The Notitia Dignitatum, the Org. Chart of the Late Roman Empire

Personifications of the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Dacia, dressed in traditional robes, holding large orbs symbolizing the provinces' significance.

One of the most important historical documents surviving from Late Antiquity is known as the Notitia Dignitatum. The full title explains its purpose: “Notitia dignitatum et administrationum omnium tam civilium quam militarium.”
Translation: “The list of all dignities (or ‘titles’) and administrative posts, both civil and military.”

Most scholars believe it was likely created as a private initiative, not originally as an official document of the Roman imperial government. However, the degree to which it depends on official sources is still debated. The Notitia Dignitatum includes several thousand titles, ranging from the members of the imperial court to the offices of provincial governments. It also contains hundreds of colored shield designs representing military units, although no information is provided on the size of these units when the document was made.

Illustration of the Roman imperial eagle perched on a globe, above the letters SPQR, representing Roman authority and the ancient motto of the Roman Senate and people.

The Origins of the Organizational Structure

The Notitia Dignitatum reflects reforms enacted by various emperors following the crisis that wracked the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. These reforms were introduced by Diocletian, who saved the empire from collapse, Constantine, who consolidated Diocletian’s changes, and finally Theodosius, the last effective reforming emperor before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.

The document is divided into two parts—one for the Eastern and one for the Western halves of the empire. It lists the dignitates (official titles) for civil and military administration, organized by territory. However, notable differences in the two parts of the Notitia are not harmonized, and this discrepancy leads many scholars to believe they were produced at different times.

Illustration of a Roman scythed chariot, known as a currus dripanus, with two soldiers driving the weaponized vehicle, a common military unit from the Notitia Dignitatum.

Dating the Document’s Sections

The Eastern section of the document dates to 395, when Diocletian’s division of the empire into Eastern and Western halves became permanent. This division was often undone and redone by Constantine and his successors. The Western section exhibits signs of disorganization in the military hierarchy, reflecting the Western Empire’s instability due to defeats at the hands of various barbarian tribes.

Different parts of the Western half were completed at different times. For example, the section on Britain must have been completed before the Romans left the island in 410, while other sections date closer to the beginning of Valentinian III’s reign in 425.

Surviving Manuscripts

All surviving copies of the Notitia Dignitatum derive from a single Carolingian manuscript, which was once housed in the library of the Cathedral of Speyer, Germany, but was lost before 1672. The copy held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) was made directly from the Speyer manuscript in 1436, when it was brought to Basel, Switzerland during an ecumenical council for one of the participating bishops. The manuscript includes various illustrations, such as shield designs, Roman soldiers, and personifications of provinces.

Personifications of the Roman provinces of Macedonia and Dacia, dressed in traditional robes, holding large orbs symbolizing the provinces' significance.

Illustrations from the Notitia Dignitatum

Below are a few examples of the types of images found within the Notitia Dignitatum:

  1. Frontispiece: A depiction of the Roman imperial eagle dominating the world, alongside the ancient motto SPQR.
  2. Soldiers and Chariots: Soldiers driving a currus dripanus, or a scythed chariot.
  3. Personifications: The provinces of Macedonia and Dacia are personified. The inclusion of Dacia indicates that the document reproduces older information, as the Romans evacuated Dacia in 275.
  4. Shields of Military Units: A page displaying the shields of 16 military units—the most common type of illustration in the Notitia.
Illustration of military shields from various Roman units, showing the distinctive patterns and designs used in the late Roman Empire as depicted in the Notitia Dignitatum.

5. Symbols of Office: The signs of a noble quaestor, who is responsible for dictating “wholesome laws.”

Illustration of the signs of a noble quaestor, including scrolls, an obelisk labeled 'leges salubres' (wholesome laws), and other symbols of legal authority from the Notitia Dignitatum.

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Dr. Nancy Llewellyn

Co-Founder, Veterum Sapientia Institute
Magistra - Introductory Latin


Magistra Annula is Associate Professor of Latin at Belmont Abbey College, coming to North Carolina after a decade at Wyoming Catholic College. She teaches Latin at the Charlotte Diocese’s new St. Joseph College Seminary in addition to her work at Belmont. Earlier in her career she studied with Fr. Reginald Foster and at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. Returning to her native California, Nancy founded SALVI in 1997 and served on its board until 2019, directing SALVI workshops (Rusticationes) around the country and abroad. She holds her PhD (2006) from UCLA.

