Durham E-Theses A study of the municipal aristocracies of the roman empire in the west, with special reference to north Africa Jarrett, Michael Grierson How to cite: Jarrett, Michael Grierson (1958) A study of the municipal aristocracies of the roman empire in the west, with special reference to north Africa, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1980/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 A STUDY OF THE MUITICIM ARISTOCRACIFS' OF THE ROMAN EMIYM IN THE WEST,, WM SIWIAL ROSH= TO NOMIL AFRMA A dissertation presented for the degree of by Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Duxham J(jCfLkn G. JME=,, B. A., p Hatfield College. The copyright Of this tfiesis rest$ with the author. from No quotation it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived May, 1958. from it should be acknowledged. 8. PFEFACE. The majority of the work for this thesis was done with the aid of a Durham Colleges' Research Studentship. My thanks are due to &3-1 who have assisted in any way. The maps were produced with the aid of Messrs. W. Dodds, R. W. Lucas and G. McWhirter. M. H. G. Pflaum most generously made available the galley-proofs of his forthcoming "Carrieres procuratoriennes .0 equestres'. Above all., thanks are due to Professor Eric Birley, who has supervised the project since its inception, has made available his ovwz books and files., and has probably contributed more than he or I realises in conversation and discussion. LIST OF CONTENTS. VOLUME ONE. Chapter One: Introduction. Chapter Two: The economic basis of tow, life. 10. Chapter Three: The age of municipal magistrates. ý Chapter Four: The composition, of the ordo: The. Album of Timgad and the Album of Canusium. Chapter-Five: Praefectura fabrum. Chapter Six.. The quinque decuriae.,,, Chapter Seven: Equus Publicus. 34-. Chapter iight: Equestrian officers from North Africa. 31. Chapter Wme: Equestrian ýprocurators " from the North African provinces. 63. Chapter-Ten: Provincial, councils. Appendix one: The orgBLnisation of Cirtw'and itsassociated colonies, 70. Appendix Two: Priesthoods at Cuicul, 74. it. Appendix Three: Auzia. Co. Appendix Four: Carthage: Magistrates and priests. AppendixFive: Gigthis. 91. Appendix Six: Siected family histories. 195. Abbreviations: q G. Is. Bibliogmphy of works quoted in the text: Index of persons named in the text. lot. VOLUMETwo. ProsopogmphY: ]PORTFOLIO: Genealogical tables. Maps, 3. LIST- OF, MAPS. ONE: Distr-ibution,, of decurions from the North African provinces. TWO; Economic life, in Roman North. Afr-ica., ,, TBFM: Distribution of 32raefecti fabrum. MUR: Distribution of members of the, quinque decuriae. FIVE: of recipients of the equus publicus. -Distribution SIX: Distribution of equestrian officers. - SEVEN: Distribution of equestrian procurators. EICHT: Distribution of magistrates and priests fýmm Carthage. 4.. LIST OF GENEALOGICAL TABLES. ONE: The Servaei of Gigthis. TWO: The Ummidii of Gigthis. THREE: Lepcis (as ),, The Septimii1of Magna proposed-by M.J.. -,Guey. FOUR: The Septimii, of Lepcis Magna. FIVE: The Vetidii of Thubursicu Numidarum. SIX: The Caecilii of Volubilis. SBTW: The Caecilii of Volubilis hypothetical restoration. ) - -- r- 4-r -a-- c. CHAPTERONE INTRCDUCTION. - -F - The_ municipal system in the, Roman Empire as a whole has been treated by Abbott, and Johnson; while this dissertation clarifies some points of-detail.. it is, than Professor Birley has. concerned with persons-rather systems. - shown that a large proportion of equestrian officers of all dates were drawn from men who. served as-magistrates in the towns, of,. Italy and the provinces. From these. equestrian, officers were drawn, many,,of, the. men,who,, reached the,. highe3t, posts in theequestrian service., It is the, aim. of this work to, place in context the decurions of North Africa., and. then to. study the_ contribution of. the North African provinces to the emperor's equestrian service. Any., such study must, depend on. a. detailedstudy of individual careers. The prosopography (bound separately., as-Volume-Two., for convenience) is-the first stage in processing, of some of the material... The next stage is to, be found in the. those, on the cfficers, and, , chapters, especially equestrian procuintors from North Africa,,. Included in the prosoPography are all, the equestrian officers and procurators-of whose African origin I have been convinced;, a number of similar men whose African origin is., uncertain, or has been suggested by other scholars on what seem to be inadequate grounds; and some senators whose families had close connections with the upper classes of the African towns. Also included are a number of municipal