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Roman Emperor Princeps (in this sense usually translated as "First Citizen") was an official title of a Roman Emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
, by some historians seen as the title determining the Emperor in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
.

The word "Princeps" derived from Princeps Senatus
Princeps senatus

The princeps senatus was the first member by precedence of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the cursus honorum and owning no imperium, this office brought enormous prestige to the senator holding it....
 ("Primus inter pares
Primus inter pares

Primus inter pares , the first among equals, or first among peers is a phrase which indicates that a person is the most senior of a group of people sharing the same rank or office....
" of the Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
).






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Encyclopedia


The Latin word Princeps (plural: principes) means exactly 'a prime'.


This article is devoted to a number of specific historical meanings the word took, by far the most important of which follows first.

Roman Emperor

Princeps (in this sense usually translated as "First Citizen") was an official title of a Roman Emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
, by some historians seen as the title determining the Emperor in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
.

The word "Princeps" derived from Princeps Senatus
Princeps senatus

The princeps senatus was the first member by precedence of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the cursus honorum and owning no imperium, this office brought enormous prestige to the senator holding it....
 ("Primus inter pares
Primus inter pares

Primus inter pares , the first among equals, or first among peers is a phrase which indicates that a person is the most senior of a group of people sharing the same rank or office....
" of the Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
). It was first given to the Emperor Augustus in 23 BC, who circumspectly saw that use of the titles rex
Roman Kingdom

The Roman Kingdom was the monarchy government of the city of Rome and its territories. Little is certain about the history of the Roman Kingdom, as no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it were written during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire and are largely based on legend....
 'king' or dictator
Roman dictator

Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. The dictator was above the three branches of government in the constitution of the Roman Republic as no other body or officer could check his power....
 would create resentment amongst senators and other influential men, who had earlier demonstrated their disapproval by supporting the assassination of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. While Augustus had political and military supremacy, he needed the assistance of his fellow Romans to manage the Empire. In his Res Gestae, Augustus claims auctoritas
Auctoritas

Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of Phenomenology philosophy in the twentieth century changed the use of the word substantially....
 for the princeps (himself).

For a comprehensive list of other official Roman titles used for the office of emperor see Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
. These titles included imperator
Imperator

The Latin word Imperator was a title originally roughly equivalent to commander during the period of the Roman Republic. It later went on to become a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen....
, Augustus, Caesar
Caesar (title)

Caesar , Latin: Caesar , is a title of emperor character. It derives from the Roman naming convention#Cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator....
, and later dominus
Dominate

The Dominate was the 'despotism' latter phase of government in the ancient Roman Empire from the conclusion of the Crisis of the Third Century of 235?284 until the formal date of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476....
 ("lord") and basileus
Basileus

Basileus , signifies "Monarch" or "king". It is perhaps best known in English language as a title used by Byzantine Empire emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of modern Greece....
 (the Greek word for "sovereign"). The word Emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
 itself is derived from the Roman title imperator, which was a very high, but not exclusive, military title until Augustus began to use it as his praenomen
Praenomen

In Roman naming conventions, the praenomen was the only name in which parents had some choice, roughly equivalent to the given name of today....
.

The Emperor Diocletian
Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305....
 (285-305), the father of the Tetrarchy
Tetrarchy

Tetrarchy can be applied to any system of government where power is divided between four individuals. The term is usually used to refer to the tetrarchy instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293 which lasted until c. 313....
, was the first to stop referring to himself as "princeps" altogether, calling himself dominus ("Lord, master"), thus dropping the pretense that emperor was not truly a monarchical office. The period when the emperors that called themselves princeps ruled - from Augustus to Diocletian - is called "the Principate
Principate

The Principate is the first period of the Roman Empire, extending from the beginning of the reign of Caesar Augustus to the Crisis of the Third Century, after which it was replaced with the Dominate....
", while no later than under Diocletian began "the Dominate
Dominate

The Dominate was the 'despotism' latter phase of government in the ancient Roman Empire from the conclusion of the Crisis of the Third Century of 235?284 until the formal date of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476....
" period.

