Fire departments in the Roman Empire

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Building No. 9 in Via della VII Coorte, above the ancient guard house of the VII cohortes vigilum from the 2nd century
The guardhouse of the VII cohort of the Roman fire department, rediscovered during excavations. Graphic by J. Zielcke.

Fire brigades in the Roman Empire existed as a public-communal organization around the first decade before the birth of Christ.

history

The beginnings

Emperor Augustus founded Rome's first public fire brigade

Initially there was no fire brigade in the Roman Republic . The fire fighting was carried out by the night watchmen, so-called triumviri nocturni ; however, they were already more concerned with security tasks. Politically, fire safety fell into the field of the aediles . However, there was the disadvantage that, according to the annuity principle, each aedile only held office for one year, which made effective organization of the fire fighting drastically difficult.

The continually sprawling metropolis of Rome, on the other hand, became more and more susceptible to devastating fires , which was mainly due to the thousands of insulae , the multi-storey apartment buildings for the lower classes, as these were mostly poorly built than properly ( cf.Juvenal , Saturae 3, 197 -222; Vitruvius , De architectura II 8.20, 9.16). That is why the wealthy Romans formed private fire brigades. These, however, never enjoyed greater popularity, as some rich people tried to increase their wealth through these services: after a fire broke out, they asked the homeowner in return for a service to sell his house at a ridiculous price in return for firefighting. If he refused, the fire brigade withdrew without having achieved anything. Crassus z. B. had his private fire brigade of 500 men deploy and extinguish them if the house owners sold the burning houses or houses endangered by the adjacent fire to him at ridiculous prices ( Plutarch , Crassus 2, 4).

The first public-municipal fire brigade

In addition to the problem of the population explosion, there was also the problem of arson by real estate agents for the purpose of property appropriation. Faced with these scandalous business practices, the Roman people clamored for a solution. The populist, ambitious aedile Marcus Egnatius Rufus recognized in the 1920s BC The political value of this topic (cf. Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana II, 91, 3-5). He formed a fire brigade from his own slaves and made them available free of charge in the event of a fire. The citizens were enthusiastic and thanked him for being elected praetor .

This in turn preoccupied the recently reigning princeps Augustus , who wanted to prevent further political capital competing against him from the security of the city in the future (cf. Cassius Dio , Historia Romana LIII 24, 4f .; 54, 2, 4). There was also a major fire in 23 BC. As a reaction, Augustus formed a fire brigade from 600 slaves , but then put the subject aside for the time being. It took a new major fire in 6 BC. In order to make the problems and the necessity of a reorganization of the fire brigades clear to him ( Suetonius , Augustus 30, 1; Cassius Dio, Historia Romana LV 26, 4f.).

Augustus founded the organization Militia Vigilum Regime in 6 AD , which was later renamed Cohortes Vigilum . This unit consisted of 3,500 (later in the 2nd century 7,000) released slaves. This group was organized militarily: The unit was divided into seven cohorts , each with a tribune. Each of the cohorts was responsible for two boroughs. The high command was transferred to a praefectus vigilum from the knightly class . The cohorts were housed in stationes (barracks) and their subdivisions on duty in excubitoria (guard houses) Cassius Dio LVII 19.6; Suetonius, Tiberius 37.1, Claudius 18.1). The only surviving guardhouse of the ancient fire brigade, the "Excubitorium of the 7th Cohort", is located in the Trastevere district. The property was probably originally a private house and was converted into a guardhouse towards the end of the 2nd century. The geographic jurisdiction of the seventh cohort comprised the districts of Trans Tiberim (District XIV) and Circus Flaminus (District IX) . With that the Roman fire brigade was born, and in this form it continued for centuries.

In AD 50 , Emperor Claudius set up a fire fighting force with 700 men for the port in Ostia . The barracks were excavated at the end of the 19th century. Part of this troop was later transferred to Naples .

