Vici magister

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Vici magister (plural vici magistri , also vicomagistri; ancient Greek στενώπαρχος ) referred to the member of a college in Roman antiquity , whose responsibility was primarily the local cult of a vicus , a street district or district of the city of Rome .

The vici magistri was responsible for the cult of Lara , which was cultivated at prominent crossroads and therefore mostly at the borders of a vicus. These crossings were called compitum , which was carried over to the Lares compitales and their small Lares sanctuaries , mostly consisting of aedicules and altars . In addition, the vici magistri had to organize the festivals associated with the compitum cult, the ludi compitales or compitalicii . For a few years at the beginning of the Principate they were subordinate to the local fire departments of the city of Rome. In this context, Augustus entrusted them with the care of the cult of the fiery Stata Mater .

vici magistri in Rome

Base Capitolina ( CIL 6, 975), Capitoline Museums , Rome

History and organization

The vici magistri are already documented in the time of the Roman Republic . According to Asconius Pedianus' comment on Marcus Tullius Cicero's speech in L. Calpurnium Pisonem , they are mostly identified as members of the actually privately organized magistri collegiorum of the republican era, which led associations with different objectives, so-called collegia . However, the question of the extent to which the vici magister held a private or public office in republican times is the subject of discussion. As early as 428 BC, Livius mentions BC to the vici -related cults and sanctuaries, which is generally viewed as a projection of its own time for such a relationship between neighborhoods and local sanctuaries.

Like other colleges, those of the vici magistri got caught up in the political unrest of the late republic, were instrumentalized by politically interested parties and therefore at the instigation of the Optimates in 64 BC. Forbidden. Six years later, the consul Lucius Calpurnius Piso , sharp opponent of Cicero and Gaius Julius Caesar's father-in-law , allowed them again, which the Optimate Cicero accused him of in his indictment against Piso, but soon afterwards Caesar restricted their freedom of action again. At the latest with the lex Iulia municipalis from the year 45 BC. Chr. Were under vici the magistrate manage Aedile , in particular, the curule aedile were responsible for cult matters.

In the year 12 BC Chr. Took Augustus a major reform to the structure of the city of Rome in attack, he v. 7 Completed. As part of this reform, he divided Rome into 14 regions . To these regions he distributed the 265 vici of the city, called by Pliny even compita Larum . In this context, not only were borders redrawn, with Augustus largely orienting himself on the old compita districts , but also illegally appropriated public land returned to the possession of the state and the Lara cult revived. Augustus led the way in an exemplary manner and even renewed the central temple of the Laren at the highest point of the Via Sacra , as he emphasizes in his report of deeds .

Depending four vici magistri , supported by four ministri , were now the Compitalkult a vicus ago, the magistri mostly from the state of freedmen who ministri however, slaves of the public sector, servi publici were. In 136, for example, of the 275 vici magistri named on the basis of Capitolina , only 36 were free-born Romans. From the year 7 BC They were elected for one year from the residents of the vicus , whereby re-election was possible. The colleges of vici magistri that took office on August 1st of each year were counted from the time the Magisterium was introduced, so that those of the first year primi anni , those of the second year secundi anni or - as in the case of the compitum Acili - vici magistri secundi and so on. In Rome in 1928 an inscription was found with the decades-long list of vici magistri , which is called fasti magistrorum vici because of its calendar character . The fasts begin in 43 BC. With the first consulate of Augustus and were probably 2 BC. Written in the 3rd century BC, but added to the year 3 AD.

The vici magistri were under from the Augustan reform the magistrates who were responsible for the administration of the regions and by lot from the aediles, praetors and tribunes were assigned. This form of organization seems to have remained unchanged on the basis of Capitolina until at least the time of Hadrian . At the latest under Constantine the Great , however, they were restructured. Their number was no longer determined according to the vici , but according to the Notitia and Curiosum of the regional catalog of the city of Rome written in the early 4th century - regardless of the number of districts included in it - each region had 48 vici magistri , subordinate to two curatores per region were. In total there were 672 vici magistri in Constantinian times compared to the 1060 of the Augustan reform.

tasks

In addition to the cult of the two Lares Compitalicii in all compita , there was the cult of the Genius Augusti , which had to be cultivated by the vici magistri . Later emperors each added their own genius to the Lara cult. In this context, the vici magistri were responsible for the construction and maintenance of the little Sacella , obtained the necessary building permits and building inspections from the magistrates responsible for the supervision of the regions and carried out the sacrifices for Laren and the Genius Augusti.

