01-03-2010, 10:39 PM
Quote:I'm receiving more than I was bargaining for... Thanks.That's what makes this so interesting!
Quote:I wouldn't say the post of praefectus fabrum was necessarily honourary (there is a great deal of debate on this one), at least not in the early principate (I can't speak for the post-Claudian period).I really just meant that it's probably not messing around with machinery. More of a sinecure, maybe. I don't have access to PME, but I dug out an article by Devijver (Anc. Soc. 27, 1996) where he writes that the praefectura fabrum, "strictly speaking, did not form part of the hierarchical career within the militiae equestres. Such a prefect was a kind of orderly, a liaison officer attached to the provincial governor. Thanks to his contacts with this prominent senator, the praefectus fabrum could often proceed to a career in the militiae equestres." (He may be overly prescriptive in assigning him to a governor, but I think we get the general idea.)
