Pompeii - Politics

Office	Description
Aedile	Junior Magistrate in charge of public temples, buildings and markets
Decurion	Local town councillor
Duumvir	The senior magistrate (one of two)
Patron	Man selected by town council to represent town's interests at Rome
Prefect	A magistrate selected for special purposes
Quaestor	Junior magistrate in charge of finances
Quintennial Duumvir	Magistrate elected every five years to conduct census

In 80BC Pompeii was given a charter from Rome which established many of its political institutions. There were three political institutions at Pompeii

• The Comitium - or peoples assembly. It was made up of adult men and freedmen. Its job was to elect magistrates and vote honours

• The Ordo Decurionum. The legislative body. They made decisions made up decurions concerned the colony itself. These decisions were implemented by the magistrates. New members were admitted every five years and remained there until death. There were about 100 members although could vary by town

• The magistracy. Two were simultaneously elected by the comitium and were known as Duumvirs. These were the most senior elected officials. Two junior magistrates called aediles supervised the building and upkeep of public buildings, cults and games giving. Occasionally a Roman Emperor would be nominated as Duumvir. Elections in March would be followed by the new officials taking office in July.

What do we know about how politics worked in Pompeii

Pompeii was of course a colony of Rome and had to abide by the laws passed in the Roman Senate but those laws were normally focused on national security issues and the Empire itself. The local cities had a large degree of discretion over their own laws. Of the 36,000 inhabitants of Pompeii, probably 5000 could actually vote so it is likely that the voters personally knew their candidates. The town's life and activity was run from three Municipal Buildings found in the southern part of the Forum, while the administration of justice was carried out by the Duumviri in the Basilica

Unsurprisingly, politics worked in much the same way as it does in the 21st C. Donations of public buildings or rooms, statues within public buildings was a passport to political influence. The six year old child of a wealthy patron who rebuilt the Temple of Isis was rewarded with election to the town council. Voting was done by writing the name of the candidate on a wax tablet and putting it in a ballot box. The winning candidate was chosen on a first-past-the-post system. A terarula was a kind of identity card to prove the elector was permitted to vote.

However, there were no political parties as such only influential people and families. We can see this through inscriptions on walls or monuments, called Programmata and Momental inscriptions

The programmata seems to be unique to Pompeii insofar as these were red painted, uppercase and normally italicized, entreaties to vote for this person or that. At each elections, old slogans would be over written with new ones. We can learn for the process the following insights

• The advertisements were often requests for people to vote for a particular candidate because their good character from anonymous or known people or families

I beg you to elect Cn Helvius Sabinus aedile and Ceius Secundus duumvir, Recepta and also Thalmus. Of all programmata that has been found, more have been in support of Helvius Sabinus than of any other candidate . Possibly he was a candidate near the time of the eruption and his endorsements were yet to be overwritten.

Some are quite amusing

Valens, you’re sleeping; you’re asleep and dreaming; wake up from your slumber and make Helvius Sabinus aedile

• Many of the endorsements came from women although they could not vote
• There were no political parties.
• Endorsements could also come from guilds and other trades such as bee-keeping, millers, etc
• Black propaganda - There was no dirty tricks as such comparing one candidates virtues with another's supposed lack of them but you may see that a candidate is endorsed by prostitutes or gamblers.

All the deadbeats and Macerius ask for Vatia as aedile

• There is no indication of a manifesto as part of the endorsement unless obliquely implied in the endorsement itself.

Almost three thousand inscriptions survive - most from the election preceding the eruption and can be seen on the main thoroughfares such as Via dell' Abbondanza. The abbreviation "O V F" is often seen accompanying the slogans. Its a kind of "Vote for him" entreaty.

Some of the slogans are painted on very carefully. Some have suggested that therefore these weren't hastily written, scribbled slogans but professionally painted by scriptores and presumably paid for by the endorser. This is hinted at in the slogans themselves such as "we ask you to vote for....". .

Since tradition in Pompeii kept ads from being blatantly defamatory, its was not uncommon to plaster the tombs and walls of the town with fake endorsements for their opponents from unsuitable supporters — runaway slaves, gamblers and prostitutes. In Roman politics, where the appearance of honor and dignity was all important, even obviously false endorsements could bring shame and defeat to a struggling candidate albeit this negative campaigning was obvious to the reader that these were 'fake' endoresements

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  Programmata 1

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  Programmata 2

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  Programmata 3

Monumental inscriptions were made in bronze, stone and marble. Bronze ones tend not to survive because it was reused. They were meant to be more permanent and some Oscan inscriptions can be seen. Where they do survive the inscriptions commend the work of some building work such as

