Abstract
The article analyzes cases in which Roman surveyors appeal to customs as the source of their activities. Not being lawyers, surveyors often use the words mos and consuetudo, which are usually used to denote customs, in their generally accepted meanings; however, several cases of their use can be distinguished to explain individual institutions or situations. Thus, a noteworthy case is the use of mos to describe Roman ideas about land use and, conversely, an appeal to consuetudo in the context of the connection between ancient religious institutions and surveying practice. It seems that the use of consuetudo instead of mos illustrates that surveyors perceived their craft separately from the religious practices that gave rise to it. A different situation is with the use of the principle of consuetudo regionis, an appeal to customs that developed in conquered territories before their subjugation by the Romans. In Roman law, this concept is widespread, starting from the middle of the 2nd century AD, which is reflected in survey works: the authors of earlier texts are not familiar with it, however, Siculus Flaccus, whose treatise has recently been attributed to a rather late period, systematically appeals to consuetudo regionis. Nevertheless, even the authors of the early texts pay attention to local features of border design, boundary markers and documentation, as well as the need to comply with them. Maintaining local practices was perceived as following fides, the principle of good faith; a detailed analysis of individual cases will allow both to establish cases of foreign cultural influence on Roman surveying and to draw more general conclusions about the land use of conquered peoples in the pre-Roman period.
Keywords
custom, mos, consuetudo, Roman law, Roman surveyors, Roman religion.
Alonso, J.L. 2020: The Constitutio Antoniniana and Private Legal Practice in the Eastern Empire. In: K. Czajkowski, B. Eckhardt (eds.), Law in the Roman Provinces. Oxford, 44–64.
Campbell, B. 2000: The Writings of the Roman Land Surveyors. Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary (Journal of Roman Studies Monograph, 9). London.
De Grummond, N.T., Simon, E. 2006: The Religion of the Etruscans. Austin.
De Nardis, M. 2019: I libri coloniarum lachmanniani e la datazione di Siculus Flaccus. In: Uomini, istituzioni, mercati. Studi di storia per Elio Lo Cascio. Bari, 287–298.
Dozhdev, D.V. 2000: Rimskoe chastnoe pravo: uchebnik dlya vuzov [Roman Private Law: A Textbook for Universities]. Moscow.
Gallo, F. 2013: La consuetudine grande sconosciute. Rivista di diritto Romano 13, 1–13. URL: https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/Rivista-diritto-romano/article/view/5264.
Gaudemet, J. 1956: La coutume au bas-empire. Rôle pratique et notion théorique. Labeo 2, 147–59.
Guarino, A. 2001: Diritto privato romano. Napoli.
Guillamin, J.-Y. 2005: Les arpenteurs romains. T. 1. Hygin le Gromatique. Frontin. Paris.
Guillamin, J.-Y. 2010: Les arpenteurs romains. T. 2. Hygin. Siculus Flaccus. Paris.
Kirillova, M.N. 2018: O chem byl «zakon bozhestvennogo Avgusta? [What Was the Content of lex divi Augusti?] Indoevropeyskoe yazykoznanie i klassicheskaya filologiya [Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology] 22 (1), 619–627.
Kirillova, M.N. 2021: Kul't Termina i praktika rimskogo mezhevaniya v I v. n.e. [Cult of Terminus and the Practice of Roman Land Surveying in the 1st Century A.D.] In: Vostochnaya Evropa v drevnosti i srednevekov'e [Eastern Europe in Antiquity and the Middle Ages] 33. Moscow, 118–122.
Kirillova, M.N. 2023: Disciplina Etrusca i formirovanie rimskogo ortogonal'nogo mezhevaniya [Disciplina Etrusca and the Development of the Roman Orthogonal Land Surveying]. Vestnik drevney istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 83 (1), 94–113.
Kofanov, L.L. 2024: Obychay kurii kak istochnik konstitutsionnogo prava v Rime epokhi respubliki [Customs of the Curia as a Source of Constitutional Law in Rome during the Republic]. Biznes, menedzhment i pravo [Business, Management and Law] 2, 78–85.
Kolobov, A.V. 2022: Psevdo-Gigin. Ob ustroystve voennykh lagerey [Pseudo-Hyginus. On the Organization of Military Camps]. In: Drevnost' i srednevekov'e Evropy [Antiquity and Middle Ages of Europe]. Perm, 108–130.
Koptev, A.V. 1999: Pozdneantichnyy colonus iuris alieni i klassicheskoe pravo lits [Late antique colonus iuris alieni and the classical law of persons]. Drevnee pravo [Ius antiquum] 4, 116–143.
Kuzishchin, V.I. 1976: Genezis rabovladel'cheskikh latifundiy v Italii (II v. do n.e. – I v. n.e.) [Genesis of Slave-Owning Latifundia in Italy (2nd Century BC – 1st Century AD)]. Moscow.
Lachmann, K. 1852: Über Frontinus, Balbus, Hyginus und Aggenus Urbicus. In: Die Schriften der römischen Feldmesser. Bd. 2. Erläuterungen zu den Schriften der römischen Feldmesser. Berlin, 97–142.
Lindermann, J.-O. 2016: Echt oder unecht? Frontin als grosmatischer Autor aus der Sicht der Philologie. eTopoi. Journal for Ancient Studies 5, 18–45.
Lindermann, J.-O. 2022: Hygini liber gromaticus de limitibus constituendis. Historisch-kritische Edition und Erlauterungen. Darmstadt.
Lindermann, J.-O. 2025: Iuli Frontini opera gromatica: Historisch-kritische Edition. Freiburg im Breisgau.
Mommsen, Th. 1905: Gesammelte Schriften. 1. Abt.: Juristische Schriften. Bd. 1. Berlin.
Petrov, A.V. 1997: «Astronomiya» Yuliya Gigina i ee mesto v kul'ture Rimskoy imperii ["Astronomy" of Iulius Hyginus and its Place in the Culture of the Roman Empire.]. In: Gigin. Astronomiya. Per. s latinskogo A.I. Rubina [Hyginus. Astronomy. Translated by A.I. Rubin]. St. Petersburg, 5–19.
Podossinov, A.V. 2024: Ex oriente lux. Orientatsiya po stranam sveta v arkhaicheskikh kul'turakh Evrazii [Ex oriente lux. Orientation by the Cardinal Points in the Archaic Cultures of Eurasia]. Moscow.
Ratti, S. 1996: Le substrat augusteen dans la Constitutio limitum d'Hygin le Gromatique et la datation du traite. Dialogues d'histoire ancienne 22, 220–238.
Shcheglov, A.N. 1984: Khora Khersonesa. Okruga goroda na Gerakleyskom poluostrove [Chora of Chersonesus. Districts of the City on the Heraclean Peninsula]. In: Antichnye gosudarstva Severnogo Prichernomor'ya [Ancient States of the Northern Black Sea Region]. Moscow, 53–54.