eques, in ancient Rome, a knight, originally a member of the cavalry and later of a political and administrative class as well as of the equestrian order. In early Rome the equites were drawn from the senatorial class and were called equites equo publico (“horsemen whose mounts were provided for by the public”). They were the most influential members of the voting assembly called the Comitia Centuriata. From the beginning of the 4th century bc, non-senators were enlisted in the cavalry; they provided their own horses (equites equo privato). By the 1st century bc, foreign cavalry tended to replace them in the field and thus to restrict the equestrian order to posts as officers or members of the general’s staff. By this time the equites had become a class distinct from the senators. Unlike senators they were legally free to enter the fields of commerce and finance. Known as publicani, those who were businessmen enriched themselves by securing contracts to supply the army and to collect taxes and by exploiting public lands, mines, and quarries in the provinces. In this way the equites became a prosperous business and landowning class, eventually forming a third political group, along with the optimates and populares, whom they occasionally rivaled in the growing power struggle in Rome.
Augustus, the first emperor (reigned 27 bc–ad 14), reorganized the equestrian order as a military class, thus removing it from the political arena. The emperor appointed its members (under the republic they had been appointed by the censor). Qualifications for membership were free birth, good health and character, and sufficient wealth. Senators’ sons were eligible by right of birth but lost this title on admittance to the Senate. In an equestrian career a number of subordinate military posts were obligatory, although dependent on nomination by the emperor. A purely civil career became possible in the 1st century ad as the equites expanded into the imperial household much like modern civil servants. Their business background and connection with public finances seemed particularly to qualify them for the role of imperial agents in the financial administration of the provinces. They also held military authority in Egypt and in some of the smaller provinces.