Maras Atinius, son of Maras, quaestor, with the money raised from fines, by degree of the assembly, saw to this being set up'

Women and Politics and Pompeii

It is not a well studied area but there is limited research http://eres.lndproxy.org/edoc/HIS303Savunen-09.pdf

It seems that it is still unclear what impact women's endorsements had on the success of the candidate. Although women routinely canvassed on behalf of candidates it is also possible that a woman's endorsement might work against a candidate but it is unlikely these were fake endorsements to cast a cloud over the candidate's character like Helvius Sabinus, who was endorsed by 'dice throwers'

Of 2,500 programmata studied about 30% included the supporter's name. Of which, about 50 had endorsements that included a woman's name. About 30 of these were endorsements solely by a woman and did not include a man. It struck me as a relatively small sample. It may be that the endorsement came from a woman from an influential family or it could be from a female relative of the candidate or some other reason

At the very least, support from women seems to be tolerated otherwise these endorsements would have been painted over. The study concludes that no magisterial list survives so there is no way to way to analyze men's let alone women's influence on the campaign but nonetheless it is still an interesting phenomena and it would be interesting to compare with other comparable cities albeit according to Berry p131, programmata are unique to Pompeii..

What was a Political Career so Important?

Duty

Did the duumvirs and others use the donations as way of getting elected or were donations an obligation of the office holder? With our cynical 21st C mind we would believe the former. Even though you cannot rule either motivation we can believe the duty or obligation of giving was a strong one in Roman times and more likely than personal gain. In fact the elected officials were not paid. The more senior duumvirs would finance the building and decorations of the most important buildings and at the other end of the scale lower officals would bankroll theatre productions or gladitorial and other games (1)

Could this concept of duty really be so strong it was a ruthless political environment. Pompey, Caesar, Sulla and Crassus and others were first and foremost military men whose main objective was invasion colonization of lands beyond Rome. With the victories came the spoils of war which were shared not only amongst the generals but the armies themselves.

On the other hand a citizen of a provincial city was called a municeps - one who takes his share of public duties and I think this idea of civic pride became stronger and as Rome became greater as the first century progressed and culminated in great monuments built by Trajan and Hadrian

Economic and Social Cohesion

It may have also been an economic necessity. If towns like Pompeii were to thrive economically and maintain social cohesion it necessitated the building of theatres, amphitheaters, baths and municipal buildings for the population to enjoy especially if these could not be financed through taxation. (2)

Prestige

Honor and prestige for you and your family would be ensured by way of a public inscription noting your benefaction. We can be sure families vied to be the most generous donors as an explicit demonstration of their wealth and social standing.

So we can conclude that euergetism was deeply embedded practice within the Pompeian society wrapped up in duty, personal fulfillment, family prestige and good economic common sense.

On the face of it, it does seem that politics was both an important part of Pompeii life and the level of civic pride is remarkably mature in its election processes. e.g. The diverse nature of the political posts, the level of participation amongst the electors, the evidence of many municipal building excavated and the planning that went in to ensuring it was fair and efficiently conducted as far as it was able. This was helped given that the electors really did have a say in the running of the city instead of direct rule from Rome.

Some of the hot political issues of the time would tend to the local. Ensuring that justice was meted out in a fair and orderly way, organizing the town market, maintenance of religious buildings, shrines and statues, the roadways, the public baths and organization of public games.

(1)Pompeii Its life and Art p13

(2) Oxford handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World p 395

Commentary

Chicken or egg - Duty was a way of getting in to Politics or an outcome of reaching Political influence?

Did they primarily make donations to get elected or re-elected or were the donations an obligation once they are elected. Berry pg 124 suggests that donations by Junior Magistrates might help to get elected to Senior Magistrate. Alternatively, the inscriptions at the Large Theatre of the Holconius family seem to be a recognition of successful political careers and patronage. Also, there does not seem to be much evidence of a political hegemony where the same names keep cropping up or stays in power for long periods of time, which would be a sign that these expensive political donations were paying off. The list of Magistrates (berry pg 133) seem to change regularly.

I am still of the mind that although donations might help get elected this was a minor consideration and that the strong streak of civic duty impelled them to donate anyway. It was part of boom in civic giving that peaked during the first century AD and a recognition of the massive wealth disparity between the classes which precluded financing these building through general taxation.

There is a good discussion of this in an article on The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire

first and foremost as a political and ideological reaction of urban elites and their non-elite fellow citizens to certain social and political developments within civic society generated by the integration of the cities into the Roman imperial system"

Other Sources

http://www.en.antiquitatem.com/pompeii-electoral-graffiti-aedile-iivir