Ancient governor reverses positions coming into Asian city (8)
I believe the answer is:
agricola
'ancient governor' is the definition.
(Roman governor of Britain)
'reverses positions coming into asian city' is the wordplay.
'reverses' says the letters should be written backwards.
'positions' becomes 'loci' (I have seen 'Particular positions ' mean 'loci' so perhaps 'positions' could also mean 'loci').
'coming into' indicates putting letters inside.
'asian city' becomes 'Agra' (Indian city).
'loci' back-to-front is 'icol'.
'icol' placed into 'agra' is 'AGRICOLA'.
(Other definitions for agricola that I've seen before include "Roman general who conquered much of Britain" , "Ancient soldier" , "Old general" .)