Colonia (Roman)

A Roman colonia (pl.: coloniae) was originally a settlement of Roman citizens, establishing a Roman outpost in federated or conquered territory, for the purpose of securing it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term "colony".

Characteristics

Under the Roman Republic, which had no standing army, their own citizens were planted in conquered towns as a kind of garrison. There were two types:

• Roman colonies, coloniae civium Romanorum or coloniae maritimae, as they were often built near the sea, e.g. Ostia (350 BC) and Rimini (268 BC). The colonists consisted of about three hundred Roman veterans with their families who were assigned from 1 to 2.5 hectares of agricultural land from the ager colonicus (state land), as well as free use of the ager compascus scripturarius (common state land) for pasture and woodland.
• Latin colonies (coloniae Latinae) were considerably larger than Roman colonies. They were military strongholds near or in enemy territory. They may have been similar to the Athenian cleruchy. The colonists were given large estates up to 35 hectares. They lost their citizenship which they could regain if they returned to Rome.

In either case three magistrates (triumviri) were appointed to manage the project.

After 133 BC tribunes introduced reforms to support the urban poor to become farmers again in new colonies as agricultural settlements (such as Tarentum in 122 BC).^{[citation needed]}

Under Caesar and in the Imperial era starting from Augustus, thousands of Roman legionary veterans were granted lands in many coloniae in the empire and were responsible for the Romanization of many territories (mainly in the spread of Latin language and of Roman laws and customs).^{[citation needed]}

History

According to Livy, Rome's first colonies were established in about 752 BC at Antemnae and Crustumerium, both in Latium.

Other early colonies were established at Segnia in the 6th century BC, Velitrae and Norba in the 5th century BC, and Ostia, Antium, and Tarracina in the late 4th century. In this first period of colonisation, which lasted down to the end of the Punic Wars, colonies were primarily military in purpose, being intended to defend Roman territory.

The first Roman colony outside Italy was probably Italica in Hispania founded in 206 BC by Publius Cornelius Scipio during the Second Carthaginian War.

In the Empire colonies became large centres for the settlement of army veterans, especially in Roman north Africa which had the largest density of Roman colonies per region in the Roman Empire, where the Italic population constituted more than one third of the total population during the second century AD.^{[citation needed]}

Effects and legacy of colonization

Roman colonies sometimes served as a potential reserve of veterans which could be called upon during times of emergency. However, these colonies more importantly served to produce future Roman citizens and therefore recruits to the Roman army.

Roman colonies played a major role in the spread of the Latin language within the central and southern Italian peninsula during the early empire. The colonies showed surrounding native populations an example of Roman life. Since the veterans settled there were usually single until discharge and married local women, colonies tended to become culturally integrated in their surroundings within a few generations.

Examples

See also

• Local government (ancient Roman)
• Municipium
• Duumviri
• Colonies in antiquity
• List of ancient cities in Thrace and Dacia
• List of ancient cities in Illyria
• List of Roman colonies
• Roman citizenship

References

Further reading

• Bradley, Guy; Wilson, John-Paul, eds. (2006). Greek and Roman Colonization: Origins, Ideologies and Interactions. Swansea, UK: Classical Press of Wales.
• Broadhead, William (2007). "Colonization, Land Distribution, and Veteran Settlement". In Erdkamp, Paul (ed.). A Companion to the Roman Army. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. pp. 148–163.
• Crawford, Michael H. (2014). "The Roman History of Roman Colonisation". In Richardson, James H.; Santangelo, Federico (eds.). The Roman Historical Tradition: Regal and Republican Rome. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
• Curchin, Leonard A. (1991). Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation. London: Routledge.
• Fuhrmann, Christopher J. (2012). Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
• Salmon, Edward T. (1955). "Roman Expansion and Roman Colonization in Italy". Phoenix. 2: 63–75.
• Stek, Tesse D.; Burgers, Gert-Jan, eds. (2015). "The Impact of Rome on Cult Places and Religious Practices in Ancient Italy". Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies Supplement. 132. London: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London.
• Sears, Gareth (2011). The Cities of Roman Africa. Stroud, UK: History Press.
• Termeer, Marleen K. (2010). "Early Colonies in Latium (ca. 534–338 BC): A Reconsideration of Current Images and the Archaeological Evidence". Bulletin Antieke Beschaving. 85: 43–58.
• Woolf, Greg (1998). Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

External links

• Lendering, Jona (2006). "Coloniae". Livius.org. Archived from the original on 2014-02-28.
• Adkins, L.; Adkins, R.A. (1994). "Coloniae". Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. New York. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30 – via fofweb.com.
• Bunson, M. (1994). "colonies, Roman". Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30 – via fofweb.com.