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The praetorian prefecture of Italy (in its full form (until 356) ) was one of four large Praetorian prefecture
Praetorian prefecture

The praetorian prefectures were the largest administrative divisions of the late Roman Empire, above the mid-level Roman diocese and the low-level provinces....
s into which the Late Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south....
, the Western Balkans
Balkans

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic subregion of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia....
, the Danubian provinces and parts of North Africa
North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. The Prefecture's seat moved from Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 to Mediolanum
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
 and finally, Ravenna
Ravenna

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and later the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna....
.

prefecture was established in the division of the Empire after the death of Constantine the Great in 337, and was divided into dioceses
Roman diocese

A Roman or civil diocese was one of the administrative divisions of the later Roman Empire, starting with the Tetrarchy. It formed the intermediate level of government, grouping several Roman provinces and being in turn subordinated to a praetorian prefecture....
.






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The praetorian prefecture of Italy (in its full form (until 356) ) was one of four large Praetorian prefecture
Praetorian prefecture

The praetorian prefectures were the largest administrative divisions of the late Roman Empire, above the mid-level Roman diocese and the low-level provinces....
s into which the Late Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south....
, the Western Balkans
Balkans

The Balkans is the historical name of a geographic subregion of southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia....
, the Danubian provinces and parts of North Africa
North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. The Prefecture's seat moved from Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 to Mediolanum
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
 and finally, Ravenna
Ravenna

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and later the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna....
.

Structure and history

The prefecture was established in the division of the Empire after the death of Constantine the Great in 337, and was divided into dioceses
Roman diocese

A Roman or civil diocese was one of the administrative divisions of the later Roman Empire, starting with the Tetrarchy. It formed the intermediate level of government, grouping several Roman provinces and being in turn subordinated to a praetorian prefecture....
. Initially these were the Diocese of Africa
Diocese of Africa

The Diocese of Africa was a Roman diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of North Africa, except Mauretania Tingitana. Its seat was at Carthage, and it was subordinate to the Praetorian prefecture of Italy....
, the Diocese of Italy, the Diocese of Pannonia
Diocese of Pannonia

The Diocese of Pannonia , from 379 known as the Diocese of Illyricum, was a Roman diocese of the Late Roman Empire. The seat of the vicarius was Sirmium....
, the Diocese of Dacia
Diocese of Dacia

The Diocese of Dacia was a Roman diocese of the later Roman Empire, in the area of modern Serbia and western Bulgaria. It was subordinate to the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum....
 and the Diocese of Macedonia
Diocese of Macedonia

The Diocese of Macedonia was a Roman diocese of the later Roman Empire, forming part of the Prefecture of Illyricum. Its capital was Thessalonica....
 (the last two were until ca. 327 united in the Diocese of Moesia). Eventually the Diocese of Italy was split in two, the Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy (Italia suburbicaria: "Italy under the City", also referred to as "Diocese of the City of Rome") and the Diocese of Annonarian Italy (Italia annonaria: "provisioning Italy").

In 356, the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum

The praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was one of four large praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. The administrative centre of the prefecture was initially Sirmium, and after 379 Thessalonica....
 was established, comprising the dioceses of Pannonia, Dacia and Macedonia. The new prefecture was abolished in 361 by Julian and reestablished in 375 by Gratian. Its territory was contested between the two halves of the Empire, until the final partition in 395, when the Diocese of Pannonia
Diocese of Pannonia

The Diocese of Pannonia , from 379 known as the Diocese of Illyricum, was a Roman diocese of the Late Roman Empire. The seat of the vicarius was Sirmium....
 was split off from the Illyricum and joined to the Western Empire and the prefecture of Italy as the Diocese of Illyricum.

