The Economic Impact of Collegia in the Western Roman Empire
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BALANCING THE BOOKS: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COLLEGIA IN THE WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES 2017 LEO J. E. MITCHELL SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES CONTENTS TABLES ......................................................................................................................... 4 FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ 5 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 6 DECLARATION ............................................................................................................... 7 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ............................................................................................... 8 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................ 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ 10 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 1: “MESSY TAXONOMY” ............................................................................. 24 1. Terminology .................................................................................................. 24 2. Legislation Concerning Collegia ................................................................... 29 3. Typology ....................................................................................................... 39 4. The Internal Administration of Collegia ....................................................... 43 5. Activities ....................................................................................................... 49 6. Current Scholarship ....................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 2: NEO-INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS – THE APPLICABILITY OF MODERN ECONOMIC THEORY TO ROMAN COLLEGIA ................................................................... 56 1. Approaching the Roman Economy ............................................................... 57 2. Guilds ............................................................................................................ 64 3. Application to Roman Collegia ..................................................................... 69 4. The Way Forward .......................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 3: CASE STUDIES FROM OSTIA ..................................................................... 76 1. Existing Scholarship ...................................................................................... 79 2. The Town ...................................................................................................... 81 3. Evidence ........................................................................................................ 84 4. Legal Material ............................................................................................... 86 5. Methodological Issues ................................................................................... 88 6. Corpus Mensorum Frumentariorum ............................................................. 90 (i) Grain ......................................................................................................... 91 (ii) The collegium .......................................................................................... 92 2 (iii) The role of the corpus in the local economy .......................................... 99 7. Collegium Fabrum Tignuariorum Ostiensium ............................................ 105 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 117 9. Further Study ............................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER 4: TESTING THE MODEL ............................................................................. 127 1. The collegium fabrum tignariorum ............................................................. 128 2. The collegium centonariorum ..................................................................... 135 3. Pompeii ........................................................................................................ 138 4. Roman Spain ............................................................................................... 139 5. Roman Gaul ................................................................................................. 151 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 167 CHAPTER 5: ROMAN EGYPT ...................................................................................... 168 1. The Typicality of Egypt .............................................................................. 169 2. Different but the Same ................................................................................ 173 3. Associations in Egypt – The Evidence from Papyri .................................... 175 4. Associations in Egypt – The Evidence from Epigraphy ............................. 187 5. The Economic Impact of Egyptian Associations on their Local Economies ......................................................................................................................... 189 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 195 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 197 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 206 APPENDIX I ............................................................................................................... 225 APPENDIX II .............................................................................................................. 242 FINAL WORD COUNT: 72,965 3 TABLES TABLE 1: NON-ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ........................................................................ 119 TABLE 2: SOCIAL PRESTIGE ...................................................................................... 121 TABLE 3: ECONOMIC MARKERS ................................................................................ 122 TABLE 4: COLLEGIA OLEARIORUM ............................................................................. 142 TABLE 5: COLLEGIA SCAPHARIORUM ET LYNTRARIORUM.......................................... 143 TABLE 6: CONNECTED TO THE OIL-TRADE OR TO THE COLLEGIA ............................... 144 TABLE 7: COLLEGIA RELATED TO THE WINE TRADE AT LUGDUNUM. ......................... 154 TABLE 8: PAPYRI ....................................................................................................... 179 4 FIGURES FIGURE 1: AULA DEI MENSORES ................................................................................. 94 FIGURE 2: HORREA DEI MENSORES ............................................................................. 95 FIGURE 3: MOSAIC DEPICTING THE MEASURING OF GRAIN. ....................................... 101 5 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the impact that collegia had on the economy of the western Roman Empire. There has been a tendency amongst scholars to dismiss the economic aspects of collegia and to think of them instead as primarily social or religious organisations. This thesis demonstrates, however, that some of the earliest work on collegia was affected by flawed methodology and that this has in turn affected a good deal of the subsequent scholarship, undermining economic analyses to a certain extent. As a secondary research goal, this thesis is therefore aimed at re-examining the body of scholarship that has gone before it in light of modern research methods and in hopes of drawing a line under many of the debates that continue to be given too much prominence in the literature. In examining the economic impact of the collegia, the thesis draws on modern economic theory and especially on a Neo-Institutional Economic theoretical framework to analyse the epigraphic and, latterly, the papyrological evidence of associations in the Roman Empire. The conclusions demonstrate that many of the collegia in the west did have a clear impact on their local economies, despite this not always being immediately discernible in the extant epigraphic evidence. By also examining other types of evidence, namely papyri and the archaeological evidence from Ostia, however, we are able to significantly enhance our understanding of the collegia. 6 DECLARATION I declare that no portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. 7 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as