Fr. Dylan Schrader, PhD

Magister - Scholastic Theology

Pater Pelagius is a priest of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, ordained in 2010. He holds a PhD in systematic theology from the Catholic University of America and is the translator of several Scholastic works, including On the Motive of the Incarnation, the first volume in CUA’s Early Modern Catholic Sources series, and Book 2 of Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on the Sentences, edited by the Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine. Fr. Schrader is the author of The Shortcut to Scholastic Latin, published by the Paideia Institute Press. He has attended every Veterum Sapientia conference since its inception.

Mr. Christopher Owens, STM

Chief Executive Officer

Christopher Owens completed licentiate studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (“the Angelicum”) with a concentration in Thomism, and is a doctoral candidate at the same university. His research investigates the question of predestination in the writings of the early Thomists. More generally, Christopher’s research interests in both philosophy and theology are focused on the preambles of faith, ontology, meta-ethics, and action theory as found principally in the Thomistic tradition, as well as in the medieval dialectic of the University of Paris. Additionally, Christopher serves on the editorial board for Philosophical News, the official journal of the European Society for Moral Philosophy, and is vice-president of the Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies, based in Norcia, Italy.

Fr. Joseph Matlak

Magister


Fr. Joseph Matlak is a priest of the Eparchy of Saint Josaphat in Parma (Ukrainian Greek-Catholic). Born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England, he studied Ancient History at King’s College London, and completed seminary studies and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America, Washington DC. He is currently finishing a doctorate at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, England. He serves as administrator of Saint Basil the Great Parish in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is an instructor within the Honors College of Belmont Abbey College. He has previously worked in parishes and missions, schools, youth and young adult ministry, liturgical music, and Catholic media, among other roles.

Magister Marcus Porto

Magister - Introductory Latin

Magister Marcus holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College and a Latin Fluency Certificate from Academia Vivarium Novum, where he learned to speak Latin under Luigi Miraglia. He is currently a graduate student at Kentucky University, studying Latin under Terence Tunberg and Milena Minkova, and works as a classical languages’ instructor, Liberal Arts teacher, and editor at Instituto Hugo de São Vitor, Brazil.

Dr. Samuel Stahl

Magister

Samuel Stahl earned a PhD in Classics at the State University of New York at Buffalo. His dissertation is an annotated verse translation from Claudian’s carmina minora; his passions, both personal and professional, include Christian poetry and ecumenism. In addition to his work with VSI, he teaches ELA at a Catholic grammar school in Western New York, where he lives with his wife and two cats.

Magister Tod Post, MA

Magister

Mr. Post holds a B.A. in philosophy from St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo, CA and an M.A. in Medieval Studies from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. His areas of study and interest include codicology and palaeography and creating medieval and classical inks and writing materials. He particularly enjoys working in his garden surrounded by plants from the classical world such as papyrus, acanthus, figs, olives and grapes which also gives him an opportunity to practice his botanical Latin. He is a lifelong resident of southern California where he has been teaching and promoting Latin since 2004 and where he resides with his wife and six children.

Kit Adderley

Magister

Kit Adderley became interested in Ancient Rome at a young age, and following a particularly interesting and formative Roman History class in high school, decided to study Classics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. While studying and in subsequent years, Kit was blessed to attend many spoken Latin programs both in the United States and in Rome. Kit has taught Latin for 10 years at the high school and middle school level in Texas and Minnesota, most recently designing and implementing a spoken Latin program for high school that enjoyed tremendous success. Kit currently works in the finance industry but continues to love Latin and the classical world and is excited to work with Veterum Sapientia in bringing that knowledge to others.

Matthew Ratcliff

Coordinator for Marketing and Course Development

Matthew Ratcliff is a graduate from Belmont Abbey College, where he fell in love with Latin while studying under Nancy Llewellyn and Gregory DiPippo, and where he encountered the natural method for the first time. He has previously taught for Aquinas Learning Center in Charlotte for the 2023-2024 academic year. Matthew firmly believes that everyone can learn Latin well. He loves incorporating physical movement in the classroom and is excited to share the joy of the language with every class!

Magister Gregory DiPippo

Director of Academic Development, Assistant to the Dean, Magister - Introductory Latin

Magister Gregorius was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, where he attended a high school which offered an excellent Latin program. He attended McGill University in Montreal, where he studied Classical Languages and Literature, and the Augustinian Patristic Institute in Rome, where he studied the Fathers of the Church. For 23 years, he worked as a tour guide in Rome, and for the last 15 years, he has been a regular contributor (and for 10 years editor) to the New Liturgical Movement website.

Andrea Allen

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