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Economy and Society of Mediolanum under the Principate1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

P. D. A. Garnsey
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Extract

Strabo called Mediolanum (Milan) an ἀξιόλογος πόλις and classed it above all other cities in the region of Cisalpine Gaul, with the exception of Patavium (Padua). Patavium in its prime, the Augustan period, could register five hundred equestrians in a census, a number equalled only by Gades (Cadiz) among cities in the West. The presence of so many equestrians indicates a substantial population-base. Cisalpine cities as a whole impressed Strabo as being larger and richer than those of the rest of Italy.

Thus, if Strabo is any guide, Mediolanum was already in his time (the beginning of the Principate), an important city, perhaps not far behind Patavium in size. Moreover, the fortunes of Mediolanum, unlike those of Patavium, were not on the wane. No contemporary of Augustus could have forecast that Mediolanum would be chosen as a seat of emperors in the fourth century. But seen in the light of the city's development in the early empire as an administrative, cultural and economic centre, this was a logical choice.

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Research Article
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 44 , November 1976 , pp. 13 - 27
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1976

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References

2 Strabo C 213; 218. Strabo compares Ravenna only with the other cities ‘in the marshes’, and leaves Aquileia out of the comparison altogether. I have not seen estimates of the population of Mediolanum. Comum under Trajan has been assessed at up to 22,500. See Duncan-Jones, R. P., Economy of the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 1973), 266–7Google Scholar. That Mediolanum outranked Comum is implied in Strabo C 213. For Aquileia's population under the Principate, see Calderini, A., Aquileia Romana (Milan, 1940), 336Google Scholar (conjectures ranging from 100,000 to 800,000).

3 Brunt, P. A., Italian Manpower 225 B.C.–A.D. 14 (Oxford, 1971), 172–84Google Scholar.

4 A bold attempt to circumvent this problem was made by A. H. M. Jones. He suggested that trade and industry contributed no more than 5 per cent of the imperial revenues and of the overall wealth of the empire in the late period. In my view the argument cannot stand, and in any case cannot apply to the early empire. See Jones, A. H. M., Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1964), 464 ff.Google Scholar

5 For a more optimistic account than Brunt's of Cisalpine trade, which utilises the archaeological evidence, see Baldacci, P., ‘Alcuni Aspetti del Commercio nei Territori Cisalpini’, Atti, Ce.S.D.I.R. i (1967–1968), 7 ff.Google Scholar

6 Pliny, h.n. iii 123: ‘Transpadana appellatur ab eo regio undecima, tota in mediterraneo, cui maria cuncta fructuoso alveo inportat’.

7 Strabo C 213; 218; Martial xiv 143; 155; Colum. vii 2, 3; Herodian viii 2, 3; 4, 5; Lauffer, , Diokletians Preisedikt (Berlin, 1971), 19, 13CrossRefGoogle Scholar; 21; 23–6; 20, 3–4; 13; 21, 1a; 22, 16–18; 25, 1a; 2 (Mutina); 21, 2; 25, 4 (Altinum); Baldacci, , Atti, Ce. S.D.I.R. i 7 ff.Google Scholar

8 Egger, R., ‘Die Stadt auf dem Magdalensberg: ein Grosshandelsplatz’, Öst. Akad. d. Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Kl. Denk. lxxix (1961)Google Scholar; Lousonna, , Bibl.Hist.Vaud. xlii Lausanne, 1969), 194 ff.Google Scholar; Wells, C. M., German Policy of Augustus (Oxford, 1973), 39Google Scholar; Ulbert, G., Die römischen Donau-kastelle Aislingen und Burghöfe (Berlin, 1959)Google Scholar, e.g. 33 ff; and see n. 35 below. Evidence (non-quantifiable) for the use of Transalpine routes for trade is furnished by the existence of customs stations at numerous points in the Alpine region. See de Laet, S. J., Portorium (Bruge, 1949), 144 ff.Google Scholar, esp. 158 ff.; 175 ff.

9 Whereas Strabo refers to both wine and oil as objects of trade, Herodian mentions specifically only the former. References to Pannonian wine do not begin until the late third century; yet Italian wine was still being imported (in exchange for cereals) into Pannonia in the late fourth century. See Mócsy, A., Pannonia and Upper Moesia (London, 1974), 298–9Google Scholar, with refs. As for the importance of the trade, Brunt, , Italian Manpower 708Google Scholar, regards the export of wine to the north as ‘substantial’. Oil was not in Pannonia the staple that it was in Italy and Mediterranean lands, because of the competition which animal fats provided; but the army (and not merely the officer class) doubtless needed it in quantity.

