Officium (plural officia) is a Latin word with various meanings in Ancient Rome, including "service", "(sense of) duty", "courtesy", "ceremony" and the like. It also translates the Greek kathekon and was used in later Latin to render more modern offices.

However, this article is mainly concerned with the meaning of "an office" (the modern word office derives from it) or "bureau" in the sense of a dignitary's staff of administrative and other collaborators, each of whom was called an officialis (hence the modern official).

The Notitia Dignitatum gives us uniquely detailed information, stemming from the very imperial chanceries, on the composition of the officia of many of the two Roman empires' leading court, provincial, military and some other officials circa AD 400. While the details vary somewhat according to rank, from West to East and/or in particular cases, in general the leading staff would be about as follows (the English descriptions and other modern "equivalents" are approximate):

Princeps officius was the chief of staff, permanent secretary or chef de cabinet
Cornicularius was a military title, for an administrative deputy of various generals etc.
Adiutor (literally "helper") seems to have been the chief (general) assistant, or adjutant
Commentariensis was the keeper of "commentaries", an official diary
Ab actis was the keeper of records, the archivist
Numerarius ("accountant") seems to have been the receiver of taxes
Subadiuva ("under-helper") seems to have been a general assistant
Cura epistolarum was the curator of correspondence
Regerendarius may have been a registrar
Exceptor seem to have been a secretary
Singularius has been called a notary, but the word can also refer to a bodyguard

Below those "dignities", there were often a few hundred minor officials, often slaves or freedmen, doing the clerical drudgery, not deemed worthy of any more detailed mention. They are only referred to collectively, by various terms in the plural, such as cohortalini (apparently the diminutive of cohortalis, see cohors amicorum).

Sources and references

Pauly-Wissowa (German-language encyclopedia on anything relating to Classical Antiquity)
Notitia dignitatum

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For other senses of this name, see Roman Kingdom (disambiguation).

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Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c.
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The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. This article however is about the latter.
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Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic and the Empire.

During the time of the Republic, the Consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for
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Aedile (Latin Aedilis, from aedes, aedis "temple," "building") was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals.
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For other uses, see Censor.

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A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire.
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Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. A legal innovation of the Roman Republic, the dictator (Latin for "one who dictates (orders)") — officially known as the Magister Populi ("Master of the People"), the Praetor Maximus
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The Master of the Horse was (and in some cases, is) a historical position of varying importance in several European nations.

The Roman Master of the Horse (Magister Equitum)

The original Master of the Horse (Magister Equitum
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The Tribuni militum consulari potestate, or Consular Tribunes were tribunes elected with consular power during the Conflict of the Orders in the Roman Republic
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King of Rome (Latin: rex, regis) was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. The kings, excluding Romulus who held office by his virtue as the city's founder, were all elected by the people of Rome to serve for life, with none of the kings relying on military force to
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Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (from about 27 BC onwards). The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin titles such as imperator (from which English Emperor derives), augustus, caesar and
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officium

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Etymology

The Roman Master of the Horse (Magister Equitum)

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