,andalwayshavedone.’’Straboisofcoursereferring
tothedivisionoftheRomanprovincesbetweenthoseoftheemperorand
those of the Roman people,which he has just described.^2 I hope that it is
nolongernecessarytopointoutthattheexpression‘‘senatorialprovinces’’
isnotmerelyamistakebutmisconstruestheentireconstitutionoftheearly
Empire.^3 Thereis,incidentally,apuzzlehere.ItisclearenoughthatStrabo
isassertingthatkings(basileis)anddynasts(dynastai—minorrulerswithout
the title of king) belong in the emperor’s sphere. A couple of paragraphs
earlierhehadsaidthatpartofRomanterritory‘‘isruledbykings[basileue-
tai].’’Apartfromprovincialterritoryproper,hegoesontosay,therearefree
cities, and ‘‘there are also dynasts and tribal heads [phylarchoi] and priests
[hiereis][whoare]underthem[theRomans].’’^4 ButwhatdoesStrabomean

bydekarchiai(δεκαρχίαι)?Thetextmustsurelybewrong,fortheworditself

isveryrarelyattested,andinanycaseStraboshouldhavebeenspeakingof
atypeofperson,notofaninstitutiondescribedbyanabstractnoun.What

Straboactuallywrotewassurelytetrarchai(τετράρχαι).Hehimself hadalso

referredearliertothefactthat,afterthedepositionandexileofArchelaus,
thesonof HerodtheGreat,histwobrothers(HerodesAntipasandPhilip)
hadsucceeded,bymuchcultivation(therapeia)oftheemperors,inretaining
thetetrarchiesearliergiventothem.^5
Strabo’sallusionstodependentkingdomsandotherlessprestigiousforms
oflocalmonarchyareenoughtoremindusthat,ifwethinkofthefullypro-
vincialterritoryoftheRomanEmpireasitwastobeacenturylater,avery
largeproportionofit,perhaps10percent,hadbeen,intheearlyfirstcentury,
under the rule of subordinate, or intermediate, monarchs.We are dealing
withquiteasignificantaspectofthehistoryofgovernmentalinstitutionsin
antiquity.

2. Strabo,Geography17,3,25(840).


3. F.Millar,‘‘‘Senatorial’Provinces:AnInstitutionalisedGhost,’’AncientWorld20(1989):
   93–97(F.Millar,Rome, the GreekWorld, and the EastI:The Roman Republic and the Augustan
   Revolution,chap.13,314–20).
   4.Geography17,3,24(859).
   5.Geography16,2,46(765).