Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Research Aims, Central Concepts and Perspectives
- 2 Social change in the Late Iron Age Lower Rhine region
- 3 Caesar’s Conquest and the Ethnic Reshuffling of the Lower Rhine Frontier zone
- 4 The gold triskeles coinages of the Eburones
- 5 Roman Frontier Politics and the Formation of a Batavian Polity
- 6 The Lower Rhine Triquetrum Coinages and the Formation of a Batavian Polity
- 7 Kessel/Lith. A Late Iron Age Central Place in the Rhine/Meuse Delta
- 8 The Political and Institutional Structure of the pre-Flavian Civitas Batavorum
- 9 Foederis Romani Monumenta. Public Memorials of the Alliance with Rome
- 10 Image and Self-Image of the Batavians
- 11 Hercules and the Construction of a Batavian Identity in the Context of the Roman Empire
- 12 Conclusion and Epilogue
- Abbreviations
- Bibliograpy
- General Index
8 - The Political and Institutional Structure of the pre-Flavian Civitas Batavorum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Research Aims, Central Concepts and Perspectives
- 2 Social change in the Late Iron Age Lower Rhine region
- 3 Caesar’s Conquest and the Ethnic Reshuffling of the Lower Rhine Frontier zone
- 4 The gold triskeles coinages of the Eburones
- 5 Roman Frontier Politics and the Formation of a Batavian Polity
- 6 The Lower Rhine Triquetrum Coinages and the Formation of a Batavian Polity
- 7 Kessel/Lith. A Late Iron Age Central Place in the Rhine/Meuse Delta
- 8 The Political and Institutional Structure of the pre-Flavian Civitas Batavorum
- 9 Foederis Romani Monumenta. Public Memorials of the Alliance with Rome
- 10 Image and Self-Image of the Batavians
- 11 Hercules and the Construction of a Batavian Identity in the Context of the Roman Empire
- 12 Conclusion and Epilogue
- Abbreviations
- Bibliograpy
- General Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter deals with the political, institutional and territorial structure of the pre-Flavian civitas Batavorum in its relation to the Roman empire. It is a subject worthy of attention because the development of a Batavian identity group cannot be understood without reference to the political context. It is by no means straightforward, however. Historians and archaeologists are deeply divided about how the Batavian civitas was organised in a political and institutional sense and how it fitted within the Roman system of government. The discussion centres around three concepts: frontier, municipalisation and provincialisation. Provincialisation refers to the region's integration into a formal provincial structure in accordance with the Roman model. Municipalisation denotes the introduction of a Roman system of civic administration in line with the civitas model, with codified laws, elected magistrates and public priesthoods, which gave the empire a fairly uniform foundation. In terms of their legal status within the empire, the various entities could be a municipium or colonia, but also a community with a peregrine status. Frontier means the zone to which Rome had territorial claims, but which lay outside the provincialised core of the empire and which was subject to military authority. We can distinguish two main sides in the debate. The first assumes an early municipalisation of the Batavian civitas in the Augustan or Tiberian period and is best expressed by Raepsaet-Charlier. The second – recently reformulated by Slofstra – assumes a late municipalisation in the Flavian era. Slofstra suggests that up until the time of the Batavian revolt the Rhine delta should be viewed as a frontier zone, characterised by a specific political and institutional order. Of course, this difference of opinion is mainly the result of the incomplete and at times contradictory nature of the historical sources. However, it is also due in part to different ideas about how Roman imperial power was organised in the northern frontier zones. In this chapter I will compare and evaluate both sides of the debate (the frontier model versus the ‘civic’ or municipal model). I will then present my own view, based on new empirical data (such as the results of recent excavations at Waldgirmes in Germany) and comparisons with the situation in other frontier regions of the empire.
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- Ethnic Identity and Imperial PowerThe Batavians in the Early Roman Empire, pp. 195 - 210Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2004