The Impact of Roman Imperium on the Administrative and Monetary Systems of the Provincia Asia (133 BC - AD 96)

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The Impact of Roman Imperium on the Administrative and Monetary Systems of the Provincia Asia (133 BC - AD 96) ‘Romanizing’ Asia: the impact of Roman imperium on the administrative and monetary systems of the Provincia Asia (133 BC - AD 96) by Lucia Francesca Carbone A Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2016 © 2016 Lucia Francesca Carbone All rights reserved Dissertation Abstract ‘Romanizing’ Asia: the impact of Roman imperium on the administrative and monetary systems of the Provincia Asia (133 BC - AD 96) Lucia Francesca Carbone The impact of Roman power on the pre-existing administrative and economic systems of the conquered provinces has been a significant issue of scholarly debate for decades. With the studies of D. Mattingly (MATTINGLY 2011) and C. Howgego (HOWGEGO 2005), attention has shifted from the idea of Romanization as a top-down phenomenon to a much more articulated process, which could be interpreted according the model proposed by GOSDEN 2004 of ‘middle ground imperialism’, in which the element of cultural interaction between the conquering power and the conquered populations was central and led to the creation of locally hybrid cultural forms. This dissertation analyzes the ways in which local cultures and identities interacted with Roman ones in the years between Attalus III’s testament and the end of the Flavian age. I chose to focus my research on these centuries as they include four key moments for the Provincia Asia: the moment of its institution in 129/6 BC with the related issues due to Aristonicus’ rebellion and the necessity of establishing effective provincial administrative and economic structures; the years between the Mithridatic wars and Caesar, when the province spiraled into debt and the Asian monetary system had to adapt to the extra taxation requested by Sulla and then to the change in the role of the societates publicanorum, who were deprived of the farming of the decuma by Caesar; the years of the Civil War between Antony and Octavian and its aftermath, which gave increasing importance to the conventus and to the introduction of Roman currency into the province, both in the circulating monetary pool and as an account unit; and finally the post- Augustan age, which saw an increasing standardization in the ‘local’ monetary systems of the province, with respect to both silver and bronze coinage, and the final ‘victory’ of the conventus over the pre-existing administrative structures, as shown by the fact that even municipal taxation and local cults were by then organized according to the conventus system. As in the case of the local monetary system, local administrative structures were still in existence, but these gradually lost their relevance. In this thesis, I argued that the model of ‘middle-ground imperialism’, suggested by C. Gosden and further supported by D. Mattingly, is useful for understanding the process of progressive standardization of Asian administrative structures and monetary system, not as a top- down process but rather as a bilateral interaction between Roman and local cultures, as I have shown in the case of the progressive standardization of Asian provincial administrative structures (Chapters 1 and 2) and monetary systems (Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6). Furthermore, I have also outlined how the slogan of ἀυτονομία / ἐλευθερία for the Greek cities, which the Romans inherited from previous conquerors of the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, was shaped into a relationship between individual civic administrations and Roman leaders. This led to the necessity of redefining the bestowed rights in the case of each individual city, as is shown in Chapters 3 and 6. At the same time, only free cities were allowed the right to issue silver autonomous coinages, which had represented the bulk of the coinage circulating in the area in pre-Roman years, and which had been issued also by cities that did not enjoy a privileged juridical status. As I argue in Chapter 3, the establishment of a connection between an autonomous juridical status and the issue of silver autonomous coinage also changed the relationship between sovereignty and coinage, two elements which were not connected until the beginning of Roman dominion over Asia. Once again, here we see an effective change implemented by the Romans within the context of an apparent continuity concerning the idea of ἀυτονομία / ἐλευθερία and the production of silver autonomous coinage. The original element of this research consists of the integration of epigraphic and numismatic sources. The main heuristic tools for drafting the picture of the administrative and economic life of Provincia Asia are a database of Asian civic issues (both silver and bronze) between 133 BC and AD 96 that I have constructed out of the data in BMC, SNG Copenhagen and SNG Deutschlands – van Aulock (for pre-Antonian issues) and in RPC I-II (from Mark Antony up to the Flavians), and three epigraphic databases that include