What was the difference between senatorial and imperial provinces?

Answer 1

Oh, dude, it's like this - senatorial provinces were controlled by the Roman Senate, while imperial provinces were under the direct control of the emperor. So, it's kind of like the Senate had their own little sandbox to play in, and the emperor had his own bigger sandbox with all the cool toys. But hey, at the end of the day, they were all just provinces in the Roman Empire, am I right?

Answer 2

When ancient Rome turned to an emperor driven nation where a single person has total control of both external and internal events, it was the choice of the emperor to make distinctions on how the empire's provinces would be governed. For example, when Augustus Caesar became the Roman emperor, he delegated how Rome's provinces would be ruled. Some would be ruled by Rome's Senate and others, such as Egypt would be ruled by the emperor or his surrogates.

New emperors, such as Tiberius had the power to make changes to give himself more power over Senatorial provinces. This he did when he wanted a more secure southeastern border in the Balkan area of the empire. He gave two Senate provinces to himself creating one large province where there were before three smaller ones.