10 See Baldacci, , Atti, Ce.S.D.I.R. i 15 ff.; 44 ff.Google Scholar, for the evidence.

11 For comparison, note that the easiest route across the Apennines between Dertona in the north and Beneventum in the south is taken by the via Flaminia, which nonetheless rises to a height of 581 metres at the Scheggia pass.

12 The evidence for the decline of the city and its textile industry is meagre. Chilver acknowledges that the latter does not disappear altogether from the record (such as it is), and that Mela could still call the city ‘opulentissima’. See Chilver, G. E. F., Cisalpine Gaul (Oxford, 1941), 54–5, 164–5Google Scholar, citing Martial xiv 143; Mela ii, 2, 59.

13 Jones, A. H. M., ‘The Clothing Industry in the Roman Empire’, Econ. Hist. Rev. xiii, 2 (1960), 186Google Scholar; Later Roman Empire, ii, 841 ffGoogle Scholar. We do not possess freight charges for wine or oil.

14 The via Postumia rises gradually from Dertona (114 m.) to the Passo di Giovi (472 m.) and descends over c. 12 miles to the coast.

15 Strabo C 217; CIL v 7373Google Scholar.

16 See Baldacci, , Atti, Ce.S.D.I.R. i, 44Google Scholar. Findspots include on the one hand, Libarna, Tortona, Nizza, Torino, Aosta in the west, and on the other, Concordia, Aquileia and Pola in the east.

17 Strabo C 202. If Genua was indeed the emporium for all Liguria, it would have drawn products from the whole area up to the river Po. For the inscriptions, see CIL v, 7749 ff.Google Scholar, and p. 885. Municipal life is indicated in v, 7153 and 7373.

18 Pliny, h.n. iii, 123. The passage follows an extended, eulogistic description of the river and its tributaries.

19 Evidence in Baldacci, , Atti, Ce S.D.I.R. i, 16 ffGoogle Scholar.

20 Starr, C., Roman Imperial Navy (Ithaca, N.Y., 1941), 16Google Scholar.

21 ‘Venice’: Strabo C 213. Local government: CIL xi, p. 6 (Bormann)Google Scholar; cf. Chilver, , Cisalpine Gaul, 19Google Scholar; Calderini, A., Storia di Milano (Milano, 1953), 177Google Scholar n. 5; Degrassi, A., ‘Il supposto municipio di Classe e l'amministrazione di Ravenna’, Scritti vari di Antichità iii (Trieste, 1967), 285 ff.Google Scholar

22 Associations of fabri navales are recorded at Ostia, Pisa and Narbo, but not at Ravenna, where only a collegium fabrorum is known, e.g. CIL xi, 126Google Scholar. For the solitary faber navalis, see xi, 139.

23 Strabo C 214.

24 Baldacci has on the whole succeeded in steering a middle course between, on the one hand, overstressing the isolation of the Po valley, and, on the other, exaggerating the extent of its commercial contacts (in comparison, e.g., with those of southern Spain). I have reservations concerning his chronological account of the rise and decline of Cisalpine agricultural and industrial production.

25 Varro i, 8; ii, 4, 10; Polyb. ii, 15, 2 ff.; Pliny, h.n. xviii, 127; Strabo C 218.

26 The evidence is conveniently assembled in Baldacci, , Atti, Ce. S.D.I.R. i, 16 ff.Google Scholar

27 On industry, see Chilver, , Cisalpine Gaul, 163 ff.Google Scholar; cf. Brunt, , Italian Manpower, 181–2Google Scholar.

28 See e.g. CIL v, 5738Google Scholar; 5869. If the company of fabri and centonarii was founded under Trajan, the former inscription belongs to the late Antonine period and the latter to the middle of the third century. The dating of most of the inscriptions from Mediolanum and its territory is uncertain. Those cited in the rest of this paper are, with few exceptions, roughly datable between the end of the Julio-Claudian period and the middle of the third century. See Ucelli, P. G., ‘Iscrizioni sepolcrali di Milano dal I al IV secolo d.C. ed il problema della loro datazione’, Atti, Ce. S.D.I.R. i (1967–1968), 109 ffGoogle Scholar.