The organization of the Compitalia, which was celebrated on January 1st during the time of Cicero and from January 3rd to 5th during the later Imperial period , continued to fall within their remit. During the games, the vici magistri performed lower police tasks, for this reason wore the toga praetexta , which marked them with the insignium of a curule official, the purple stripe, and were accompanied in their official business by two lictors , which you for the time of the festival transferred empire expressed. Her subordinate administrative tasks also include looking after the fire brigades in Rome , which until the establishment of the cohortes vigilum , which was responsible for this from 6 AD under the leadership of the regional magistrate, belonged to the vici magistri . State slaves were made available to them for this purpose.

Therefore, the cult of the Stata Mater , which put a stop to the fire, fell within their jurisdiction - a responsibility that they continued to assume after the establishment of the cohortes vigilum under the leadership of higher-level magistrates. As subordinate magistrates, they were also involved in the distribution of the grain, for which they recorded the residents of their districts and in this way worked to the Praefectus annonae . They also seem to have been involved in the distribution of imperial legacies or to have been recipients of them themselves.

vici magistri outside Rome

The division of the cities into vici as well as the introduction of compital cults can also be proven outside of Rome. The colleges of the vici magistri can be found at least in cities in Italy . In Pompeii an inscription names a collegium der mag (istri) vici et compiti . The inscription dates from 47 or 46 BC. BC, i.e. from the year immediately before Caesar's municipal legislation. It confirms that the compital system was already widespread in pre-Augustan times in the municipalities of Italy and, as in Rome, was tied to the city division in vici . In contrast to Rome, in Pompeii, for example, there is no connection with the cult of the Genius Augusti, which was a mandatory part of every Compitum from the Augustan period in Rome. Corresponding colleges are also known from Verona and Naples , as well as from Ostia . With the spread of vicus as a form of settlement in the Roman provinces , vici magistri appear even in areas further away from the center, such as in the Slovenian Nauportus or in Salodurum, today's Solothurn .

The Romans also cultivated compital cults outside of Italy. The best- known example is the “Agora of the Competaliasts” on Delos , which is named after a corresponding Compitalkultverein. The association of competitive alumni ( κομπεταλιασταί ) is for the first time for the year 97/96 BC. Chr. Verifiable in writing. They owned a central temple of the Lares Compitales in the agora, were mostly freedmen and slaves, but according to their portraits on wall paintings as Romans in toga, sometimes with purple stripes, i.e. in the toga praetexta typical of the vici magistri . In addition, they sacrificed in the portraits according to the Roman rite, that is, capite velato ("with covered head"). They also organized games for the Lares Compitales. An office like that of the vici magistri is not mentioned in this context.

