Equites equo publico
The equites equo publico ("equestrians with the public horse") were a group of citizens in the Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire, who were legally recognised as having equestrian status. During the republic they were provided money from the state treasury (12,000 asses) to purchase and maintain a horse. During the republic there were only 1,800 of equites equo publico; by the late republic, only men with property worth some 400,000 sesterces were enrolled.[1]
The presence of the subsidy and the limited numbers differentiated those with the public horse from the equites equo suo ("equestrians with their own horse"; also equites equo privato[2]) who were rich citizens expected to keep up a horse without the subsidy, a status introduced in 403 BC.[1] The equites equo suo may have had the same property qualification as those with the public horse but some scholars have argued that their property qualifications were somewhat lower.[3]
The equites equo publico were highly prestigious both socially and politically. The eighteen equestrian centuries in the comitia centuriata were made up only of the equites equo publico,[4] with the equites equo suo relegated to the first census class.[5] During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, it was expected that equites equo publico would serve in the cavalry or as officers in Roman armies for some ten years. Magistrates, including old ones, retained the public horse even though they were not expected to serve in the cavalry again..[6] The late republic saw the decline of military service, though some equites equo publico continued to serve in in the army.[7]
In 129 BC senators no longer were required by law to give up their public horses, separating them cleanly from the equites equo publico and after 123 BC equites equo publico without senatorial relatives were called to serve on juries for the permanent courts (quaestiones perpetuae).[8] During the imperial period actual cavalry service did not occur, with the title of equite equo publico having no connection with public duties. The title disappeared in the early 3rd century.[9]
References
- ^ a b Davenport 2019, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Eg Rosenstein 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Davenport 2019, p. 37 n. 66, citing Rosenstein, Nathan (2008). "Aristocrats and agriculture in the middle and late republic". Journal of Roman Studies. 98: 1–26.
- ^ Davenport 2019, pp. 37–38; Rosenstein 2007, p. 135.
- ^ Rosenstein 2016, p. 83.
- ^ Davenport 2019, p. 54.
- ^ Davenport 2019, p. 57.
- ^ Davenport 2019, p. 68.
- ^ Millar & Burton 2012.
Bibliography
- Davenport, Caillan (2019). A history of the Roman equestrian order. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-03253-8.
- Millar, Fergus; Burton, Graham (2012). "equites, Imperial period". Oxford Classical Dictionary. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.7202. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
- Rosenstein, Nathan (2007). "Military command, political power, and the Republican elite". In Erdkamp, Paul (ed.). A companion to the Roman army. Blackwell. pp. 132–47. ISBN 978-1-4051-2153-8.
- Rosenstein, Nathan (2016). Circum Mare: themes in ancient warfare. Brill. pp. 80–97. ISBN 978-90-04-28484-5.