Despite the end of the Western Empire in 476, the Germanic successor states under Odoacer
Odoacer

Odoacer , also known as Odovacar , was a Germanic general and the first non-Roman King of Italy after 476. He deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, that year, but continued to rule first as a nominal client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in AD 480, as a client of the Eastern Roman Emperor....
 and Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great

File:Theodoric bronze weight inlaid with silver issued by prefect Catulinus Rome 493 526.jpg'Theodoric the Great' , known in Latin as 'Flavius Theodericus' and in Greek sources, was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , and regent of the Visigoths ....
 continued to use the Roman administrative machinery, as well as being nominal subjects of the Eastern emperor at Constantinople. The Prefecture thus survived, and came again into Roman hands after Justinian's Gothic War
Gothic War (535–552)

See Gothic War for the war on the Danube.The Gothic War was a war fought in Italian Peninsula and the adjoining regions of Dalmatia, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica from 535 until 554 between the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire and the forces of the Ostrogothic Kingdom....
. However, with the Lombard
Lombards

The Lombards were a Germanic peoples originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italian peninsula in 568 under the leadership of Alboin....
 invasion in 568, Roman rule became reduced to fragmented and isolated territories, and the Prefecture gave its place to the Exarchate of Ravenna
Exarchate of Ravenna

The Exarchate of Ravenna or of Italy was a centre of Byzantine Empire power in Italy, from the end of the 6th century to 751, when the last Exarch was put to death by the Lombards....
, established by the emperor Maurice
Maurice (emperor)

Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus , known in English as Maurice and in Greek as Maurikios, was a Byzantine Emperor who ruled from 582-602....
.

List of known praefecti praetorio Italiae et Africae


Western Empire

  • Flavius Taurus (355-361)
  • Petronius Probus
    Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus

    Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus was a leading Roman aristocrat of the later 4th century, renowned for his wealth, power and social connections....
     (1st time, ca. 368-375)
  • Flavius Afranius Syagrius
    Flavius Afranius Syagrius

    Flavius Afranius Syagrius was a Roman politician and administrator and was the father of Syagria, the mother of Tonantius Ferreolus . He was of paternal Roman descent as a Gallo-Roman Roman Senator....
     (382)
  • Petronius Probus
    Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus

    Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus was a leading Roman aristocrat of the later 4th century, renowned for his wealth, power and social connections....
     (2nd time, 383)
  • Virius Nicomachus Flavianus (390-392)
  • Nummius Aemilianus Dexter (395)
  • Eusebius (395-396)
  • Flavius Mallius Theodorus (397-399)
  • Valerius Messala Avienus (399-400)
  • Rufus Synesius Hadrianus (400-405)
  • Flavius Macrobius Longinianus (1st time, 406)
  • Curtius (407-408)
  • Flavius Macrobius Longinianus (2nd time, 408)
  • Theodorus (408-409)
  • Caecilianus (409)
  • Jovius (409)
  • Melitius (410-412)
  • Seleucus (prefect for Africa, 412)
  • Ioannes (412-413)
  • Rufus Synesius Hadrianus (413-414)
  • Seleucus (414-415)
  • Flavius Quartius Iunius Palladius (416-421)
  • Anicius Acilius Glabrio Faustus (ca. 438)
  • Petronius Maximus
    Petronius Maximus

    Flavius Anicius Petronius Maximus , was a Roman Empire aristocrat, and briefly Western Roman Emperor with the designation and name Dominus Noster Flavius Anicius Petronius Maximus Augustus during part of the year 455, more exactly between March 17, 455 and May 31, 455....
     (439)


Germanic rule

  • Flavius Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius iunior (483)
  • Caecina Mavortius Basilius Decius iunior (486-493)
  • Liberius
    Liberius (praetorian prefect)

    Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius was a Late Roman aristocrat and official, whose career spanned seven decades in the highest offices of both the Ostrogothic Kingdom and the Eastern Roman Empire....
     (494-500)
  • Cassiodorus the Elder (500-?)
  • Faustus (507-512)
  • Rufius Magnus Faustus Avienus (527-528)
  • Cassiodorus the Younger
    Cassiodorus

    Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman Empire statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths....
     (533-537)
  • Fidelis (537-538)
  • Reparatus (538-539)

East Roman rule

  • Athanasius (539-542)
  • Maximinus (ca. 542)