Vicus
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In Ancient Rome, the Latin term vicus (plural vici) designated a village within a rural area (pagus) or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement.[1] During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici.[2] Each vicus had its own board of officials who oversaw local matters. These administrative divisions are recorded as still in effect at least until the mid-4th century.[3][4]
The word "vicus" was also applied to the smallest administrative unit of a
Local government in Rome
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Each vicus elected four local magistrates (
Ad hoc settlements
These vici differed from the planned civilian towns (
Vici is the term used for the extramural settlements of
Initially ephemeral, many vici were transitory sites that followed a mobile unit; once a permanent garrison was established they grew into larger townships. Often the number of official civitates and coloniæ were not enough to settle everyone who wished to live in a town and so vici also attracted a wider range of residents, with some becoming chartered towns where no other existed nearby. Some, such as that at
Early vici had no civilian administration and were under the direct control of the Roman military commander. Those that attracted significant numbers of
Modern placenames
The Latin term, pronounced with an initial 'u', was adopted into
See also
References
- .
- ^ Paul Zoch, Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998), p. 233; Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (University of Michigan Press, 1988), p. 155.
- ^ As recorded in the regionary catalogues; Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, "Emperors and Houses in Rome," in Childhood, Class, and Kin in the Roman World (Routledge, 2001), and "Domus and insulae in Rome: Families and Housefuls," in Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003).
- ISBN 978-0-521-82827-7.
- ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary, Vicus.
- ^ Wacher, John (1996). The Towns of Roman Britain. London: Routledge.
- ISBN 978 0 7524 2919 9p 146
- ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2012-11-07.