29 CIL v, 5612; 5738Google Scholar; cf. 5658.

30 CIL v, 5925; 5929Google Scholar; cf. 5923, 5926, 5928, 5932; with 5919, 5927, Pais 855. The centonarii were apparently makers of cheap woollens.

31 CIL v, 5847, 5892Google Scholar. These inscriptions belong to the period when the city had colonial status, but the transformation of the city from municipium to colonia might have been accomplished under any of the emperors from Hadrian to Caracalla. See Calderini, , Storia 253 ffGoogle Scholar. On the collegia, see Waltzing, J.-P., Étude historique sur les corporations professionelles chez les romains (Bruxelles, 1895–1900), iii, 151 ffGoogle Scholar.

32 CIL xiii, 6763Google Scholar; cf. viii, 7036.

33 CIL v, 5911Google Scholar; cf. xiii, 2029; AE 1952, 205, with Reynolds, J. M., Bull, de l'assoc. pro Aventico xx (1969), 53 ffGoogle Scholar. See also Baldacci, , Atti, Ce. S.D.I.R. i, 47 ffGoogle Scholar. (who puts forward the view that the association was completely dominated by non-Italians).

34 Caesar, , Bell. Gall. iii, 1, 2Google Scholar.

35 NS 1892, p. 68Google Scholar = Inscr. It. xi, 1, p. 65Google Scholar. I have seen no recent discussion on coins from the Great St. Bernard. See NSc 1892, 76–7Google Scholar. One scholar put the number at one hundred, over four centuries. See Gruaz, J., ‘Sur une medaille en or romaine trouvée à Sainte-Croix en 1876’, Rev. suisse de num. 16 (1910), 297 ffGoogle Scholar.

36 Cf. n. 8 above.

37 CIL v, 5667Google Scholar.

38 CIL v, 5749; 6425Google Scholar.

39 AE 1932, 73Google Scholar; CIL v, 5303Google Scholar. A brief discussion of some of the texts illustrating contacts between Mediolanum and neighbouring cities is presented in Tibiletti, G., ‘Mediolanum e le città vicine’, Notizie del Chiostro del Monasterio Maggiore i (1967), 37–9Google Scholar. The article is relatively inaccessible and I give the conclusions here: 1. The links with Comum and Laus Pompeia were particularly close. 2. The explanation of the contacts lies, first, in the geographical proximity of Mediolanum and those cities, secondly, in the case of Comum, in its political domination by Mediolanum until the age of Caesar, and thirdly, in the central position occupied by Mediolanum in the network of communications linking Rome with the north and with the eastern and western sections of the Po valley.

40 della Corte, M., JRS xvi (1926), 146 ffGoogle Scholar.

41 CIL v, 5658Google Scholar.

42 CIL v, 6351Google Scholar.

43 CIL v, 7373Google Scholar.

44 E.g. CIL v, 5518Google Scholar (Gavirate); 5739 (Caponago); and see Sartori, A. T., ‘I Confini del territorio di Comum in età romana’, Atti, Ce. S.D.I.R. i (1967–1968), 273 ffGoogle Scholar.

45 Suet, ., de Rhet. 6Google Scholar; Pliny, , Ep. iv, 13, 3Google Scholar; ILS 4193; cf. CIL iii, 4802Google Scholar. Other officials: e.g. ILS 1040, 1187, 1347.

46 CIL v, 5239Google Scholar.

47 CIL v, 5500Google Scholar (vilicus). For the conception of the model Italian city, a considerable part of the population of which, including the landowners, inhabited the countryside, see Mansuelli, G. A., ‘La civilisation en Italie septentrionale après la conquête romaine’, Rev. arch. ii (1961), 35 ff.Google Scholar; ‘L'urbanistica della Regio VIII’, Atti del Settimo Congr. intern. di arch. class. ii (1961), 325 ff.Google Scholar, espec. 338 ff.

48 CIL v, 5742Google Scholar.

49 Chilver, , Cisalpine Gaul, 80Google Scholar.

50 Brunt, , Italian Manpower, 196Google Scholar.

51 CIL v, 5548, 5702Google Scholar.

52 Some villas will no doubt be unearthed in the course of time. But one may wonder whether villas will ever prove to have been as conspicuous a feature of the countryside as they were in Emilia and in a pocket of Venetia. Mansuelli formulated his theory on the basis of research undertaken in those regions. For the archaeological evidence from the territory of Mediolanum, see Lombardia Romana, II, Bertolone, M., Repertorio dei ritrovamenti e scavi di antichità romane avvenuti in Lombardia, Parte I (Milan, 1939)Google Scholar. This must be supplemented by more recent works such as Garzetti, A., Le valli dell'Adda e della Mera in epoca romana (Chiavenna, 1968)Google Scholar.

