procurator, government financial agent in ancient Rome. From the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 bc–ad 14), procurators were regularly appointed to official posts in the imperial administration of the provinces or in the departments of the imperial government concerning such matters as the grain supply, the mint, and the mines. Procurators of provinces supervised imperial finances in their respective jurisdictions. In imperial provinces the procurator served under a legate; in senatorial provinces he exercised more authority within the administration of the governor and his quaestor.
Procurators were also appointed to govern, with small troop detachments, certain lesser provinces. These procurators exercised both financial and judicial authority, even in capital cases, but were usually subject to the general authority of the governor of a major province in the region. In the 4th century ad the office was renamed rationalis.