the epigraphic attestations of denarii, assaria and drachmae in the province of Asia between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD, for a total of 372 inscriptions. All these databases are included here as Appendices (I – X). With the aid of these databases, I have been able to outline the main steps of the administrative development of the province. As argued in Chapter 3, the gradual decrease of Asian autonomous silver issues seems to have been directly related to annexation to the Roman province, and therefore could provide a terminus ante quem in dubious cases, like those of Caria and Phrygia. As noted in Chapter 4, cistophoric coinage seems to have been directly connected with the first geographical development of the province, delimited by M’ Aquilius’ road. The cities encompassed by the provincial road built in 129 BC were conventus centers, and they all issued cistophori. The other Carian and Ionian cities that were not included on M’ Aquilius’ road never issued cistophori. Silver was used by the Romans right from the establishment of the province as a means of administrative control. Roman control over silver issues is evident in the end of autonomous silver coinages in conjunction with the incorporation in the province, and with the provincial orchestration of the cistophoric output, especially in the early 1st century BC, first with the Mithridatic wars, then with Sulla and finally with Antony and Augustus. Bronze coinage gradually replaced autonomous silver issues in the course of the 1st century BC. Even in the privileged cities, which were allowed to continue their silver issues, the number of issues decreased, as bronze coinage began to be issued in larger quantities. Bronze issues are tightly related to geographic regions. There seem to have been regionally based bronze denominational systems still in the 1st century BC, such as the very important denominational systems of Apamea, Smyrna, Pergamum and Alabanda. Still under the Julio- Claudians, northwestern Asia Minor and southwestern Caria used different denominations for their bronze coinage. It is only under the Flavians that we see a growing degree of homogeneity in bronze coinage, which then came closer to Roman denominations. And this happened – it is worth repeating – when the denarius became the unit of account all over the province. Two different realities therefore coexisted in the province in the considered time frame: on the one side, city-based and regionally based monetary issues (bronze and almost insignificant quantities of silver), and on the other, a provincial coordination of the cistophoric issues (later replaced by the denarius, at least as a unit of account). The double track that we detected for the monetary output was also an administrative one. As argued in Chapter 1, the first explicit mention of διοικήσεις – conventus is found in Cicero, but the organization into assize-districts was pre-existing. The great turning point in the monetary and administrative history of the province should be placed in the 40s BC, and specifically in the years of the Second Triumvirate. After this date, a transition to a conventus-based administrative and monetary geography took place in the Asian province, as shown by the fact that the conventus became the organizing criterion not only for tax collecting, but also for imperial cults. Robert (ROBERT 1949) once remarked that the conventus system could explain patterns of coin circulation. In light of what has been shown over the course of this thesis, this was certainly not true before the 40s BC. The administrative organization of the Provincia Asia after this date shows considerable similarities with those of other Eastern provinces, especially in terms of the organization into conventus. As in provinces like Syria, the issue of provincial silver was limited in quantity and took place only in a very limited number of cities (Ephesus and Pergamum in Asia), and civic bronze coinage, though issued in greater quantities, became increasingly more standardized in appearance and denominations (WEISSER 2005). This standardization could of course be explained by economic preoccupations, such as the necessity of lowering transaction costs, but, as I have argued in Chapter 6, the diorthoma in the Second Triumviral age had already solved this problem. Instead, the standardization could have been increasingly related to cultural reasons. In the words of P. Weiss, ‘coins illustrate with especial clarity the fundamental process of mental integration in the provincial cities, whose governing was increasingly composed by cives romani. On the other hand, coinage was a means of self-representation for local elites. Coinage also represent a sort of compromise between self- representation and integration in the Roman Imperium.᾽(WEISS 2005). In the period of time considered in this dissertation, there was therefore a monetary integration of the Roman West and East. Despite the differences in appearance, all the coins produced within the Roman Empire were Roman in the sense that they were legal tender within the boundaries of Roman Empire.
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