  • Ancient Rome knew another kind of 'princely' principes too, like princeps iuventutis ("the first amongst the young"), which in the early empire was frequently bestowed on eligible successors to the emperor, especially from his family.


Roman administration

Princeps is also the (official) short version of Princeps officii, the chief of an officium (the office staff of a Roman dignitary) -

Military


  • See Principes
    Principes

    Principes were spearmen, and later swordsmen, in the Structural history of the Roman military#Manipular legion . They were men in the prime of their lives who were fairly wealthy, and could afford decent equipment....
     (legionary heavy infantry soldier)
  • centurio(n)
    Centurion

    Centurion may refer to:...
     in command of a unit or administrative office.
  • Princeps ordinarius vexillationis: centurion in command of a vexillatio
    Vexillatio

    A vexillatio was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Military history of ancient Rome of the Principate....
     (detachment).
  • Princeps peregrinorum ("commander of the foreigners"): centurion in charge of troops in the castra peregrina (military base at Rome for personnel seconded from the provincial armies)
  • Princeps prior: Centurion commanding a manipulus (unit of two centuries) of principes (legionary heavy infantry).
  • Princeps posterior: deputy to the Princeps prior
  • Princeps praetorii : centurion attached to headquarters.


Princeps was also used as defining second part of various other military titles, such as Decurio
Decurio

Decurio was an official title in Ancient Rome, used in various connections:# A member of the senatorial order in the Italian towns under the administration of Rome, and later in provincial towns organized on the Italian model ....
 princeps, Signifer princeps (among the standard-bearers). See also Principalis (as in Optio
Optio

An optio , sometimes anglicized option , was a soldier in the Roman army who held a position similar to that of an executive officer in modern armies....
 principalis): NCO.

Nobiliary legacy


"Princeps" is the root and Latin rendering of modern words as the English title and generic term prince
Prince

Prince, from the Latin root princeps, is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility....
 (see that article, also for various equivalents in other languages), as the Byzantine version of Roman law was the basis for the legal terminology developed in feudal (and later absolutist) Europe.

Non-Roman meaning


"Princeps" is also the name of an obsolete genus of Swallowtail
Swallowtail

Swallowtail may refer to:* Dress coat, a formal tailcoat worn traditionally as part of white tie.* Swallowtail butterfly, large colorful butterflies from the family Papilionidae....
 butterflies (now merged with the genus Papilio
Papilio

File:Citrus Swallowtail Papilio demodocus.jpgPapilio is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family , Papilionidae. It includes a number of well-known North American species such as the Western Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio rutulus....
).

Fiction


  • "Princeps" is the title for the 'captain' of a Titan, a massive humanoid war machine in the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000
    Warhammer 40,000

    Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop Miniature wargaming produced by Games Workshop, set in a science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics....
    .
  • In the book series Codex Alera
    Codex Alera

    Codex Alera is a fantasy book series by Jim Butcher. The five books in the series so far chronicle the life of a young man named Tavi in the empire of Alera, on the world of Carna....
     by Jim Butcher
    Jim Butcher

    Jim Butcher is a New York Times Best Seller list author most known for his contemporary Fantasy literature book series The Dresden Files. He also writes the Codex Alera series....
    , "Princeps" is the title given to the crown prince of the empire of Alera.
  • In the book series Star Trek: Infinity's Prism, volume 3-Seeds of Dissent by James Swallow
    James Swallow

    James Swallow is a United Kingdom author, journalist and scriptwriter.The author of several original books and tie-in novels, Swallow lives and works in London....
    , "Princeps" is the title for 'Commander' Julian Bashir
    Julian Bashir

    Doctor of Medicine Julian Subatoi Bashir, M.D.; played by Alexander Siddig, is a main character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Bashir is the chief medical officer of space station Deep Space Nine and the USS Defiant....
     of the warship Defiance. An alternate universe from the more familiar 24th Century envisioned from the television series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine".