A Roman colonia (pl.: coloniae) was originally a settlement of Roman citizens, establishing a Roman outpost in federated or conquered territory, for the purpose of securing it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term "colony".
Under the Roman Republic, which had no standing army, their own citizens were planted in conquered towns as a kind of garrison. There were two types:[1][2]
Roman colonies, coloniae civium Romanorumorcoloniae maritimae, as they were often built near the sea, e.g. Ostia (350 BC) and Rimini (268 BC). The colonists consisted of about three hundred Roman veterans with their families who were assigned from 1 to 2.5 hectares of agricultural land from the ager colonicus (state land), as well as free use of the ager compascus scripturarius (common state land) for pasture and woodland.[3]
Latin colonies (coloniae Latinae) were considerably larger than Roman colonies. They were military strongholds near or in enemy territory. They may have been similar to the Atheniancleruchy. The colonists were given large estates up to 35 hectares. They lost their citizenship which they could regain if they returned to Rome.
After 133 BC tribunes introduced reforms to support the urban poor to become farmers again in new colonies as agricultural settlements (e.g. Tarentum in 122 BC).[citation needed]
Other early colonies were established at Signia in the 6th century BC, Velitrae and Norba in the 5th century BC, and Ostia, Antium, and Tarracina in the late 4th century. In this first period of colonisation, which lasted down to the end of the Punic Wars, colonies were primarily military in purpose, being intended to defend Roman territory.
In the Empire colonies became large centres for the settlement of army veterans, especially in Roman north Africa which had the largest density of Roman colonies per region in the Roman Empire, where the Italic population constituted more than one third of the total population during the second century AD.[citation needed]
New Roman municipia made from small towns around Rome: Aricia, Lanuvium, Nomentum, Pedum, Tusculum. Latin ius contracts made with Tibur, Praeneste, Lavinium, Cora (Latium)
Ius comercii contracts made with Circei, Notba, Setia, Signia, Nepi, Ardea, Gabii
Ius migrationi and ius connubii
Ufentina tribus established (on territories of Volscus city Antium), Privernum, Velitrae, Terracia, Fondi and Fotmiae made contract with Rome (cives sine suffragio)
Colonies were not founded on a large scale until the inception of the Principate. Augustus, who needed to settle over a hundred thousand of his veterans after the end of his civil wars, began a massive colony creation program throughout his empire. However, not all colonies were new cities. Many were created from already-occupied settlements and the process of colonization just expanded them. Some of these colonies would later grow into large cities (modern day Cologne was first founded as a Roman colony). During this time, provincial cities can gain the rank of colony, gaining certain rights and privileges.[7] After the era of the Severan emperors the new "colonies" were only cities that were granted a status (often of tax exemption), and in most cases during the Late Imperial times there was no more settlement of retired legionaries.[citation needed]
Roman colonies sometimes served as a potential reserve of veterans which could be called upon during times of emergency. However, these colonies more importantly served to produce future Roman citizens and therefore recruits to the Roman army.[7]
Roman colonies played a major role in the spread of the Latin language within the central and southern Italian peninsula during the early empire.[8] The colonies showed surrounding native populations an example of Roman life.[9] Since the veterans settled there were usually single until discharge and married local women, colonies tended to become culturally integrated in their surroundings within a few generations.
^Sivan, H.; S. Keay; R. Mathisen; DARMC, R.; Talbert, S.; Gillies, J.; Åhlfeldt; J. Becker; T. Elliott. "Places: 246344 (Col. Caesaraugusta)". Pleiades. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
^Jecmen, Gregory; Spira, Freyda (2012). Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540. National Gallery of Art (U.S.). p. 25. ISBN9781848221222.
^Tore Janson (2007). A Natural History of Latin. OUP Oxford. p. 169. ISBN9780191622656.
Bradley, Guy, and John-Paul Wilson, eds. 2006. Greek and Roman Colonization: Origins, Ideologies and Interactions. Swansea, UK: Classical Press of Wales.
Broadhead, William. 2007. "Colonization, Land Distribution, and Veteran Settlement". In A Companion to the Roman Army. Edited by Paul Erdkamp, 148–163. Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Crawford, Michael H. 2014. "The Roman History of Roman Colonisation". In The Roman Historical Tradition: Regal and Republican Rome. Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Edited by James H. Richardson and Federico Santangelo. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Curchin, Leonard A. 1991. Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation. London: Routledge.
Fuhrmann, Christopher J. 2012. Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Salmon, Edward T. 1955. "Roman Expansion and Roman Colonization in Italy". Phoenix 9.2: 63–75.
Stek, Tesse D. and Gert-Jan Burgers eds. 2015. The Impact of Rome on Cult Places and Religious Practices in Ancient Italy. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies Supplement 132. London: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London.
Sears, Gareth. 2011. The Cities of Roman Africa. Stroud, UK: History Press.
Termeer, Marleen K. 2010. "Early Colonies in Latium (ca. 534–338 BC): A Reconsideration of Current Images and the Archaeological Evidence". Bulletin Antieke Beschaving 85:43–58.
Woolf, Greg. 1998. Becoming Roman: The Origins of Provincial Civilization in Gaul. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