Work and duties of the vigiles

Graffito from the guard room of the 7th fire brigade cohort ( vigiles ) in Trans Tiberim , today's Trastevere . A Marcus Antonius announces that he has provided the lighting ( sebaciaria = tallow candles ) in the guard room.

Police and legal duties

The top priority of the tasks was of course active fire fighting. The fire guards patrolled - even at night ( Seneca , Epist. Mor. 64, 1) - through their districts, looking for possible sources of fire and looking for violations of the imperial fire protection regulations (which became more and more detailed and numerous over time). Later they even took over the hunt for arsonists from the city guards, and from Trajan the praefectus vigilum presided over the corresponding processes.

Later the vigiles also had more and more police tasks (cf. Dio Cassius LVIII 9; Tacitus , Historiae III 64. 69). The Roman city prefect ( praefectus urbi ) was able to use them as a security force in the event of unrest and even as a combat force in an absolute emergency. In court, too, the praefectus vigilum assumed the presidency of arson trials ( Digesta Iustiniani 1,15,3; 47,2,58,1; 12,6,5), but also more and more distant tasks, since the citizens also more and more often turned to him with irrelevant applications, for example in the case of trade permits.

In the crisis of the 3rd century, the vigiles were also used more and more frequently for military missions outside of Rome.

Fire fighting methods

In active fire fighting, in which the vigiles were allowed to penetrate private homes by virtue of their own authority ( suo iure , so Petronius , Satyricon 78.7), they used many pieces of equipment that are still in use today, such as:

  • Syringes ( siphones ); With the help of water pressure pumps or fire engines ( siphones ; cf. Pliny , Epist. 10,33,2, Isidor von Sevilla , Origines 20,6,9) with conically shaped spray pipes a water spray distance of 25-29 meters could be achieved. An example of such a fire-fighting pipe from Germany can be seen in the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn .
  • Bucket ( hamae ; Juvenal 14, 305f.),
  • Ladders ( scalae ; Digesta Iustiniani 33,9,3,3),
  • Axes and hatchets ( dolabra ; Digesta Iustiniani 1,15,3,3),
  • Sawing ( secures ; Petronius , Satyricon 78.6),
  • Tear hooks ( perticae ; Digesta Iustiniani 33,7,12),
  • Hammers ( mallei ),
  • Rods,
  • Blankets ( strata ), rag blankets or fire slippers ( centones ; soaked with water or vinegar to protect neighboring houses),
  • Baskets,
  • Sponges,
  • Broom.

The vigiles themselves had different areas of responsibility. There were water carriers for bucket relays ( aquarii ), syringe people ( siphonarii ), others took care of the use of fire blankets ( centones ) (mostly soaked with vinegar ) or the lighting of the scene .

In the event of a fire, the guards together with the residents formed buckets that began at the wells that were built all over Rome . Nero ordered that fire extinguishers should be available in the forecourt of every house ( Tacitus , Annales XV 43, 4). If the fire got out of control, surrounding buildings were evacuated and demolished as quickly as possible to prevent a wildfire.

Fire departments outside Rome

In addition to Rome, there was a fire brigade set up by the state in Constantinople (after it had become the second capital) and in the ports of Ostia and Naples, which were of great strategic importance as supply ports for the population. All other communities had to set up their own fire brigade.

Often in these communities the local craft guilds took over the fire fighting, so-called collegiati . In addition, the city leaders occasionally organized time fire brigades, for example in the event of droughts . Most of the time, however, the residents of the house were forced to fight the fires together with neighbors. There is evidence that such clubs were located in northern Italy, such as Como , Verona or Faventia , in Veneto ( Aquileia and Tergeste ) and Istria ( Siscia ). Such units can also be found in Noricum and Pannonia . Employees of these groups were fabri subaediani , those craftsmen who could use axes, saws or tongs. The centonarii were carpet distributors that fire with Fire beaters , they with water or vinegar -soaked, fought. The utriculari brought the water with the tubes. Although they were strictly militarily organized, they can be compared with today's volunteer fire brigades , as they also carried out fire protection alongside their job. Members could be citizens, freedmen as well as slaves. Women were also members of these groups. For example, the collegiati in Virunum in today's Carinthia are documented, where the ratio of men to women was 10: 9.

