,- /"'""' --- ACTA INSTITUTI ROMANI FINLANDIAE(Vol. X:l -~j Offprint from ANNALES ACADEMIAE SCIENT~ARUM FENNICAE DISSERTATIONES HUMANARUM LITTERARUM 5 ORGANIZATION OF ROMAN BRICK PRODUCTION IN THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES A. D. An Interpreta,tion of Roman Briçk Stamps BY TAPIO HELEN HELSINKI 1975 Acknow ledgements This book is an outcome of the study which l began in the Finnish Institute in Rome ten years ago. l was part of a group directed by Professar Jaakko Suolahti which made an inventory for publication of brick stamps found at Ostia. l wish to express my deep gratitude to Professar Suolahti for his continuous encouragement and constructive criticism; he helped me over many difficulties in ali phases of my work. The themes of this study w ere discussed within our group during the working pcriods at Ostia and on many 'occasions later, I owe much to my fellow tegulologists Tauno Huotari, Jussi Kuusanrniiki, Mirja Lahtinen, Henrik Lilius, Helena Pyotsiii, Piiivi Setiilii, Hannele Soini and Margareta Steinby, and to the mineralogists Hannu Appelqvist and Antti Savolahti. I am also very much indebted to my teachers, the Professors liro Kajanto, Erkki Kuujo and the late Professar Piiivo Oksala, and to Dr. Kaarle Hirvonen who kindly read my manuscript and made valuable suggestions. I owe a debt of gratitude to the Soprintendente alle Antichità di Ostia, Professar Maria Floriani Squarciapino, and to the Professors Guido Barbieri and Fausto Zevi for their kindly attitude to my work at Ostia. I should a! so like to express my gratitude to the following institutions which at · various points of my research offered needed financial assistance: the Instituturn Romanum Finlandiae Foundation, the Emi! Aaltonen Foundation, the Leo and Regina Wainstein Foundation; and to the State Commission for the Humanistic Studies for a research assistantship during three years. The publication of this book was made possible by the willingness of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and Professar Yrjo Blomstedt, the editor of the Hurnanistic section of the Anna! es, to ace ept my study for inclusion in their series, I wish to thank Mr. Hai Martin who translated the manuscript into English, and Professar Tauno F. Mustanoja who checked the English. My colleague Anne Helttula read with me the English version and with her corrections greatly ameliorated the text; I am very thankful to her. Helsinki, December 7, 197 5 Tapio Helen Contents lntroduction . 7 l. Study Materia! . ... .. .. .. .. .. ... ...... .. .. .. .. .. .. 7 2. Description of Brick Stamps ............................................. _......... 9 3. Dating of Brick Stamps . l O 4. The Study of Brick Stamps . Il 5. The Problem . 12 Notes ........................................................................................ 14 II Pre-conditions for the Brick Industry . 16 l. Use of Bricks as Building Materia! ............................................ 16 2. Demand for Bricks and Market Structure ..................................... 18 Notes .......... 20 III Nomenclature and Social Status of Persons in Brick Stamps 22 l. Domini . 22 2. Total Number of Persons. Free an d Sia ves . 23 3. Freeborn an d Freedmen . 24 4. CJL VI, l, 1815 and the gens Calpetana of Roman Brick Stamps . 27 5. A Note o n the Reading of Stamps . 31 Notes . 35 IV Meaning of the Word 'figlinae' . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ........... 37 l. Introduction . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 37 2. Meaning of the Word 'figlinae' According t o D resse! and Cozzo . 38 3. Examples of Use of the Word 'jiglinae' Apart from Roman Brick Stamps . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 41 4. The Word 'jiglinae' in the Text of Roman Brick Stamps . 45 - Introduction . 45 - Stamps of the First Century . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 47 - Stamps of the Second Century . 53 - Late Second Century Stamps . 72 5. A Case Study: the figlinae Caepionianae . 76 6. Conclusions . 82 Notes ...................................................................... :................. 83 V Organization of Brick Production. Persons Mentioned in Brick Stamps in their Relation to the Brick Industry 89 l. The Persons of the Brick Stamps: dominus and officinator . 89 2. The Groups domini and officinatores of Dressel an d Bloch . 93 3. Problems . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 96 4. Persons in the Stamps of E;ens Domitia .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. l 00 5. Relationship of domi nus an d officina tar in the Rom an La w of Persons .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. l 03 Slaves .............................................................................. 