53 CIL v, 5658, 5713, 5738, 5612Google Scholar.

54 CIL v, 5749, 5611, 5675, 5455, 5465Google Scholar.

55 I am aware that legacies from wealthy patrons formed the basis of the fortunes of some freedmen.

56 CIL v, 6596 (A.D. 196?)Google Scholar.

57 CIL v, 6842Google Scholar. The same sentiment is expressed in similar language in v 3415 (Verona, a freedman), and 7040 (a man of status unknown, born in Aquileia, brought up in Emona and ending his days at Turin).

58 This despite the indirect imputation of M. L. Gordon, whose article ‘The freedman's son in municipal life' ends with a citation of the last lines of Firmus’ epitaph. See JRS xxi (1931), 65 ffGoogle Scholar.

59 This is an inference from the cognomen Valerianus, which points to descent from a Valerius, a popular name among the Celts of north Italy and Gaul. By contrast, Marius Aelianus of Dertona (CIL v, 7373)Google Scholar may well have had a slave ancestor, for he bears a cognomen of imperial origin, and his wife Iulia Thetis has both an imperial nomen and a Greek name.

60 See n. 47 above.

61 Taylor, L. R., ‘Seviri Equitum Romanorum and Municipal Seviri’, JRS xiv (1924), 168 ff.Google Scholar; Chilver, , Cisalpine Gaul, 199 ffGoogle Scholar.

62 CIL v, 5902Google Scholar.

63 CIL v, 5884, 5525Google Scholar.

64 CIL v, 5830 (pre-Flavian)Google Scholar.

65 CIL v, 5853, 5896, 5555, 5676Google Scholar.

66 CIL v, 6349 (equestrian)Google Scholar; 5841 (cognomen Augustalis); 5908, 5906, 5768 (the last two are known only as curator and quaestor, respectively, of the aerarium. A iunior identifies himself as a freedman and was married to a woman of Greek name (5855); another has as father a man with the suspect name L. Iulius L. f. Amandus (5867); a third is named C. Spurius Valens (5883).

67 CIL v, 5472, 5525, 5555, 5613, 5676Google Scholar.

68 CIL v, 5896Google Scholar.

69 CIL v, 5503, 5658, 5713, 5775, 5890Google Scholar.

70 CIL v, 5445, 5503, 5900Google Scholar.

71 CIL v, 5515, 5541, 5612, 5738, 5852, 5866Google Scholar (pontif. et cur. aer.), 5900, 6345.

72 CIL v, 5612, 5738Google Scholar.

73 CIL v, 5239, 5503, 5849Google Scholar cf. 5848; 5515 cf. 5517 (v.e.); 5445, 5894 (decurion).

74 For the principle invoked here, see P. Garnsey, ‘Descendants of Freedmen in local polities’, in Levick, B., ed., The Ancient Historian and his Materials: Essays in Honour of C. E. Stevens (Farnborough, Hants., 1975), 173Google Scholar.

75 CIL v, p. 634 (Mommsen)Google Scholar; cf. xi, p. 6 (Bormann). For bibliography and refs. to the higher magistrates, see Calderini, , Storia, 252 ffGoogle Scholar.

76 CIL, xi, 1230Google Scholar.

77 Municipal equestrians: CIL v, 5847, 6349, 5869Google Scholar. Other equestrians: 5517, 5729, 5864, 5966.

78 Known senators from Mediolanum include Novellius Torquatus (Pliny, , h.n. xiv, 144)Google Scholar, Didius Iulianus (Dio lxxiv, 11, 2, with Barnes, T. D., ‘A Senator from Hadrumetum, and three others’, Bonner Historia-Augusta Colloquium 1968/69 (1970), 45 ff.Google Scholar), and Verginius Rufus (cf. Pliny, , Ep. ii, 1, 8)Google Scholar. Other possible senators or friends of senators include Vibius Severus (Pliny, , Ep. iv, 28)Google Scholar, Atilius Crescens (Pliny, , Ep. vi, 8)Google Scholar, and the consular Caepio Hispo (CIL v, 5813)Google Scholar. Many more senatorial families are known from some other north Italian towns, notably Brixia and Verona.