Panel 3.16 – The logistics and socio-economic impact of construction in Late Republican and Imperial Rome


Organiser/Chair:

  • Dominik Maschek (University of Birmingham)
  • Ulrike Wulf-Reidt (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut)

Panel abstract

Paradoxically, the Roman building industry is both one of the most intensely studied and most widely ignored fields in Archaeology and Ancient History. Generations of archaeologists have devoted themselves to the excavation, recording, preservation and interpretation of Roman architecture. However, they traditionally focused on questions of architectural style, cultural significance and political symbolism of Roman buildings. The question what drives a society to freeing mighty forces and resources for huge building projects and how such building achievements could change the perception of social groups was rarely discussed. However, over the last 20 years a specialized field of research has emerged which approaches the complex logistics of Roman architecture by means of quantitative analysis. It has been understood that only the hypothetical modeling of both labor force and building costs can lead to a valid estimate of a given building's importance in its respective historical context. Pre-industrial construction techniques and the management of building materials and human resources can be put into perspective with the help of 19th century building manuals. Based on the observation of building materials and toolmarks, the construction effort can be estimated. Correlating this estimate with the available space, the probable maximum of workers can be assigned to the construction process, thus also providing a framework for the organization of the building site and the most probable duration of the building project. The demand for resources and manpower can finally be translated into hypothetical building costs by considering Roman wages and prices. This sheds an entirely new light on the planning, logistics and administration of building sites. Furthermore, it can also contribute to a better understanding of social organization and their changes. Taken together, all these aspects and analytical steps lead us to new and highly complex models of the building industry in the Roman Mediterranean. The panel aims to demonstrate the value of this methodology by drawing upon a wider range of relevant case studies which date from the Late Republican to the Imperial Period. By looking at the results of recent and ongoing projects, we will also discuss future challenges and perspectives for this kind of research within the wider context of studies on the Roman economy.

 

Paper abstracts

1. Dominik Maschek (University of Birmingham) / Ulrike Wulf-Reidt (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut)

Introduction
This paper portraits a part of the ager Hebanus, the territory of the colonia of Heba (GR) between the Republican period to the mid-imperial time. Heba was founded in the 1st century BC, north of the colonia of Cosa in the river Albegna Valley. This territory was studied in 1980s by a field survey project related to the ager Cosanus. The main result of the project was the abandonment of small and medium properties, and consequently of peasantry agriculture, after the development of a new type of villa based on slave labour, well represented by the case at Settefinestre. Despite the fact that a lot of excavations are limited to a part of the villas and that many small and medium properties are known by field survey, today, thanks to new research, a different reading of this landscape is possible. In it great estates, like the villa of Settefinestre, co-existed with farms, as Fattoria Colle Lupo, medium villas rusticae, as Campo della Paura, and productive and living settlements as that at Banditaccia – some of them were occupied until the end of 4th century AD. In short, despite the decline of a lot of rural sites at the end of 1st century BC, there were a coexistence of different settlements - large villas, medium and small farms, houses and productive quarters - in an articulate productive system stimulated by the presence of important infrastructures as the via Aurelia vetus (3rd century BC) and the port linked to the imperial estate of Talamone (end of 1st century AD).

 

2. Daniel Diffendale (University of Michigan)

Reficere aedes Fortunae et Matris: Temple building at Rome in the lead-up to the Late Republic
The venerable twin temples of Fortuna and Mater Matuta under Sant’Omobono in Rome’s Forum Boarium were destroyed and rebuilt in the late 3rd century BCE. This reconstruction has been identified as the product of a triumviral commission set up in the year following the devastating fire of 213 BCE (Livy 24.47.15–16; 25.7.5–6). The identification of the archaeological remains with the historical record is of great interest, as it offers a glimpse at a building project commissioned by the Senate and undertaken during the height of the war with Hannibal. The triumvirs employed at least four different varieties of tuff building stone, the properties of each variety being matched to its intended function in the structure. Quarry marks are attested on only one of these varieties, however. The remains at Sant’Omobono are sufficiently well preserved to allow calculation of the total volume of stone required, in addition to orders of magnitude for mudbrick, timber, tile, and fill. I will look at the extractive resources and labor force required for this reconstruction project, consider its political and emotional valences in the late 3rd century BCE, and contemplate the project’s legacy over the following two centuries.

