In this book, Simone Ciambelli explores various aspects of the relationship between collegia and the patrons they co-opted. The book is an adapted version of Ciambelli’s doctoral thesis obtained from the University of Bologna, which was successfully defended in 2020. Despite the recent surge in interest in collegia, Ciambelli’s book is unique in its particular focus on the socio-economic links forged between collegia and patrons in the Roman West.
Indeed, Ciambelli’s study forms part of and anticipates a rich body of scholarship on collegial associations in the Roman world in the past few years, most notably B. Eckhardt’s 2021 book on Roman organizations (Romanisierung und Verbrüderung: Das Vereinswesen im römischen Reich (review)) and the 2012 collection edited by Monique Dondin-Payre and Nicolas Tran (Collegia. Le phénomène associatif dans l’Occident romain); as well as edited collections on organizations in the Greek East (V. Gabrielsen and M. C. D. Paganini, eds. (2021) Private Associations in the Ancient Greek World: Regulations and the Creation of Group Identity (review)) and in Jewish contexts (B. Eckhardt, ed. (2019) Private Associations and Jewish Communities in the Hellenistic and Roman Cities (review)).
Despite this recent surge in interest, Ciambelli manages to offer a new and specific angle on the subject. The book sets out to study history from the perspective of client communities in the Roman West, adopting a ‘view from below’ (‘visione dal basso’), avoiding more traditional prosopographical approaches to patronage that often neglect the role and agency of less privileged sectors of society (p. 17). In this way, Ciambelli follows in a rich and important direction in the social history of the Roman world, pioneered by the likes of Nicolas Tran, Jinyu Liu, Cyril Courrier, and Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira. His investigation of collegia as a symptom and outcome of this social relationship forms the basis for the study.
Ciambelli’s study is geographically limited to the Latin West (broadly conceived) as a way of limiting his data set. The Greek East is, Ciambelli concedes, a different kettle of fish—a ‘fenomeno … molto eterogeneo’ (p. 18). Because of the nature of the evidence, Ciambelli’s study is built on a number of case studies (from Italy, Gaul, Dacia) from which a detailed picture of urban society in the Roman West can be painted.
Chapter 1 (‘Patronatus et collegium: teoria e pratica’) provides a useful and clear discussion of the current state of scholarship on patronage and collegia in the Roman world, and makes a strong case for exploring these two areas in a unified manner. Licensed collegia considered to be essential for public utility, especially collegia fabrum and centonariorum, are found to be likely to attract patrons.
This assertion is backed up by solid quantitative analysis. Chapter 2 (‘Indagine quantitativa’) unpicks a series of trends in the epigraphic record, supported by several clear graphs. Useful trends are delineated on the geographic and temporal spread of the 214 inscriptions which attest collegial patronage. They are sorted helpfully into categories, and the author uncovers some trends on the social background of the patrons (though for the majority this cannot be identified) and on professional collegia who most commonly attracted patrons in the epigraphic record.
Chapter 3 (‘Le tabulae patronatus: emblema fisico del legame’) carefully and methodically explores the language and materiality of inscriptions which record and celebrate the co-option of a patron by a collegium. Ciambelli’s analysis of the language, style, and structure of this limited number of inscriptions is lucid and incisive. We are also reminded of the importance of considering these inscriptions as material objects, physical manifestations for the collegium of ‘il desiderio di omaggiare ulteriormente il patrono con un oggetto che, simboleggiando il legame, ornasse la sua domus’ (p. 93).
This discussion lays the groundwork for perhaps Ciambelli’s most engaging and original chapter. Chapter 4 (‘Le relazioni clientelari nello spazio sociale: tra sfera privata e sfera pubblica’) attempts to integrate the archaeological evidence with the epigraphic—always difficult given that the epigraphy is frequently found out of context—as a way of exploring the social dynamics both within collegia and between collegia and the wider community. Collegia are conceived of as micro-communities modelled on and borrowing the vocabulary of civic structures, but with its own distinct communal identity; their scholae (‘edifici dalla natura semi-pubblica’) are conceptualized as spaces which bridge and challenge the public–private divide (p. 119). From a bottom-up perspective, statues dedicated by scholae to their patrons are argued to be a means of collegiati integrating themselves into municipal hierarchies (p. 128).
In chapter 5 (‘La dimensione economica del patronato’), Ciambelli uses New Institutional Economics (NIE) as a means of understanding economic relations between patrons and collegia, especially in Lugdunum. To complement this, Ciambelli draws on Karl Polanyi’s concept of ‘embeddedness’ as a means of exploring how the economic aspects of collegia were deeply entwined with the social, political, and religious. Despite a fairly clear discussion of economic theory, there remains a slight gap between theory and application. Much of the chapter is plausible and well considered independent of the passing remarks to theory. That said, the author does well to ensure that his approach is not constrained by theory; the result is an interesting and novel exploration of the economics of patronage. In addition, some persuasive points are made on the economic motivations of a collegium: co-option may be viewed as a longer-term strategy to improve the association’s wherewithal.
Chapter 6 (‘Alimentare il legame tra collegiati e patrono’) explores how the relationship between collegiati and patron were sustained and nurtured. Both parties, clients and patrons alike, are argued to have had a keen interest in maintaining a lasting relationship. Careful analysis of the language within and transactions attested by the epigraphic record yields the plausible conclusion that patrons, too, stood to benefit socially by advertising their link with a collegium as ‘eternal’. This discussion is followed by a useful, if slightly incidental, discussion of female patrons (including those given the title mater collegii). Ciambelli, building on scholarship from the likes of Emily Hemelrijk, concludes that women were frequently co-opted as patronae to bolster pre-existing patronal links between male patron and collegium.
Chapter 7 stands alone as an analysis of Ostia, which the author repeatedly—and rightly—refers to as a special case (Ostia, for instance, is not included in the quantitative analysis of chapter 2). By concluding with this chapter, Ciambelli, following a detailed survey of Ostia’s rich epigraphic record, is able to compare and contrast Ostian collegia with those previously studied. Ostian collegia are found to be unusual in two key respects: they have an inordinate number of senatorial patrons; and they provided greater opportunity for recruitment of patrons from among existing collegiati. The unique socio-economic condition of Ostia in the second and third centuries CE gave enhanced importance to certain specific professional collegia.
The book finishes with a brief but thoughtful conclusion, which rightly highlights the heterogeneity of the rich body of evidence. This is followed by a detailed and clearly presented appendix, in which Ciambelli provides a catalogue of inscriptions, sorted geographically, from the Roman West. Full text is provided, along with relevant bibliography, editions, and a brief descriptive lemma. Cross-references to inscriptions within the work would have been helpful: there is no geographical index, and the reader instead must navigate the index locorum to track down references to specific inscriptions.
A significant benefit of this book lies in its determination to focus on the experience and motivations of individuals and communities outside the traditional elite. This is particularly the case in chapter 4, which boldly attempts to reconstruct how collegiati interacted with the rest of the urban community and how decisions were reached within these organizations. Collegia, consistent with Tran’s scholarship, are considered to have had an integrative effect on its membership: membership of these organizations, and interactions with the collegium’s patron, meant that people outside the municipal elite could participate in and find a sense of socio-political self-worth both within their collegia and within the wider community (see esp. pp. 132, 248).
There is little to fault in the author’s analysis and exploration of the epigraphic record: his discussion is rich and substantiated. But it did seem that the membership base of western collegia was slightly undertheorized and underexplored. Who exactly constituted the plebs media, a controversial phrase that recurs throughout the book based on a short discussion in a footnote (p. 18 n. 4), was never adequately explored. (And Ciambelli readily admits that the social categories into which collegiati fell ‘sono caratterizzate da un’estrema eterogeneità). One was left feeling, for all the excellent work on exploring the perspective of collegiati, that the question of class and hierarchy within collegia was not explored to its full potential. There was, at times, a risk of generalizing collegiati within the same social category in a bid to unpack ‘il rapporto tra les élites e quella parte della plebs media inserita entro gli schemi collegiali’ (p. 56).
This is, overall, a minor critique of what should be essential reading for scholars and students studying collegia, sitting comfortably among the scholarship of Tran, Van Haeperen, Liu, and Eckhardt. (Indeed, the above lacuna in Ciambelli’s work may provide an angle for future research.) The book’s merits are many. Its readership should include not just readers interested in collegia and community organizations in the Roman world, but also scholars interested in the social history of localized contexts such as Ostia, Lugdunum, and Sarmizegetusa. It will also be an essential point of reference for anyone studying Latin inscriptions pertaining to collegia.