dignitaries. (e. g. C., Caecilius Gallus, L. Cosinius Primus) whose, careers seemed to require special,., comment,, and ]2rimipilares., many of whom will have, received commissions as centurionson the basis, of their pquestrian, status. Two points connected with the prosopography, are to, be noted. It has been the aim to cite every relevant discussion, of each career. EE is-, only quoted where the_discussion is, useful --for the most part, the articles, by Groag and Stein., Works which, have been, superseded are normally quoted-when thk. in them differs -view expressed from more recent opinions - e, g, Lambrechts II is rarely quotedp except where. Barbieri is less adequate or unconvincing. The second point-is that the debt to M*, H*Go Fflaum can scarcely be (I;, ', in the Preface. Without the his, expressed adequately , -, ýgalley-proofs, of *-:,- 'Carrieres procuratoriennes'. the discussion, of procurators wouldýbe, far less adequate; - in the prosopography2 CP is only quoted at length when there is reason, to question some of the views expressed in it; ý in the majority of notes on, procurators, CP has been followed-without question, a fact which may at first sight be concealed by the brief citation of M. Pflaum's discussion. - The material used, throughout this work is mainly epigmphic; to avoid, the distraction of numerous footnotes or references in the text., all persons by included in index mentioned name are an which gives, the most convenient - reference to an, inscription-or discussion. For Africans it also givesýthe. Origo, if this is known. On a airMar principle., printed works cited in the text are normally listed in the bibliography; only there will full details be found. The references inthe text are normally given in the briefest intelligible form, Where only one work by an author has been used., the author's name seems to ,- be sufficient; where more than, one work is cited, a keyword is normally used; thus 'Les procurateurs biquestres sous le haut-Empire romainlýby E. G. Pflaum (Paris, 1950) is cited as Pflaum, Procurateurs; 'Die Reichsbeamten von Dazien' (Budapest, by A. Stein 194J+) as Stein, Dacia. The scope of, this work., geographically and historically is limited. the Except in chapter on-provincial councilsq the area considered is that of the three African provinces of the first-century, A. D.; Africa Proconsular-is,, Caesariensis., Mauretania and Mauretania Tingitana. - - Numidia,, which did not become a province de ure until the reign of Seveniz, has been regarded as a (as separate province it was by the imperial adminstration) throughout the period of the empire. The main period covered by this work is the first two and a half centuries of the Christian em; the bulk-of. the material which can be securely dated coming in the second and early third centuries. Some later developments in municipal organisation are considered., but there is no suggestion-that this consideration is a full treatment of the subject. The municipal magistracies held in provincial tcnms have been outlined 7. the duovir dutiess held dicundo; _ post of quinquennalis. with census was every four years., usually by men who had already been duoviri. A priesthood of the imperial cults involving a seat on the provincial council, was normally held aftexýthe duovirate, This pattern, with minor variations-, seems' to" have held good throughout the African provinces. As far as possible, an attempt has been made to compare the numbers of equestrian officers, Praefecti fabrum,, produced by the various provinces. _etc. The comparisons have been made,, but it is not clear how far they are valid; (for the number of men known as equestrian officers example) in any province will depend on several factors besides the number of such men who were natives of that province. 'Epigraphic consciousness' will be of considerable'' importance - the popularity of the custom of setting up inscriptions will vary from province to province and from period to period; geology will also' irom be important,, for where suitable stone has to be imported a distance, inscriptions are likely to be erased and the stones re-used; also some inscriptions may be carved on wood or painted on stoie. The relative wealth of, individual provinces will also have had an effect on the number of ýd Inscr n s. set up, and the number of ins criptions fou: is likely-to be in ... _ipýio. direct relation to the amount of excavation which has been carried out with the proviso that cemeteries will provide more inscriptions than publi6 ,buildings, and Public buildings more than private houses or industrial establishments.,, The amount of later building on Roma]n sites will be an important factor; on the.