Siculus Flaccus

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Siculus Flaccus was a Latin specialist writer, a surveyor presumably from the 2nd century AD
(Since the texts of the Agrimensors are poorly structured, the quotations in the following are replaced by the name of the Agrimensors and the page and line information in Brian Campbell's specified.)

Name, person, sources

One of the writings in the Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum bears the heading Siculi Flacci de conditionibus agrorum (= The book about the condition of the arable land of Siculus Flaccus) . As a result, Siculus Flaccus is identified as one of the agrimensors of the Roman Empire . No further evidence of his person has been received. But his writing confirms him as a man of theory and practice. He goes into a lot of technical details, but always emphasizes the need for careful examination during practical work. As an expert in various disciplines, he deserves respect. With the first words Conditiones agrorum per totam Italiam ... a professione nostra hominibus notum est (= the nature of the arable land in all of Italy ... is known to those who have our profession) he introduces himself and explains himself as an expert agrimensor Italy to his area of ​​activity. He probably worked in the 2nd century AD.
The script is in the handwriting Pal. lat. 1564 from the early 9th century in the Vatican Apostolic Library as well as the manuscript Gud, which is dependent on him. lat. 105 preserved in the Herzog August Library . A few more parts exist.

De conditionibus agrorum

Introduction and historical embedding

Siculus Flaccus tries to exaggerate his text with introductory historical examples. He brings up such distant events as the immigration of the Trojans in Latium (Siculus Flaccus, pp. 104, 10-11), but also more closer ones such as the Gracchi settlement offensive. But he does not turn out to be an accurate historian. With the Gracchus he does not differentiate between the two active in this field Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus . The upper limit of 200 iugera land holdings, which he mentions (Siculus Flaccus, pp. 102,29-32), does not match the Lex Sempronia agraria .

Technical terms and definitions

Like his colleagues, Siculus Flaccus uses the technical terms of the guild:

  • artifinales agri (Siculus Flaccus, pp. 104,24-30), land that has not yet been treated agrimensically; so also with his colleagues ( Sextus Iulius Frontinus , p. 2,18ff).
  • diuisi et assignati agri (Siculus Flaccus, pp. 120, 19-21). Divided land and one colonia allotted, also (Sextus Iulius Frontinus, p. 2.5).
  • decumani (Siculus Flaccus, pp. 118,38ff). In Siculus Flaccus all borders that extend east / west, in contrast to his colleagues who only call the middle east / west border that way. His etymological derivation of mensura denum actum (10 actus long) also differs from that of Frontinus.
  • cardo (the north / south border), mappa (the land map) and many others

Own experience and work

The focus of the text is on the description of the agrimensory work he carried out. It is an old cultivated land, which was already divided in pre-Roman times by irregular borders of various kinds. These ancient land features are described knowledgeably by the author and taken into account when remapping. Impressive trees (cypresses, pines, poplars) are observed (Sicules Flaccus, p. 110, 1-17), but stones are also examined to see whether they are natural or set by humans (Siculus Flaccus, p. 106,6-13) . The agrimensor must be careful not to confuse them with old tombstones ( cippus ) that previous owners have erected on their land (Siculus Flaccus, p. 106, 14-18). There are also upturned amphorae as boundary markers, and of course the changing course of the rivers must be taken into account.
As impressive as these descriptions are, their historical classification is difficult. The writing was certainly written after the reign of Emperor Domitian (81–96 AD), whose decree on the subseciva Siculus Flaccus was mentioned (Siculus Flaccus, p. 130, 15ff). However, this is the only person named by the principal . The geographical terms ( Pisaurum , Nola , Benevento, etc.) can all be found in Italy. The measured land is taken from the defeated enemies and assigned to the victorious soldiers and veterans (= ex hoste uictori militi ueteranoque assignatus hostibus pulsis . Siculus Flaccus, S 120,34f). It is not clear which historical events are meant. Although P. Cornelius Tacitus mentions an offer of land to dissatisfied soldiers, the extremely brief information does not match the assumed work of Siculus Flaccus. The numerous and well-evaluated military diplomas also rarely mention land allocations and cannot help shed light on the background.
Shortly before the text was broken off, Siculus Flaccus once again pays tribute to the land surveying carried out far back in the days of the Gracchi and Sulla .

Text output

  • Friedrich Blume , Karl Lachmann, Adolf August Friedrich Rudorff (eds.): Gromatici veteres . The writings of the Roman surveyors, 2 vol., Berlin 1848–52
  • Brian Campbell, (Ed., Transl., Comm.): The writings of the Roman land surveyors. Introduction, translation and commentary (= Journal of the Roman Studies Monographs. 9), London 2000
  • Carl Olof Thulin (Ed.): Corpus agrimensorum Romanorum (= Opuscula agrimensorum veterum. I). Leipzig 1913 (reprint Stuttgart 1971), ISBN 3-519-01245-6 .

literature

  • Slobodan Dušanić: The Problem of 'Special Grants' in Werner Eck , Hartmut Wolff (Hrsg.): Heer und Integrationspolitik. The Roman military diplomas as a historical source . Böhlau, Cologne [a. a.] 1986, ISBN 3-412-06686-9 (Passau historical research, 2).
  • Thorsten Fögen: The tracts of Roman agrimensors in the context of ancient specialist literature: Form, function, author consciousness in Eberhard Knobloch , Cosima Möller (ed.): In den Gefilden der Roman Feldmesser , Berlin / Boston 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-029084-4 .
  • Adolf August Friedrich Rudorff : Gromatic institutions. In: Friedrich Blume , Karl Lachmann, Adolf August Friedrich Rudorff (eds.): Gromatici veteres. The writings of the Roman surveyors. 2 volumes, G. Reimer, Berlin 1848-52, Vol. 2, pp. 227-464 ( online ).

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Thorsten Fögen: The tracts of Roman agrimensors in the context of ancient specialist literature , p. 230f
  2. ^ Brian Campbell, pp. XXXVII
  3. ^ Brian Campbell, S, XXII, XXXVII
  4. ^ Adolf August Friedrich Rudorff: Gromatic Institutions , pp. 342–347
  5. ^ Adolf August Friedrich Rudorff: Gromatic Institutions , p. 253
  6. ↑ P. Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae IV, 46
  7. ↑ CIL 16, 25
  8. ↑ Slobodan Dušanić: The Problem of 'Special Grants', p 226ff