Laterculus Veronensis

The Laterculus Veronensis or Verona List is a list of Roman provinces from the times of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Constantine I. The list is transmitted only in a 7th-century manuscript, which is preserved in the Chapter House Library (Biblioteca Capitolare) in Verona.^[1] The most recent critical edition is that of Timothy Barnes (1982). Earlier editions include that by Theodor Mommsen (1862), that by Otto Seeck in his edition of the Notitia dignitatum (1876), and by Alexander Riese in the Geographi Latini minores (1878).

Description

The document comprises a list of the names of all the provinces of the empire (c. 100 in total), organised according to the 12 newly created regional groupings called dioceses. Although the 12 dioceses are presented in a single list, they are not ordered in a single geographical sequence but rather in two separate eastern and western groups, the eastern group (Oriens, Pontica, Asiana, Thraciae, Moesiae, Pannoniae) preceding the western (Britanniae, Galliae, Viennensis, Italiae, Hispaniae, Africa). The split is apparent from the discontinuity midway in the list between the dioceses of Pannoniae and Britanniae. The eastern half of the list circles the Mediterranean neatly anticlockwise from south to north or, in continental terms, from Africa, through Asia, to Europe. The arrangement of the western half is less tidy, though it is approximately anticlockwise from north to south, or from Europe to Africa.

Theodor Mommsen had dated the provincial situation in the list to 297, but later research changed the estimate to 314–324 for the Eastern Half and 303–314 for the Western Half of the Roman empire. The most recent work by Timothy Barnes and Constantin Zuckerman concludes that the entire document belongs to a single moment, c. 314, the eastern and western parts corresponding to the respective spheres of responsibility of the emperors Licinius and Constantine during the period between Licinius’ defeat of Maximinus II (Daia) in 313 and his own defeat in his first civil war with Constantine in 316-317.

English version of contents

Below is an English version of the content of the list (Square brackets [] represent additions/corrections to transmitted text):

Oriens (18 [actually 17] provinces)

[1] Libya Superior; [2] Libya Inferior; [3] Thebais; [4] Aegyptus Iovia; [5] Aegyptus Herculia; [6] Arabia (Nova); [7] Arabia; [8] Augusta Libanensis; [9] Palaestina; [10] (Syria) Phoenice; [11] Syria Coele; [12] Augusta Euphratensis; [13] Cilicia; [14] Isauria; [15] Cyprus; [16] Mesopotamia; [17] Osrhoene

Pontica (7 provinces)

[18] Bithynia; [19] Cappadocia; [20] Galatia; [21] Paphlagonia; [22] Diospontus; [23] Pontus Polemoniacus [24] Armenia Minor

Asiana (9 provinces)

[25] (Lycia et) Pamphylia; [26] Phrygia Prima; [27] Phrygia Secunda; [28] Asia; [29] Lydia; [30] Caria; [31] Insulae; [32] Pisidia; [33] Hellespontus

Thracia (6 provinces)

[34] Europa; [35] Rhodope; [36] Thracia; [37] Haemimontus; [38] Scythia; [39] Moesia Inferior

Moesiae (11 provinces)

[40] Dacia [Mediterranea]; [41] [Dacia Ripensis]; [42] Moesia Superior/Margensis; [43] Dardania; [44] Macedonia; [45] Thessalia; [46] [Achaea]; [47] Praevalitana; [48] Epirus Nova; [49] Epirus Vetus [50] Creta

Pannoniae (7 provinces)

[51] Pannonia Inferior; [52] (Pannonia) Savensis; [53] Dalmatia; [54] Valeria; [55] Pannonia Superior; [56] Noricum Ripense; [57] Noricum Mediterraneum

Britanniae (6 [actually 4] provinces)

[58] Britannia Prima; [59] Britannia Secunda; [60] Maxima Caesariensis; [61] Flavia Caesariensis

Galliae (8 provinces)

[62] Belgica Prima; [63] Belgica Secunda; [64] Germania Prima; [65] Germania Secunda; [66] Sequania; [67] Lugdunensis Prima; [68] Lugdunensis Secunda; [69] Alpes Graiae et Poeninae

Viennensis (7 provinces)

[70] Viennensis; [71] Narbonensis Prima; [72] Narbonensis Secunda; [73] Novem Populi; [74] Aquitanica Prima; [75] Aquitanica Secunda; [76] Alpes Maritimae

Italia (16 [actually 12] provinces)

[77] Venetia et Histria; [78] [Aemilia et Liguria]; [79] Flaminia et Picenum; [80] Tuscia et Umbria; [81] [Latium et Campania]; [82] Apulia et Calabria; [83] Lucania [et Brutii]; [84] [Sicilia]; [85] [Sardinia]; [86] Corsica; [87] Alpes Cottiae; [88] Raetia

Hispaniae (6 provinces)

[89] Baetica; [90] Lusitania; [91] Carthaginiensis; [92] Gallaecia; [93] Tarraconensis; [94] Mauretania Tingitana

Africa (7 provinces)

[95] (Africa) Proconsularis/Zeugitana; [96] Byzacena; [97] [Tripolitania]; [98] Numidia Cirtensis; [99] Numidia Militiana; [100] Mauretania Caesariensis; [101] Mauretania [Sitifensis]/Tubusuctitana

Notes

1. Verona, Biblioteca Capitolare, MS II (2), at fol. 255 recto, line 14-fol. 256 recto, line 19; E. A. Lowe, Codices Latini Antiquiores 4 (Oxford, 1947), p. 21, No 477

References

• Mommsen, Theodor (1862). "Verzeichniss der roemischen Provinzen aufgesetzt um 297". Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften. Königliche Akademie der Wisschenschaften (phil.-hist. Klasse): 489–518.
• Seeck, Otto (1876). "Notitia dignitatum: accedunt Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae et laterculi prouinciarum". Berlin: Weidmann: 247–251. OCLC 419258554.
• Riese, Alexander (1878). Geographi Latini minores. Heilbronn: Henningfer Brudern. pp. 127–129. ISBN 1-103-03357-3.
• Clinton Walker Keyes (1916). "The Date of the Laterculus Veronensis". Classical Philology. 11 (2): 196–201. doi:10.1086/358806. JSTOR 262505.
• A. H. M. Jones (1954). "The Date and Value of the Verona List". The Journal of Roman Studies. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. 44: 21–29. doi:10.2307/297552. JSTOR 297552.
• R. Hanslik (1979). "Laterculus Veronensis". Der kleine Pauly (in German). 3. p. 506. ISBN 978-3-423-05963-3.
• Barnes, Timothy David (1982). The new empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 201–208. ISBN 978-0-674-61126-9.
• Barnes, Timothy David (1996). "Emperors, panegyrics, prefects, provinces and palaces (284-317)". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 9: 532–552, at 548–550.
• R. Klein (1999). "Laterculus Veronensis". Lexikon des Mittelalters. 5. pp. 1745–1746. ISBN 978-3-476-01688-1.
• Zuckerman, Constantin (2002). "Sur la liste de Vérone et la province de Grande Arménie, la division de l'empire et la date de création des diocèces". In Déroche, Vincent; Feissel, Denis; Morrisson, Cécile; et al. Mélanges Gilbert Dagron = Travaux et Mémoires 14 (in French). pp. 617–637. ISBN 978-2-9519198-0-8.

External links

• Roman map literary authorities by T.G. Ikins