''Consortium imperii'' is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

term dating from the Roman

Dominate The Dominate, also known as the late Roman Empire, is the name sometimes given to the " despotic" later phase of imperial government in the ancient Roman Empire. It followed the earlier period known as the "Principate". Until the empire was reuni ...

, denoting the sharing of imperial authority between two or more emperors, each hence designated as ''consors imperii'', i.e., "partner in (exercising) ''imperium''", either as formal equals or in subordination, in which case the junior was often the senior's designated heir—not necessarily the natural one—and successor. In theory, this arrangement served to share the burden of government and ensure smooth succession, as rivalry at these moments was a major threat to the stability of the Empire; however, in practice the net result was often more civil war. Although in political reality adoption was an alternative technique to aim for the same result in terms of succession (and which succeeded in producing one genealogically "false" but politically satisfactory dynasty of so-called "

Adoptive Emperors Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

"), constitutionally, this was a horror as the Republic had never been abandoned in law. Thus, monarchical succession in the

Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

, however realistic, was officially out of the question, and this stigma persisted in the Dominate, despite the obviously monarchical trappings adopted by the emperors in this era. 'Designation', rather than simple adoption, could at least be justified by qualitative criteria.

Roman consortia imperii

* An early case of one emperor, remaining "sole sovereign" in charge but designating one junior and successor, was

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

(reigned 161–180 AD), who designated Lucius Verus. * Emperor Diocletian attempted an elaborate system with four emperors (two seniors styled

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, each with a junior styled

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

), called later the

Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their juniors colleagues and designated successors, the '' caesares'' ...

. Revolutionary was the notion that each was to be simultaneously in permanent charge of one quarter of the empire, not just sharing in central government. The experiment did not live up to its promise, as succession was not smoothened but contention multiplied, so the quadruple emperorship was abandoned—not the quarters, which remained as administrative and military divisions called praetorian prefecture, as did the lower level, called

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

, and the smaller size (and larger number) of

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

s. * In 395, the Roman Empire was split for good, but in two halves:

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

, each under a sovereign emperor, in charge of two praetorian prefectures, each with or without a partner in government. * Both the notion of "partnership" in the form of a senior emperor and several junior co-emperors (usually, but not necessarily, his sons), and Diocletian's titulature, but mainly versed in Greek (e.g. ''

Sebastos ( grc-gre, σεβαστός, sebastós, venerable one, Augustus, ; plural , ) was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of . The female form of the title was (). It was revived as an honorific in the 11th-ce ...

'' for ''

'', a literal translation), became quite common in the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

, i.e. Byzantium, which lasted a further millennium after the fall of the Western Empire.

References

Heads of state Government of the Roman Empire Latin political words and phrases Power sharing

Roman consortia imperii

See also

References