Quattuorviratus and Latium in Hispania

Abstract

This work aims to propose a coherent interpretation for the presence of the quattuorviratus in the historical evidence belonging to a group of coloniae and municipia from Hispania, both in Republican and Imperial times. To this end, the historiographical views regarding the legal and administrative meaning of the quattuorviratus in the Hispanian provinces are assessed. Also, the literary, epigraphic, and numismatic references to the quattuorviratus coming from such coloniae and municipia are examined. Finally, as a novelty, the existence of a group of Latin colonies in Hispania during the Republic is considered. The result is a new proposal that explains the origin and presence of the quattuorviratus in the Hispanian provinces because of its establishment in some of these Latin colonies following Caesar’s praetorship in Hispania Ulterior (61–60 BC) and the bellum Civile (49–45 BC).