ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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12 13 12142, 12349, 10569, 9030, 12006-7, 709, 2670, 26259; ILAlg, 1, 1255, 1256; AE, 1904, 75 Useful statistics for the 4th century are provided by Lepelley 1979, 67, 74-5. The proportion of public building work in Africa paid for by the city had risen to about 80% for the period from Diocletian to Valentinian III. The work was mostly restoration of existing buildings; new buildings made up only a sixth of the total (52 out of 332 examples). Of the 198 buildings whose type is known, 21% were baths, 19% temples or altars, 14% porticoes, 11% aqueducts or water installations, 9% theatres etc, and 8% arches (ibid, 295-6). Few men from Britain attained any prominence in Roman public life. In Africa, where the opposite was true from the 2nd century onwards, there are possible connections between the conferment of equestrian rank, and local office and gifts to cities (cf Duncan-Jones 1967, 154, 156-7). For the exorbitant cost of provincial priesthoods, see ILS 5163, 16-18. For pressures on private individuals to spend their money on city purposes, see Duncan-Jones 1974, 85 n 55, 83 n 37. References Duncan-Jones: Who paid for public buildings in Roman cities? 33
Civic Pride: a factor in Roman town planning S S Frere A variety of motives may lie behind the erection of public monuments, ranging from piety to self-advertisement, from political propaganda to love of animals. These motives are often penetrated or revealed in literate periods by evidence such as wills or the inscriptions carved on the monuments themselves to make explicit the name of the donor and his reasons for expenditure; but in the absence of such evidence, as at prehistoric monuments or in Roman Britain, there is room for considerable divergence of interpretation. We must also always remember that Civic Pride can be both corporate and individual. In studying the ancient world it is provident to keep in mind the relatively small populations forming the communities of that time, in which personal knowledge of the majority of other citizens was-far more widespread than it is today, and personal reputation was correspondingly more intimate and more vivid. We have to make the imaginative leap back to the ethos of a pre-industrial society, where the responsibilities of a landlord for his tenant or of the rich for expenditure on public purposes were far more powerful social obligations than they are today, and where the absence of journalists placed far greater emphasis on deeds than on words in the attraction of political support. In the modern world these attitudes have been eroded by high taxation and by other forms of legislation based on the theory that the state can provide more uniformly and more efficiently — a theory whose validity in its turn is now beginning to be in doubt. In the ancient world, of course, public expenditure by the rich was not always the product of voluntary benevolence, because for many centuries there had existed the system of ‘liturgies’ as they were known in the Greek east, or munera in the Latin west, a system not unlike in its effects the surtax of more recent times; by it certain duties, often involving expenditure, were regularly and compulsorily shouldered by the rich. On the whole these duties were principally connected with transport and food supply, with public entertainment, or with membership of delegations, and are not therefore of prime concern to us here; nor are the compulsory contributions payable by successful candidates for office. Two questions are more relevant: (1) what expenditure in addition to compulsory burdens was voluntarily undertaken by the rich; and (2) whether ‘civic pride’ can be included among the motives for the spending. We have to remember that although altruism certainly existed, as it still exists today, there were clearly other motives too, connected with self-advertisement and the search for popularity for political ends; altruism and private interest cannot always be easily distinguished. One can identify both streams of motive, for instance, in the so-called Marble of Thorigny, an inscription from Vieux in Normandy, the capital of the Viducasses (CIL, 13, 3162; Pflaum 1949). Here T Sennius Sollemnis in outlining his early 3rd-century career tells us that he was the son of 34 Sollemninus, had been four times elected IIvir, and had served all public offices including augur in his civitas as well as having undertaken seven munera (or compulsory public expenditures) there. He had been flamen perpetuus in his home civitas as well as priest of the Imperial Cult at Lyon, where he had given a very expensive gladiatorial show (another compulsory duty). He goes on to say that he had completed the bath building begun by his father and had bequeathed capital for its future maintenance. The gift of the bath building was not a compulsory munus but an act of benevolence in keeping