103 a) Officinator is the Slave of dominus Mentioned in Same Stamp ................................................................. 104 b) Officinator is the Slave of Some Other Person than dominus 104 Officinator is lihertus of dominus 105 Conclusions ....................... 108 6. Offìcinatores ......................... IlO - W ome n as officinatores ........................................................ 112 - Societas in Brick Stamps ..................................................... .. 113 - Officinatores Who Appear in Stamps of More Than O ne domi nus ........................................................... 116 - Continuity of the Functions of officinatores: a) Far How Long Did They Operate? ................................... .. 118 b) Officinator gentes .......................................................... 119 7. Conclusion . 130 Notes ................ ·........................................................................ 131 List of officinatores Appearing in Stamps of More Than One dominus 139 Bibliography an d Abbrcviations ........................................................... l 5 l Note: Decorative elements ami ligatures occurinE; in the stamps are not marked in the reproductions of stamp texts in this hook (except in note 96 on p. 138). I Introduction l. Study Materia! Conditions prevailing in the Roman brick industry (in the city of Rome itself) during the early Empire are the theme of this study. A study of this kind is made possible by the preservation of a coherent set of evidence: the stamps which were impressed on bricks before firing. These stamps provide the only opportunity of examining the Roman brick industry, and any study of this subject becomes -in practice if not in principle - an interpretation of Roman brick stamps. These stamps have long been available in printed form to students. The main collections are Heinrich Dressel's C/L XV, l of 1891 and Herbert Bloch's Supplement to Val XV, l of the CIL, 1947. 1 Stamps not published in these collections, but forming part of my materia!, are further to be found in C/LXIV Supplementum I (No. 5308). The indexes made by Bloch for these three collections are an indispensable aid in dealing with the subject-matter. The originai brick stamps were the starting point for my studies, however. At Institutum Romanum Finlandiae I was part of a group directed by Professar Jaakko Suolahti which made an inventory-for publication of brick stamps found in excava­ tions at Ostia. We examined the stamped bricks found in early excavations and stored in the Castello of Ostia, the bricks stored in the Horrea Epagathiana within the ancient city, and some stores of smaller size; al so brought for our inspection were bricks from excavations stili in progress. Almost 9,000 stamped bricks were studied by us; there were some 1200 different stamps, which account for over 1/3 of the brick stamps discovered in the region of Rome and on the coast of Latium. They included some hitherto unpublished stamps, but these did not add greatly to the materia!. From the control of materia! standpoint, however, the work done at Ostia was important, for it is difficult to obtain a clear understanding of such materia! from publications alone. 2 Chronologically I have confined myself to the first two centuries. The composi­ tion of the materia! is the reason for this. Brick stamps are divided into two clearly distinguishable time groups. The last stamps of the earlier group are from the reign of Caracalla, and the first of the later group from the time of Diocletian; between these lies a blank period of severa! decades without any datable stamps. The earlier group, which wili be examined in this study, is by far the greater, comprising 7 almost 10 times as many stamps as the later group. In themselves both groups are very coherent entities, but great differences are found between them: in the later, for instance, names of persons are almost entirely absent, as are the words 'figlinae' and 'prae dia'. It is clearly appare n t that during the third century a great change occurred in the organization of brick production, part of the same process which affected economie !ife as a whole in the Empire of that time. lt would be interesting to study how the transition of the third century is reflected in Roman brick stamps, but this would require a precise analysis of stamps preceàing and following the transition, and a comparison of results. In my view this is too far-reaching a task, and I have therefore confined myself to the earlier period. Remaining ourside the study, accordingly, is CIL XV, l, caput i1· "lateres urbani aetatisDiocletianae et posterioris"(CIL 1540-1731; S. 597-615). 3 Because the object of study is the brick industry, pars ii "dalia, pelves, arcae" (CIL 2416-2557; S. 467-567) was also excluded from.the