The Quaestorship in the Roman Republic

386 Pages·2019·4.441 MB·English

by  Francisco Pina Polo, Alejandro Díaz Fernández

Francisco Pina Polo / Alejandro Díaz Fernández
The Quaestorship in the Roman Republic
KLIO
Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte
Beihefte. Neue Folge
Herausgegeben von
Hartwin Brandt und Martin Jehne
unter Mitarbeit von
Manfred Clauss, Peter Funke, Hans-Joachim Gehrke
und Christian Mann
Band 31
Francisco Pina Polo / Alejandro Díaz Fernández
The Quaestorship
in the Roman Republic
ISBN 978-3-11-066341-9
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-066641-0
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-066374-7
ISSN 1438-7689
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019946391
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
To Romana, as always and forever.
Someone like you makes it all worthwhile
Someone exactly like you
To Marina, Julia and María Jesús,
for their unconditional support,
infinite patience and daily love

Preface
This book is the fruit of the project ‘The quaestorship during the Republic at Rome
and abroad’, sponsored by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
(HAR2013-43477-P).
Theauthorsareverygratefultosomeindividualsandinstitutionsthathavehelp-
edmakethisprojectareality.Eachauthorwouldliketoexpresshisgratitudesepa-
rately.
Francisco Pina Polo took the first steps in researching the elusive quaestors in
2014,when he spent three months at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study and
enjoyed not only the wonderful atmosphere but also a place in its beautiful library
overlookingthepondandwoods.In2015and2016,Iwasaguestforsomeweeksfirst
attheSeminarfürAlteGeschichteofMünsterandthenattheInstitutfürGeschichte
(Lehrstuhl für Alte Geschichte) of Dresden,which are directed by two good friends
and excellent colleagues,Johannes Hahn and Martin Jehne, respectively.Their hos-
pitality and joviality truly helped me advance this project. Last but not least, in
2017IhadtheprivilegeofbeingaVisitingResearchFellowatMertonCollegeduring
Trinityterm.AnyonewhohaseverspentsometimeworkingintheSacklerandBod-
leian Libraries knows very well what this means for an ancient historian: paradise.
For this privilege I am very much indebted to Jonathan Prag, Professor of Ancient
History in Merton and himself a great expert on the Roman quaestorship. I would
alsoliketothankotherOxoniancolleagueswhogenerouslydiscussedsomeaspects
of this book with me, including Fergus Millar and Henriette van der Blom (now in
Birmingham). Some colleagues, including Werner Eck and Anne Kolb, have given
their advice on various questions or have provided useful bibliographical items,
for which I amverygrateful. I owe avery special debt of gratitude to mycolleague
andfriendCristinaRosillo-López(UniversityPablodeOlavide,Seville),sinceshehas
patiently read substantial parts of the book and has always contributed invaluable
advice and recommendations that have improved it. Needless to say, none of these
colleagues and friends can be blamed for any infelicities or mistakes in the book.
Alejandro Díaz Fernández continued the work initiated by Francisco Pina Polo
during two successive research trips in Rome (2016 and 2017) that were financed
bytheUniversityofMálagawiththeinvaluablehelpoftheEscuelaEspañoladeHis-
toriayArqueologíaofRome(EEHAR-CSIC).IamsincerelygratefultoEmmaChester-
man forthe translation andimprovementofmytext, aswellastomycolleagues in
the Department of Historical Sciences of the University of Málaga, my dear friend
Francho and my family for their support and unconditional patience: completing
this project would indeed have been impossible without the kind collaboration of
so many people and institutions.
Finally,we want to thank Benjamin Jerue for the complete revision of the text
and stylistic improvement.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110666410-001

Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The origin of the quaestorship 5
The puzzle of the ancient sources 5
Piecing the puzzle together: scholarly reconstructions 12
Some conclusions and suggestions 19
Chapter 2: The development of the quaestorship and the so-called Italian
quaestors 25
The increasing number and functions of quaestors throughout the
Republic 25
The so-called Italian quaestorships 43
Chapter 3: The quaestorship within the political career: Age requirements and the
cursus honorum 51
Chapter 4: Election, entry into office and allocation of quaestorian
provinciae 64
Election of quaestors and date of their entry into office 64
Sortitio of quaestors and appointments extra sortem 69
Chapter 5: The urban quaestorship 79
The administration of the aerarium populi Romani 84
Diplomacy and accommodation of foreign guests 98
Funerary honours 103
Conservation of roads 105
Minting of coins 107
The urban quaestors as public notaries of the Roman Republic 112
Oaths of magistrates and imperatores 115
Selection of jurors for permanent courts 116
The political role of urban quaestors 117
Listof urban quaestors in the Roman Republic 123
Chapter 6: The quaestor overseas: Development and role of the quaestorship in
the provinces 125
Provinces, sortitions, prorogations 131
The quaestor in his province 163
Conclusions 196
X Contents
Appendix 1: A prosopography of the Roman Republican quaestorship 205
Appendix 2: Chronological listof quaestors in the Roman Republic 336
Bibliography 348
Index of names 366
Index of subjects 374