Dux

Багерман А.Я.

Dux originally meant a leader or military commander. In the later Roman Empire it also became the title of a military office. Its meaning changed over time: a Republican commander called dux should not automatically be equated with a late-antique frontier commander.

The word gave rise to European titles, including English duke and Italian doge. In the early Middle Ages military rulers among the Lombards were also known as duces.

Republic and Empire

In Republican texts dux could describe a Roman or foreign commander and was not a separate established rank. Caesar used the word in the Gallic War, but did not coin it.

During the third century the title became increasingly associated with commands over particular forces. In the later Empire duces usually commanded troops in frontier regions. The separation of military command from civil administration was gradual and did not produce one unchanging arrangement for every province.

The Notitia Dignitatum lists duces with their subordinate units and stations. They answered to the appropriate senior military commands; civil Praetorian prefects did not form a universal direct chain of military command through the magistri militum. Provincial, diocesan and empire-wide responsibilities must be distinguished, together with differences between East and West.

Eastern Roman Empire

In the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), the term dux was still used to refer to a military rank. Since the fifth century, the Dux commanded field armies.

In several provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Dux were given both military and civil powers, but in most cases the Dux acted only as military leaders.

By the seventh century, the term dux began to refer to junior officers, but from the second half of the tenth century it was again used to refer to the highest military leaders at the head of military districts of the late Roman and early Byzantine empires - ducats. After the 12th century, the term dux began to refer to the heads of fem-military and administrative districts of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) created in the middle of the 7th century to protect the eastern borders of the empire from attacks first by Arabs, and later by Seljuk Turks.

The Notitia Dignitatum, a late fourth — and early fifth-century work containing, among other things, a list of the highest military positions of the Roman Empire, mentions about 25 Duxes.

Related topics

Notitia Dignitatum, Dominate, Soldiers of the Roman Empire of the Dominate era, Limitanei

Literature and sources

1. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium: [English]: in 3 vol. / ed. by Dr. Alexander Kazhdan. — N. Y.; Oxf.: Oxford University Press,1991. — P. 659. — ISBN 0-19-504652-8.

2. Dux // The Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities / author-comp. by F. Lubker; Edited by members of the Society of Classical Philology and Pedagogy F. Gelbke, L. Georgievsky, F. Zelinsky, V. Kansky, M. Kutorgi and P. Nikitin.

• St. Petersburg,1885.