 

3. Christopher Courault (Universidad de Córdoba)

Construire une ville ex novo en Hispanie. Analyse quantitative du rempart et de l’urbanisme de Cordoue au IIème siècle av. J.-C.
Les traces de la fondation de Cordoue se résument à quelques structures fu, ainsi que des tessons de céramiques généralement descontextualisés ainsi l’investigation a souvent donné une vision sommaire –ne pouvant être autrement étant donné la réalité archéologique-, et une longue discussion sur la chronologie de la fondation de la ville.
Dans des travaux antérieurs nous avons eu l’occasion d’aborder des études quantitatives de l’enceinte républicaine –et son évolution jusqu’à la fin de l’antiquité- dans le but de proposer une réflexion sur son temps de construction et son impact économique ; offrant une meilleure connaissance sur le rempart, ainsi que sur l’exploitation du territoire et de la roche calcaire.
La nouveauté de ce travail est d'établir un cadre idéal sur la répartition des forces de travail en fonction du nombre de citoyens romains, dont pour les carrières; et d’appliquer une vision vitruvienne pour certaines problématiques. D’autre part, la construction de l’ensemble du système défensif passe par diverses étapes qui n’ont pas encore été quantifiées .
Aux nouveaux résultats sur le temps totale de construction du rempart républicain, il faudra rajouter d’autres analyses quantitatives à l’image du système d’évacuation des eaux en-dessous des enceintes. La conséquence de ces indications est que les forces de travail n’étaient pas dédiées uniquement aux remparts, sinon à d’autres projets urbanistiques qui se développaient en parallèle.

"Construir una ciudad ex novo en Hispania. Una actualización cuantitativa sobre el primer urbanismo de Corduba (s. II a. C.)" (Fulltext)

 

4. Pauline Ducret (Université de Paris 8)

Quantifying the building industry: A confrontation between archaeological and textual sources
In order to quantify the activities of the building industry, archaeologists try to evaluate construction efforts in terms of costs, delay and manpower, mainly because of the lack of written sources on this matter. However, texts dealing with this subject do exist, and present both a practical and a theoretical point of view. Thus, the confrontation between archaeological and written data is essential in order to propose realistic estimations.
At first, I will collect, in the literary sources, texts that give information about costs, delay and manpower during the Roman republic. This would be a way to provide average figures which may be useful to delimit theoretical projections. I will then expose my own estimations about materials, manpower and delay for the construction of a late-republican villa in Sperlonga and confront our figures with some Cicero’s texts about the construction of his own villas and domus. This may exhibit some material limitations that we cannot see on the archaeological data.
Finally, I would like to examine the Roman juristic theories about cost and delay in construction. What did the Romans do when they were confronted to unexpected costs or delays? What were the juristic procedures and guarantee for owners who wanted to make their constructions finished? And, finally, did the Roman jurists provide theoretical expectations about price and delay?

 

5. Dominik Maschek (University of Birmingham)

Assessing the Economic Impact of Building Projects in the Roman World: The Case of Late Republican Italy
According to David Harvey, urbanization can be understood as a process which first and foremost is geared towards the constant absorption of excess capital. Based upon the analysis of both literary and archaeological source material, it is obvious that this was also the case in Late Republican Italy. The demographical, political and economical transformations of the 2nd and 1st came at an unprecedented pace and scale and put the traditional social system under enormous strains. However, the differences to modern (urban) capitalism were striking. In the towns of Late Republican Italy we do not find many upstart investors but first and foremost the members of local, landowning elites who were not only interested in financial but also in social capital. Euergetism and conspicuous spending played a key role in their investments – and building projects were high up the list of prestigious donations. Traditional scholarship has focused more on the ideological and aesthetic qualities of such monuments and buildings. However, their wider significance for the economy of Late Republican Italy has never been analyzed at a larger geographical scale, going beyond the narrow focus on isolated buildings or specific building types. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present the first results of a macro-study of the Late Republican building industry, based upon volumetric modelling and on an in-depth analysis of supply-chains and architectural logistics. The results call for a profound re-assessment of the impact of building projects on the Roman economy.

 

6. Dennis Beck (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, TOPOI)

Import and use of marmor Numidicum in the Late Republic and Early Imperial Period. Considering Rome and the Italian Regions
„M. Lepidus Q. Catuli in consulatu conlega primus omnium limina ex Numidico marmore in domo posuit magna reprensione“ The present paper focuses on a selection of some archaeological contexts from Lazio and Campania, which offer distinctive chronological markers for the export and import of marmor Numidicum in the late Roman Republic and the early Roman empire. First of all, the use of marble in architecture is of particular interest, second a discussion of the new aspects to the marble trade and networks during the period of 2.- . centuries BC as well as new assumptions about the actors, administrative staff and main stakeholders considering the marmor Numidicum.

