ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

Duncan-Jones: Who paid for public buildings in Roman cities?
putting up buildings from its own funds, and a great many
buildings actually were financed in this way. To see what
this implies we need to look briefly at where town funds
came from. One source was taxes on trade and moneychanging.
These could include local tolls, sales taxes, shop
rents, and licences to trade. 4
office in almost all African towns, cost 6000 sesterces. The
aedileship probably cost 4000 sesterces like the first two
offices. If we extrapolate from these figures, we can
estimate the town’s summae honorariae income at roughly
35,000 sesterces (Duncan-Jones 1982, 72).
It might seem to us, living in
a world where the local rates are always going up, that
Roman towns should have been able to make good any
deficit by levying new taxes or increasing old ones. But the
central government actively restrained provincial cities
from bringing in new taxes and from beginning largespending
projects (Brunt 1981, 161). There seems to have
been a simple underlying reason. If local communities
were allowed to tax and spend as much as they liked, this
could easily have affected their ability to pay taxes to the
central government. Consequently local taxation was not
flexible enough to be the answer to every financial problem
that a city might have.
5
This is quite
impressive, though it is lower than the figure implied for
some other African cities.
Building was not of course the only expense that towns
had to face. There was also the cost of municipal
employees. At Urso in Spain these cost about 17,000
sesterces per year, which is half the amount estimated for
summa honoraria income at Thubursicu (ILS 6087, 62).
But there were other sources of income, such as public
lands and sales taxes, as we have seen. Perhaps at a guess
something like half the summa honoraria income, or its
equivalent, would have been available for building purposes.
We can compare this very rough estimate of about
A second source of revenue was land or urban property 17,000 sesterces per year with the cost of building in
belonging to the town. We happen to know that certain Africa, which is also well attested. We find that a
public lands and urban property were bringing in 12,847 medium-sized temple cost 60-70,000 sesterces in the 2nd
sesterces a year at Pompeii in the middle of the 1st century century (Duncan-Jones 1982,90, nos 8,9,l0a,ll). A small
(Frank 1940, 103; CIL, 4, 3340, cxxxviii-cxl, cxli-cxliv, paved forum with porticoes could cost 200,000 sesterces
cx1v-cxlvii, cxli). Some other indicators of the scale of (ibid, 92, no 42). A theatre could easily cost three times as
town lands are much more impressive. Augustus gave much, 600,000 sesterces, or more if it was at all large (ibid,
Capua land in Crete worth 1.2 million sesterces (Velleius, 77-8).
ii. 81). In Trajan’s time the town of Luca in northern Italy If we translate these figures into the number of years’
owned an estate worth 1.6 million sesterces, bequeathed building income estimated for Thubursicu, a temple
by a private owner (CIL, 11, 1147, obligatio 43). At the works out at about four years’ income, a forum at about
Flavian veteran settlement of Arausio in Narbonensis eleven, and a theatre at 33 years or more. Public baths, if at
about 20% of the very large cultivated territory seems to all extensive, would be another very large item, perhaps
have belonged to the town (Duncan- Jones 1976, 8). comparable with the cost of a theatre (ibid, 91, nos 29-30).
Clearly town land was a sizeable source of income in these It was quite common for African towns to have two or
cases. But the extent of town property is bound to have more sets of baths. Thus, if we assume that a medium-
varied greatly, and many towns may have owned no land sized town would have four average temples or their
of their own.
equivalent, a set of baths, a theatre, a market, and at least
A third source of income was payments for office by the one square with a portico, this quota would be enough to
town magistrates. In some cases this is likely to have been absorb over 90 years’ building income. The further cost of
the most important single source. The summa honoraria, or paving the streets and building drains, walls, gates, and an
payment for office, is sometimes mentioned as though it aqueduct would probably add a third or a half to this
could make all the difference to a town’s ability to put up figure. On this estimate it would take something of the
buildings. Cities in Bithynia were petitioning the emperor order of 120-140 years’ building income to cover the cost
in Trajan’s time for permission to elect more town of providing essential buildings for a town. In practice, of
councillors, apparently so as to increase their income. course, towns varied greatly in their level of income and
Pliny mentions that the summae honorariae of new council- thus in the speed with which they could carry out a
lors at one town, Claudiopolis, were immediately put to building programme from their own funds.
use in building new town baths (Duncan- Jones 1982,84). African inscriptions give the impression that the con-
He writes as if this was not what the payments were struction of public buildings was generally spread over a
intended for. Nevertheless, summae honorariae often were long span running into many decades, and even centuries.
put towards monumental building (Duncan- Jones 1982, One of the best-attested towns is the hill-town of Thugga
86, n2). We find at least one other instance where they on a remote site in northern Tunisia (Broughton 1929,
were used en masse to finance a major building work. The 213-16; Poinssot 1958; 1962; 1969). Here we can see in
town of Lanuvium records that public baths were en- detail what buildings were put up at what dates in the first
larged and renewed using the summae honorariae which three centuries of the Empire. This little town has several
Septimius Severus had just allowed the town to levy on peculiarities. For one thing it only received proper Roman
holders of priesthoods (ILS 5686).
status at the start of the 3rd century. For most of the
We have a good deal of information about summae period it was not a full Roman community. In fact it had
honorariae in African cities and it is possible to make an two separate halves, one a pagus of Roman citizens, the
attempt at estimating income from this source. At Thu- other a native civitas. The civitas went back hundreds of
bursicu Numidarum in central Numidia we know the years further, but the pagus was the dominant partner in
summae honorariae for three positions in the early 3rd terms of inscriptions and the events they record. By the
century. The payment for the position of town councillor late 2nd century the two communities each had their own
and for the duovirate was 4000 sesterces in each case. The town councils. But there were no proper magistrates in the
office of flamen, the priesthood which was the supreme Roman sense, save a flamen or priest of the imperial cult.
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