with his social position. But in making the gift he was no doubt also strengthening the political standing which eventually brought him to the highest position in Roman Gaul, the imperial priesthood and presidency of the Council of the three provinces. Public benefactions by an individual might take one of two forms. Many gave money for public festivals and games, or for public banquets and distributions of cash, no doubt preferring or needing the immediate popularity which this ephemeral expenditure secured them. A good example is attested in a letter to the city of Ephesus from a proconsul of Asia, written in 104: Aquilius Proculus, vir clarissimus, to the magistrates, council and people of Ephesus, greeting. Knowing Vibius Saturninus to be an excellent citizen in all other respects, and knowing also that on many occasions previously he has provided many quite exceptional demonstrations of his munificence, I held him, as was right, among the most intimate of our friends; and now, since he has undertaken to adorn the city magnificently with the greatest and most notable benefactions . . . and has devoted 20,000 denarii for distributions and lotteries for the citizens, I consider that you too, in consideration of the benefits which he has already bestowed upon you and those which he now promises, acted properly in repaying his munificence and good will by granting him the honours which you have decreed . . . (Abbott & Johnson 1926, no 71). But a sounder and more sceptical view is expressed in a letter from Antoninus Pius to the same city, written in 145: The emperor . . . Antoninus Pius . . . to the magistrates, council and people of Ephesus, greeting. The munificence which Vedius Antoninus generously bestows upon you I have discovered, not so much from your letter as from his. For wishing to secure assistance from me towards the embellishment of the public works which he has promised you, he made plain how numerous and how splendid are the buildings which he is adding to the city; yet you do not appreciate him as you should. For my part, I
Page 1 and 2: No 59 ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Bri
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 1985 Authors and Counc
Page 5 and 6: Illustrations Fig 1 Miletus Fig 2 C
Page 7 and 8: Introduction: the study of Classica
Page 9 and 10: Introduction and the land divided i
Page 11 and 12: Introduction Fig 3 Timgad: the colo
Page 13 and 14: Introduction Fig 6 Lepcis Magna: th
Page 15 and 16: Introduction xvi
Page 17 and 18: Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
Page 19 and 20: Cunliffe: Aspects of urbanization i
Page 21 and 22: PART II THE PLANNING AND BUILDING O
Page 23 and 24: Dilke: Ground survey and measuremen
Page 29 and 30: The mechanics of the building trade
Page 31 and 32: Ling: The mechanics of the building
Page 43 and 44: Who paid for public buildings in Ro
Page 45 and 46: Duncan--ones: Who paid for public b
Page 47: Duncan-Jones: Who paid for public b
Page 51 and 52: Frere: Civic Pride: a factor in Rom
Page 53 and 54: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 55 and 56: Reece: Roman towns and their plans
Page 57 and 58: Wacher: The functions of urban buil
Page 59 and 60: Casey: The Roman housing market leg
Page 61 and 62: Casey: The Roman housing market Evi
Page 63 and 64: Casey: The Roman housing market Rom
Page 65 and 66: Drinkwater: Urbanization in the thr
Page 71 and 72: Forum and Capitolium in the early E
Page 73 and 74: Todd: Forum and Capitolium in the e
Page 75 and 76: The quick and the dead: suburbs, ce
Page 77 and 78: Esmonde Cleary: The quick and the d
Page 87 and 88: Salway: Geography and the growth of
Page 89 and 90: Colchester: the mechanics of laying
Page 91 and 92: Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics o
Page 97 and 98: Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics o
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Crummy: Colchester: the mechanics o
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New streets for old : the topograph
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Jones: New streets for old: the top
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London in the 1st and early 2nd cen
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Perring: London in the 1st and earl
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Perring: London in the 1st and earl
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Marsden: London in the 3rd and 4th
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Barker: Aspects of the topography o
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Fig 81 Wroxeter: the area of excava
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probably from Viroconium, the robbi
Page 135 and 136:
Forum Iuhi (Cividale) (Italy) 61a f
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ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

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