In
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...
, the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the
Republican era, the four of the
city of Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC,
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
reorganized the city for administrative purposes into
14 regions, comprising 265 . Each 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.
The word "" was also applied to the smallest administrative unit of a
provincial town within the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
. It is also notably used today to refer to an ''
ad hoc
Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.)
Com ...
'' provincial civilian settlement that sprang up close to and because of a nearby military
fort or state-owned
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...
operation.
Local government in Rome
Each ''vicus'' elected four local magistrates (''
vicomagistri'') who commanded a sort of local police force chosen from among the people of the ''vicus'' by lot. Occasionally the officers of the ''vicomagistri'' would feature in certain celebrations (primarily the ''
Compitalia
In ancient Roman religion, the Compitalia ( la, Ludi Compitalicii; ) was an annual festival in honor of the Lares Compitales, household deities of the crossroads, to whom sacrifices were offered at the places where two or more ways met.
This fe ...
'') in which they were accompanied by two
lictors.
Ad hoc settlements
These ''vici'' differed from the planned civilian towns (''
civitates
In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on t ...
''), which were laid out as official, local economic and administrative centres, the ''
coloniae
A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure 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''.
Characteri ...
'', which were settlements of retired troops, or the formal political entities created from existing settlements, the ''
municipia''. Unplanned, and originally lacking any public administrative buildings, ''vici'' had no specific legal status (unlike other settlements) and often developed in order to profit from the presence of Roman troops. As with most
garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mili ...
towns, they provided entertainment and supplies for the troops, but many also developed significant industries, especially metal and glass working. Some ''vici'' seem not to have had direct connections to troop placement (e.g., the
Vicus Martis Tudertium).
''Vici'' is the term used for the extramural settlements of
forts
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
for military units (e.g.
alae and
cohorts), while
canabae is generally used to describe extramural settlements of the major legionary fortresses, e.g.
Eboracum (
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
),
Vindobona (
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
),
Durostorum (
Silistra
Silistra ( bg, Силистра ; tr, Silistre; ro, Silistra) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Si ...
, Bulgaria).
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
Vercovicium (
Housesteads
Housesteads Roman Fort is the remains of an auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall, at Housesteads, Northumberland, England, south of Broomlee Lough. The fort was built in stone around AD 124, soon after the construction of the wall began in AD 1 ...
), outgrew their forts altogether, especially in the 3rd century once soldiers were permitted to marry.
Early ''vici'' had no civilian administration and were under the direct control of the Roman military commander. Those that attracted significant numbers of
Roman citizen
Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...
s were later permitted to form local councils and some, such as the vicus at Eboracum (
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
), grew into regional centres and even provincial capitals.
Modern placenames
The Latin term, pronounced with an initial 'u', was adopted into
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
as ''wic'', ''wick'', ''wich'', or ''wych''. It became one of the most widely occurring common placename elements, e.g.
Wyck,
Hackney Wick,
Gatwick,
Exwick,
Wickham,
Aldwych
Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...
,
Dulwich,
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
,
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...
, and indirectly
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, from ''Eoforwic'' via Old Norse ''Jorvik''. In the
Brittonic languages, the cognate word is ''gwig'' in Welsh and Cornish and ''guic'' in Breton; all now meaning "village". In continental languages, the term became Old High German ''wih'' "village", Modern German ''Weichbild'' "municipal area", Dutch ''wijk'' "quarter, district", Old Frisian ''wik'', Old Saxon ''wic'' "village".
See also
*
14 regions of Augustan Rome
*
Pagus
In ancient Rome, the Latin word (plural ) was an administrative term designating a rural subdivision of a tribal territory, which included individual farms, villages (), and strongholds () serving as refuges, as well as an early medieval geogra ...
References
{{Authority control
Topography of the ancient city of Rome
Subdivisions of ancient Rome
Roman towns types