literature

  • Jochen Bleicken : vici magister. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VIII A, 2, Stuttgart 1958, Col. 2480-2483.
  • John Bert Lott: The Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2004, pp. 51–60 and passim.
  • Alfred Reese: The citizens and their emperor. The plebs urbana between republic and principate. Dissertation University of Bochum 2004, pp. 104–107 ( PDF ).
  • Jörg Rüpke : Fasti sacerdotum. The members of the priesthoods and the sacred functional staff of Roman, Greek, Oriental and Judeo-Christian cults in the city of Rome from 300 BC. BC to AD 499. Volume 3: Source studies and organizational history (= Potsdamer Classical Studies. Volume 12, 3). Steiner, Stuttgart 2005, pp. 1501–1516 (on the inscriptions of the vici magistri ).
  • Tesse Dieder Stek: A Roman Cult in the Italian Countryside? The Compitalia and the Shrines of the Lares Compitales. In: BABESCH - Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archeology. Volume 83, 2008, pp. 111-132 ( online ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ CIL 6, 01324 .
  2. ↑ CIL 6, 01324 .
  3. ^ Asconius, Piso p. 7 ( Clark ).
  4. ^ John Bert Lott: The neighborhoods of Augustan Rome. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2004, p. 51 f.
  5. ↑ Livy 4,30,10; for discussion see John Bert Lott: The neighborhoods of Augustan Rome. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2004, pp. 39–41.
  6. ↑ For sequence, temporal relationships and consequences see Asconius, Piso p. 7 (Clark); an example of the existence of mag (istri) v {e} ici probably from the 50s BC BC supplies CIL 6, 1324.
  7. ^ Suetonius , Caesar 42.
  8. ↑ CIL 1, 00593 .
  9. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 3.66 .
  10. ^ Augustus, Res gestae 19.
  11. ↑ CIL 6,00035 . 445 . 446 ; 5, 3257 ; 10, 1582 .
  12. ↑ For the organization from the Augustan period see Jörg Rüpke : Religiöse Organization und Text: Problem cases of religious text production in ancient religions. In: Karl E. Grözinger , Jörg Rüpke (Hrsg.): Literature as religious action? (= Religion, culture, society. Volume 2). Berlin-Verlag, Berlin 2000, pp. 72-81.
  13. ↑ CIL 6, 00975 .
  14. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus 30 : magistri e plebe cuiusque viciniae Lecti.
  15. ↑ CIL 6, 00282 .
  16. ↑ CIL 6, 00445 .
  17. ↑ CIL 06, 10286 .
  18. ↑ For the fasti magistrorum vici see Jörg Rüpke: Calendar and Public. The history of representation and religious qualification from time in Rome. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, pp. 58-62.
  19. ↑ Cassius Dio 55.8.7 ; Suetonius, August 30; CIL 6.00449 . 450 . 451 . 452 .
  20. ↑ Descriptio XIIII regionum urbis Romae ; to the catalog of regions: Arvast Nordh: Libellus de Regionibus Urbis Romae. Gleerup, Lund 1949.
  21. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus 4:14 ; Ovid , Fasti 2,615 f.
  22. ↑ CIL 6,00449 ; Ovid, Fasti 5,145 f. ; Horace , Oden 4,5,34 .
  23. ↑ CIL 6, 449 . 451 .
  24. ↑ CIL 6: 449-452. 1324 . 30960 .
  25. ↑ CIL 6, 445 . 448 . 453 . 801 . 30957 .
  26. ↑ Cicero, In L. Calpurnium Pisonem 4.8.
  27. ↑ Cassius Dio 55.8.7; Asconius, Piso p. 7 (Clark).
  28. ↑ Cassius Dio 55.8.7.
  29. ↑ Sextus Pompeius Festus 416.25; Paulus Deacon 's excerpt from the work of Festus 417.4 L.
  30. ↑ CIL 6, 00765 . 766 .
  31. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 40.2.
  32. ^ Suetonius, Tiberius 76 .
  33. ↑ CIL 4, 60 .
  34. ↑ For Pompeii see for example William van Andringa: Autels de carrefour, organization vicinale et rapports de voisinage à Pompéi. In: Rivista di Studi Pompeiani. Volume 11, 2000, pp. 47-86, here: pp. 73-75 and Ray Laurence: Roman Pompeii: Space and Society. Routledge, London / New York 1994, pp. 39-45.
  35. ↑ CIL 05, 03257 .
  36. ↑ CIL 10, 01582 .
  37. ↑ CIL 14, 04298 .
  38. ↑ CIL 01, 02286 .
  39. ^ AE 1951, 259 .
  40. ^ IG XI 1760 .
  41. ↑ For the inscription and interpretation, see finally Claire Hasenohr: Les Compitalia à Délos. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . Volume 127, 2003, pp. 167-249 ( online ).