As a municipal tier in the imperial stratum of the Roman empire, the municipal elites on the one hand sat at the apex of the local cities and on the other hand provided candidates for the equestrian or the senatorial order. They served as the backbone of imperial society, manifested by their impact in both economic and political terms on the cities of Italy and the provinces. But what would happen to the local elites of a region that suffered destruction and hardship intermittently? P.'s aim is to study the municipal elites of such a region: to ‘analyse the elites of Campanian cities during the 2nd and at the beginning of the 3rd c. ce’ (p. 20), with a focus on the socio-economic aspects.
The central question addressed by P. is whether the natural disasters and other negative factors from the early Principate and during the period in question ‘led to the economic decline of Campania, and consequently whether they could have caused a crisis amongst the local elites’ (p. 21). Although this question is not fundamentally new, as P. prepares to confront the pessimistic scenario of decline that ‘some historians would have us believe’ (p. 7), this book joins an ongoing discussion on the elites of Roman cities. It closes a gap in the discussion of Campanian municipal elites during the Antonine and Severan eras, which has seldom received attention concerning the elites throughout the whole region.
The introduction defines terms and presents the central points that will be pursued in what follows. P. divides Campania into three zones: coastal, central and the foothills border region. Such division helps, in P.'s words, ‘to avoid over-generalisations’ and ‘prevent another risk … not analysing them [individual cities] in their broader context’ (p. 5). Another concern is to define the municipal elites beyond the traditional scope of municipal office-holders. The municipal elites in this work refer to people from two groups: the municipal notables who possessed political and/or ideological power, such as local magistrates, decurions, priests, civic patrons and native municipal curatores, and the well-to-do individuals with humble origins who were catapulted into privileged positions in local societies, primarily because of their wealth and acts of euergetism, including the Augustales, and the freeborn and freedmen who bestowed benefactions on their communities (pp. 9–10). This work is set in the period between 96 and 235 ce, though earlier times are taken into account to illustrate whether there was a real decline. P.'s decision on the chronological framework is clear, which was initially set up to continue the study of Campanian elites by his Ph.D. supervisor (A. Łoś, “Dobrze urodzeni” i “dorobkiewicze” [1996]), and, beyond that, he shows that the period in question merits attention.
The chapters that follow are organised along thematic lines. Chapter 1 provides a survey of Campanian economic circumstances, suggesting that this region did not suffer a drastic crisis during the Antonine and Severan periods. The following two chapters proceed with a closer examination of the economic situation of the local elites. Chapter 2 investigates the sources of income of the Campanian elites. P. observes that agriculture and landowning were still the crucial sources of income for the municipal elites during the period under discussion. At the same time, different groups among the municipal elites preferred and undertook different kinds of economic activities; for example, non-agricultural businesses like trade and craftsmanship appear to have been dominated by homines novi and Augustales, especially those operating in coastal cities. Chapter 3 examines the expenditure of the municipal elites in their private lives, where ‘we find a small amount of information’ (p. 280), and in public life, where more source material documents euergetic acts. P. argues that the reduced interest in financing costly monuments and the decreased number of local notables among benefactors were not caused by the impoverishment of the municipal elites; the uneven distribution of euergetic acts reflects the different levels of wealth of local elites in various areas of Campania.
Next, P. turns to an analysis of the composition and evolution of the municipal elites. Chapter 4 surveys the ordines decurionum, challenging the idea of the ‘ossification of ruling groups in Campanian civitates during the Antonine and Severan eras, as well as the concept of a radical exchange of elites’ (p. 284). Chapter 5 surveys the Augustales, arguing their position and organisation in society should have reflected the economic situation of different zones, cities and the local elites. Although imitating the practices of city councils in many aspects, ‘the Augustales constituted a group that was even less stable than the decurions’ (pp. 284–5) because their income sources were more volatile. In Chapter 6 P. briefly touches upon the Campanian imperial elites, showing their initial social standing and the advancement opportunities that were available to local elites.
In the conclusion P. draws his arguments together. Campania under the Antonines and Severans did not remain as prosperous as in the early Principate yet did not entirely fall victim to the crisis. The period under discussion was ‘a transitional period between prosperity and decline for Campania as a whole’ (p. 295), where complex economic situations of municipal elites can be observed at both the regional and the urban level.
This book contributes greatly to a better understanding of the Campanian municipal elites and is a welcome addition to the various publications that have appeared in recent decades on the upper spheres of municipal societies. P. refines earlier insights and presents new arguments. First, he disproves the idea that the Campanian municipal elites and the whole region underwent catastrophic decline under the rule of the Antonines and Severans. Second, he reveals that there exist apparent differences in the income, expenditure, euergetic acts, and structure and functioning of local elites between coastal, central and foothill border regions, between large, influential cities and lesser ones, and between cities at favourable and non-favourable geographical locations. Third, he advances the argument that the political power of the ‘old’ aristocracy was not as monopolised as has been thought. It would give some pause to anyone who thought that family continuity in the city council was to be taken for granted.
While many detailed analyses have been made, it should be noted that many of P.'s observations are, as he repeatedly admits, speculative. The information that the epigraphic and archaeological material provides is often limited, of which P. is aware. A large part of the book is on the presentation of the primary sources in the form of catalogues, but not all of them are provided with further analysis. Aside from the monotonous presentation, the arguments are sometimes overshadowed, and the amount of evidence is at times too small to reach convincing conclusions. P. is good at making useful categories, though the division is not always justified adequately or clearly (e.g. p. 252 on the division of the equites). For the section devoted to the theoretical approaches to define the elites, and more broadly, the section devoted to current scholarship on the elites of Roman cities, one would expect a more extensive discussion and a more comprehensive overview. In addition, where the decline of euergetic activities in some areas may have resulted from economic regression, P. might underestimate the impact of other factors such as a changing political environment in local societies.
This volume demonstrates that the reality of Campanian local societies and the socio-economic and political conditions of local elites were far too complex for simple generalisations and deserve more careful and nuanced examination. The book should serve as a catalyst to stimulate further interest and investigation on municipal elites in other regions of Italy and the provinces.
