Original scientific paper
To the Inhabitants of Narona – municipibus municipii
Silvia Bekavac
; Department of Archaeology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Željko Miletić
; Department of Archaeology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
The abbreviation of MM that can be found on the inscriptions commissioned by freedmen seviri from the Roman municipality of Narona, has been interpreted in scientific literature and epigraphic databases as: VIvir m(agister) M(ercurialis) or VIvir m(onu)m(entum) ob honorem. Based on the epigraphic analysis and on the comparison with similar monuments from Latium, Campania and the province of Baetica, this interpretation is hereby disputed, and the alternative one proposed, resolving the abbreviation of MM as municipubus municipii. The notion of a dual municipality in Narona, and of a corresponding transformation from quattuorviri to duoviri is also disputed. The Vithinghoff model, re¬jecting the possibility of utilization of inhabitants’ tribus names as the basis for the calculation of the timeline of the constitution of the colony, is substantiated. Medini’s account of the changes of status of the freedmen (libertini) in Narona is complemented through a reconstruction of the economic, political and administrative profile of the Late Republican and Early Imperial Narona. It has been concluded that the Naronitan community had undergone a transformation in order to comply with lex Iulia municipalis, lex Roscia and lex Iulia theatralis, regulating the position of social orders and interest groups. Descendants of the freedmen from the times of the old conventus proceeded to amalgamate with the newly-arrived settlers with the civil status, while the subsequently freed libertines enjoyed no more access to privileged positions in the municipal administration.
Keywords
Narona; freedmen; seviri; municipes municipii; magister Mercurialis
Hrčak ID:
171067
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2016.
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