ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

Aquileia in 181 BCE.Bispham also illustrates the variety in the way ancient authorssuch as Asconius, Livy, and Velleius Paterculus referred to colonies; he concludes thatsince ancient writers disputed what the term colonia meant and to what it referred fromthe second century onwards, Salmon's categories of colonies may be a late Republicaninvention brought about by an imperialistic dialogue. 23Bispham is absolutely correct in urging caution when dividing colonies into neatlittle groups for comparison's sake. Unfortunately, he does not offer an alternativecategorization of colonies for the early and middle Republic. Elsewhere, he criticizesD.J. Gargola for not distinguishing between types of colonies sufficiently in hisdescription of the foundation process for colonies in the Republic. 24Since the coloniaeLatinae were self-governing communities of more than 2,000 families and the coloniaemaritimiae were small garrisons of 300 families with only minimal administrativepersonnel, such a procedural distinction would be helpful. For more general discussionsof the purposes of colonies, however, the later Republican divisions can often lead togross generalizations. K. Lomas, in her chapter on 'Italy during the Roman Republic,'accepts that the colonial charters written in the late Republic show that all Republicancolonies mirror Rome, and moreover asserts that citizen colonies had an overtly strategicpurpose, whereas Latin colonies were founded in areas of high depopulation. 25She goes22 CIL I 2 621 = ILLRP 324. The base is dated not much after the foundation of the colony in 181 BCE. Cf.Bispham (2006), p. 81 and p. 131 n. 45.23 Bispham (2006), pp. 78-85.24 Bispham (2000), pp. 157-158.25 Lomas (2004), pp. 207-210.8