Strangers in Towns A socio-economic study on the visibility of collegia and trading communities within port cities N. van Strien S1233920 MA History, specialisation Ancient History. Supervisor: Dr. M. Flohr. Leiden University, The Netherlands, 29th of September, 2017. Content Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Debate: The nature of trade and its participants ...................................................................... 5 1.1.2 Collegia, trading communities and trade ............................................................................... 8 1.1.3 Collegia, trading communities and urban society ................................................................ 11 1.2 Theoretical framework, methodology and data collection ..................................................... 12 1.2.1 Inscriptions and the economy .............................................................................................. 14 1.2.2 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 15 1.2.3 Data collection ...................................................................................................................... 16 1.3 Outline ..................................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter Two: Ostia ................................................................................................................................ 19 2.1 A brief history of Ostia ............................................................................................................. 19 2.2 The Piazzale delle Corporazioni ............................................................................................... 23 2.3 Emperors, magistrates and officials ........................................................................................ 27 2.4 The visibility of collegia and trading communities in Ostia ..................................................... 29 2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter Three: Puteoli .......................................................................................................................... 38 3.1 A brief history of Puteoli.......................................................................................................... 38 3.2 Foreigners in Puteoli ................................................................................................................ 42 3.2.1 The Tyrian letter ................................................................................................................... 45 3.3 Visibility of foreign communities and collegia in Puteoli ........................................................ 47 3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter Four: Lugdunum and Arelate ................................................................................................... 54 4.1 A brief history of Lugdunum and Arelate ................................................................................ 54 4.1.1 Arelate .................................................................................................................................. 57 4.1.2 The connection between the two port cities ....................................................................... 58 4.2 The epigraphic evidence on collegia and trading communities in Lugdunum and Arelate .... 59 4.2.1 Lugdunum ............................................................................................................................. 59 4.2.2 Arelate .................................................................................................................................. 63 4.2.3 A strange lacuna in the epigraphic evidence? ...................................................................... 65 4.3 Visibility of foreign collegia and trading communities in Lugdunum and Arelate .................. 67 4.3.1 Lugdunum ............................................................................................................................. 67 4.3.2 Arelate .................................................................................................................................. 69 4.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 70 1 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 72 Appendix ................................................................................................................................................ 79 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 82 2 Introduction With the unification of the Mediterranean by Augustus in 31 BC an unprecedented event occurred: the entire Mediterranean was governed by an emperor, who started to instigate different institutions to ensure political stability. The main elements of this development were: the imposition of a single political structure; the emergence of networks based on the movement of goods, people and information; the creation and diffusion of institutions such as the law and coinage; the improvement of transportation infrastructure including roads, ports and canals; and the development of a more active and increasingly integrated system of trade and exchange.1 These new developments were highly beneficial for traders as the Mediterranean became better connected, which made the movements of goods easier. Therefore, products from all over the Mediterranean were more readily available to its inhabitants. From early on, merchants saw Rome and other major cities as an important consumer market for surplus food wares. The increasing growth of Rome and other cities in the Mediterranean created demand for more food than could be locally produced. Therefore, food and luxury items from all over the Mediterranean were shipped to the major cities in the empire to be sold by local vendors. An important question that arises in research is how these long-distance traders coordinated their trade, considering that they lacked the modern means of communicating with people on the other side of the Mediterranean. Many scholars have tried to answer this question, together with questions about the nature of trade in the Roman Empire. However, a lacuna appears in the literature in regard to the visibility of collegia and trading communities that facilitated long-distance trade. Instead of researching geographical and social issues related to these groups, scholars have focussed on the purpose of collegia and trading communities, their internal hierarchy and their status in society. Furthermore, considerable research into urban planning in Ancient Rome has been carried out in which researchers paid attention to the urban planning of towns. However, these scholars tended to focus on urban life, with an emphasis on baths, fora, basilica, walls, streets and temples 1 N. Morley, ‘Globalisation and the Roman economy’ In: M. Pitts and M. Versluys ed., Globalisation and the Roman World: World History, Connectivity and Material Culture (Cambridge 2014) 54. 3 and have not focussed themselves on the locations in town that were used by merchants.2 Scholars have not so far considered using their findings in these fields to investigate how trading communities and collegia became visible within port cities. Further research in this field might prove valuable to gain better knowledge of the socio-economic position of long-distance traders in port cities. Port cities are of interest, because they were the first to encounter the merchants with the wares they shipped throughout the Mediterranean. To fill the lacuna in this field of research, the focus of this thesis has been on how trading communities and collegia became visible to the inhabitants of port cities. This was researched by assessing the methods and locations both groups utilised to increase their visibility. Visibility is a broad definition. It refers to the state of being able to see and be seen. Being seen was important in Roman history as it was a way to display your social position within town. Collegia and trading communities needed to earn a place in the social life of their new host city. This was deemed important as proper public display alluded to status and provided new mercantile opportunities for collegia and trading communities. The visibility of both groups is researched in port cities because the evidence on collegia and trading communities is most abundant in these locations and because research on this topic has not been conducted concerning port cities. The arguments presented in this thesis are supported by ancient literary sources, archaeological evidence and inscriptions, because these fields of research have yielded a considerable amount of information on collegia and trading communities. The scope of research in inscriptions is limited to port cities in Italy and France, because the epigraphic remains excavated in these two countries bear similarities.