the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Procurator (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or PROCURATOR.—A ‘procurator’ (the exact Gr. equivalent is ἐπίτροπος) was properly a slave or freedman who looked after (procurabat) a man’s property (cf. Matthew 20:8, Luke 8:2). The nearest English equivalent is ‘steward’ (wh. see). This upper servant acted for his master, in the absence of the latter, in all matters connected with money, and it may safely be said that only a small estate amongst the Romans would be without one. The position was one of responsibility, but it is obvious that the importance of the person in the world was directly in proportion to the importance of his master. An agent of the Emperor, who always possessed vast landed and house property, as well as the whole or part of the taxes of every province of the Roman Empire, held a higher position in society than the procurator of any other person. The Emperor’s financial interests were so varied, that he required a large number of such servants to look after them, and his high position enabled him to draw them from a higher class than that of freedmen and slaves. The majority of them were of equestrian rank, and some of these procurator-ships were deemed of higher importance than others. The diverse character of their duties will be seen from the fact that Cagnat (Cours d’Épigraphie Latine3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , p. 121 ff.) enumerates thirty-nine different kinds or procurators, whose titles have reference to every possible aspect of the Emperor’s revenue and expenditure.
Certain of the smaller Imperial provinces (see under Governor) were put under procurators as governors, to whom the Emperor delegated administrative and military functions. Such a procuratorship was, of course, one of the highest of the Imperial procuratorships, and carried with it a large salary; but it must be clearly understood that a procurator, however high, remained a servant of the Emperor, and owed his life and fortune solely to the favour of the prince, who advanced those quickest who served his interests best. The word ‘procurator’ is not used in the NT, but the participle of the verb (ἐπιτροπεύοντος) occurs as a variant in Luke 3:1 to ἡγεμονεύοντος, a more general term applicable to all governors of provinces, and even to the Emperor himself. Pontius Pilate was procurator prouinciœ Iudaeae. See also. art. Governor.
Literature.—Greenidge, Roman Public Life, pp. 414 ff., 435; Schürer, GJV [Note: JV Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , i. 454 ff. [HJP [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] i. ii. 166 ff.]; art. ‘Procurator’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible and the Encyc. Bibl.; Hirschfeld, Untersuchungen aus dem Gebiete der röm. Verwaltungsgesch.2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] (Berlin, 1905); Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, i. 554 ff.
Alex. [Note: Alexandrian.] Souter.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Procurator (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/p/procurator-2.html. 1906-1918.