When Pliny the Younger suggested the establishment of a professional fire fighting team with at least 150 men because of numerous deficiencies after a major fire in Nicomedia in 100, this was rejected by Emperor Trajan for fear of unsafe elements rotting together (Pliny, Epist. X, 33f.). Obviously, for those in power, the camaraderie among the fire brigade members was a weighty factor that was difficult to influence from the outside and was therefore uncomfortable in regional and local politics.

From Flavia Solva , records were found dating from around the year 200, according to which the members of the fire brigade of Emperor Septimius Severus were exempt from taxes by decree.

See also

literature

  • PK Baillie Reynolds: The Vigiles of Imperial Rome. Oxford 1926.
  • Werner Krenkel : Vigiles. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, Col. 1270 f.
  • Olivia F. Robinson: Fire Prevention at Rome. In: Revue Internationale des Droits de l'Antiqité , Volume 24 (1977), pp. 377-388.
  • JS Rainbird: The fire stations of Imperial Rome. In: Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 54 (1986), pp. 147-169.
  • Olivia F. Robinson: Ancient Rome. City Planning and Administration. Routeledge, London 1992, esp. Pp. 105-110.
  • Robert Sablayrolles: Libertinus miles. Les cohortes de vigiles. Rome 1996, ISBN 2-7283-0365-7 .
  • Karl-Wilhelm Weeber : Fire Department. In: Same: Everyday Life in Ancient Rome. City life. 4th edition, Patmos, Düsseldorf 2005, p. 90 f.
  • Jens Meier: Fire department: old hat? The fire department in ancient Rome. In: fire protection. Deutsche Feuerwehr-Zeitung , issue 2/1998, pp. 50–56.
  • Renate Lafer: Omnes collegiati, concurrite! Fire fighting in the Imperium Romanum (= Graz antiquity studies ). P. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2001, ISBN 3-631-35716-8 .
  • Helmut Freis: Fire Department. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/2, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01487-8 , Sp. 963 f.
  • Sabine Panzram: Vigiles. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/2, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01487-8 , Col. 206 f.
  • Kurt Wallat : Sequitur clades. The vigiles in ancient Rome . P. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2004, ISBN 3-631-52473-0 .
  • Holger Sonnabend : How Augustus invented the fire brigade. Great Achievements of Antiquity. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 2002, pp. 169–177.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the triumviri nocturni Scholion ad Juvenal. 13, 157; Lydos, de magistratibus 1.50; Digesta Iustiniani I 15.1; Dio Cassius LV 8; Velleius Paterculus, Hist. Rome. 2, 91.
  2. ^ Cassius Dio Roman History LIII 24.6 LV 8; 26.4f
  3. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber: Nightlife in ancient Rome. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2004, p. 12.
  4. ↑ a b c d 120 years of the Federal Fire Brigade Association, ISBN 978-3-9502364-8-4 , p. 14.
  5. ↑ According to the names of the consuls , the inscription dates from 239.
  6. ↑ The description of a water pressure pump can be found in Vitruv, De architectura X 7, a reconstruction drawing in Albert Neuburger: The technology of antiquity. Leipzig: Voigtländer 1919, p. 232.
  7. ↑ On antique fire pumps cf. JG Landels: Technology in the ancient world. Munich 4th ed. 1989, p. 93ff.
  8. ↑ Bernd Päffgen, Frank Willer: Salvage and restoration of a fire pump jet pipe of the 4th century. In: Landschaftsverband Rheinland (Hrsg.): Archeology in the Rhineland 2002. Stuttgart 2003