![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Roman_SPQR_banner.svg/640px-Roman_SPQR_banner.svg.png&w=640&q=50)
Roman province
Major Roman administrative territorial entity outside of Italy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Province of Rome.
The Roman provinces (Latin: provincia, pl. provinciae) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as governor.[1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Impero_romano_sotto_Ottaviano_Augusto_30aC_-_6dC.jpg/640px-Impero_romano_sotto_Ottaviano_Augusto_30aC_-_6dC.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Roman_Empire_125_political_map.png/640px-Roman_Empire_125_political_map.png)
For centuries, it was the largest administrative unit of the foreign possessions of ancient Rome.[1] With the administrative reform initiated by Diocletian, it became a third level administrative subdivision of the Roman Empire, or rather a subdivision of the imperial dioceses (in turn subdivisions of the imperial prefectures).[1]