Praeses

Praeses began to be used as a generic description for provincial governors—often through paraphrases, such as qui praeest ("he who presides")—already since the early Principate, but came in general use under the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.

[1] The form [procurator] vice praesidis had also come into common use for equestrian procuratores entrusted with the governance of provinces in the absence of, or in lieu of, the regular (senatorial) governor.

[1] This evolution was formalized in the reforms of Diocletian (r. 284–305) and Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), when the term praeses came to designate a specific class of provincial governors, the lowest after the consulares and the correctores.

[1] Most of the provinces ("diocese") created by Diocletian by splitting the larger older ones were entrusted to such praesides, and they form the most numerous group of governors in the late-4th century Notitia Dignitatum:[1] In the East, the staff (officium) of the praeses (attested for Thebais) comprised the same as that of a consularis, i.e. a princeps officii, cornicularius, commentariensis, adiutor, numerarius, ab actis, a libellis, subadiuva; finally unspecified exceptores and cohortalini (menial staff).

[1][4] In the West (attested for Dalmatia), the officium was again the same as with the consulares and correctores, comprising the princeps officii, cornicularius, two tabularii, commentariensis, adiutor, ab actis, subadiuva, and the usual exceptores and cohortalini.

In modern Italian the word "preside" is still used to indicate the head of primary or secondary school, generally equivalent to the American principal or the British headmaster positions.