 

7. Javier Á. Domingo (Pontificia Università della Santa Croce) / Paolo Barresi (Università Kore di Enna) / Josep R. Domingo (Universitat Rovira i Virgili) / Patrizio Pensabene (Sapienza University of Rome)

Una propuesta de método para la reconstrucción de los costes de los teatros: los casos de Madauros y Leptis Magna
Cada vez es más frecuente introducir en el estudio de la arquitectura romana el análisis de su coste económico. De hecho, en los últimos años se ha desarrollado una metodología que permite calcular de manera aproximada este valor, teniendo en cuenta la gran cantidad de variables que intervienen en todo proceso constructivo (volumen y coste del material utilizado, coste del transporte, de la mano de obra, tiempos de producción, fases constructivas, etc.).
La dificultad por valorar económicamente todas las variables ha impulsado la aplicación de esta metodología de cálculo a edificios de los que se conoce su coste real, generalmente gracias a la epigrafía. De este modo se ha buscado una verificación empírica de la validez del sistema de cálculo utilizado y, al mismo tiempo, mejorar nuestra comprensión del grado de implicación de cada una de las variables que deben tomarse en consideración en el coste final de un edificio.
Siguiendo esta línea de investigación queremos aplicar la metodología de cálculo a dos teatros norteafricanos, de uno de los cuales conocemos su coste de construcción y del otro el coste de la reforma del frente escénico. El análisis de estos edificios permite aplicar la metodología de cálculo contemporáneamente a un edificio realizado en piedra local (Madauros) y otro en el que fueron utilizados diferentes tipos de mármoles procedentes de diversas canteras (Leptis Magna).

"Una propuesta de reconstrucción de los costes de los teatros: el caso de Leptis Magna" (Fulltext)

 

8. Simone Mulattieri (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Eterogeneità nelle forme di horrea laziali: dalla costa all´entroterra
Das antike Latium, welches sich in dem Gebiet zwischen dem Fluss Tiber, den Sabiner Bergen und der Stadt Sinuessa und dem Tyrrhenischen Meer erstreckte, eignet sich vortrefflich für eine Untersuchung der Distribution von Waren im Römischen Reich: In Bezug auf seine transportwirtschaftliche Position war es zum einen Endpunkt der Versorgung mit Waren und Lebensmitteln, da Städte und Siedlungen Endabnehmer der Produkte darstellten, zum anderen war das Gebiet auch eine Transitzone für angrenzende Gebiete, in welche Erzeugnisse überführt wurden. Über die Distribution von Waren können Rückschlüsse auf die antiken Wirtschaftsabläufe und der zugehörigen Infrastruktur gezogen werden. Der Vortrag soll nun die Möglichkeiten der Identifizierung und Unterscheidung unterschiedlicher horrea-Typen anhand ihrer bautypologischen Gestaltung und den gelagerten Warenarten aufzeigen. Exemplarisch soll dies an der Küstenstadt Portus erfolgen sowie an Lucius Feronie, einer Stadt im Hinterland. Der Vortrag wird auf Italienisch gehalten werden.

"Forme e funzioni degli antichi magazzini romani: dalla costa tirrenica all’entroterra di Roma. Gli esempi di Portus e Lucus Feroniae" (Fulltext)

 

9. Ulrike Wulf-Rheidt (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut) / Evelyne Bukowiecki (Ecole française de Rome)

Building with bricks. The social and economic impact of building material for extra-large projects in Rome
One of the building materials for the imperial residences on the Palatine Hill in Rome, the bricks, is used as a case study for the supply mechanisms for extra-large buildings projects. It can be shown how the process of standardization is closely related to an industrialization of the Roman building industry and the extremely well organized logistic of the construction site. The standardization in the production of brick derived also from the desire to control the production and supply of this building material from early imperial times onward. The choice of the building materials and its use in construction had also social and economic factors. It allowed an increase number of unskilled workers and a minimal demand for skilled workers. Generic calculations for the needed buildings materials can show the impact of the production, transportation and organization of mayor building projects in Rome.