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''Gromatici'' (from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
'' groma'' or ''gruma'', a surveyor's pole) or ''agrimensores'' was the name for land surveyors amongst the
ancient Romans The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens (; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman ...
. The "gromatic writers" were technical writers who codified their techniques of surveying, most of whose preserved writings are found in the '' Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum''.


History


Roman Republic

At the foundation of a
colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...
and the assignation of lands the auspices were taken, for which purpose the presence of the
augur An augur was a priest and official in the ancient Rome, classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the List of Roman deities, gods by studying events he observed within a predetermined s ...
was necessary. But the business of the augur did not extend beyond the religious part of the ceremony: the division and measurement of the land were made by professional measurers. These were the ''finitores'' mentioned by the early writers, who in the later periods were called ''mensores'' and ''agrimensores''. The business of a ''finitor'' could only be done by a free man, and the honourable nature of his office is indicated by the rule that there was no bargain for his services, but he received his pay in the form of a gift. These ''finitores'' appear also to have acted as judices, under the name of ''arbitri'' (single ''arbiter''), in those disputes about boundaries which were purely of a technical, not a legal, character. The first professional surveyor mentioned is Lucius Decidius Saxa, who was employed by
Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...
in the measurement of camps.


Roman Empire

Under the
empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
the observance of the auspices in the fixing of camps and the establishment of military colonies was less regarded, and the practice of the ''agrimensores'' was greatly increased. The distribution of land amongst the veterans, the increase in the number of military colonies, the settlement of Italian peasants in the provinces, the general survey of the empire under Augustus, the separation of private and state domains, led to the establishment of a recognized professional corporation of surveyors. The practice was also codified as a system by technical writers such as Julius Frontinus, Hyginus, Siculus Flaccus, and other Gromatic writers, as they are sometimes termed. The teachers of
geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
in the large cities of the empire used to give practical instruction on the system of gromatics. This practical geometry was one of the ''liberalia studia''; but the professors of geometry and the teachers of law were not exempted from the obligation of being tutores, and from other such burdens, a fact which shows the subordinate rank which the teachers of elementary science then held. The ''agrimensor'' could mark out the limits of the '' centuriae'', and restore the boundaries where they were confused, but he could not assign without a commission from the emperor. Military persons of various classes are also sometimes mentioned as practising surveying, and settling disputes about boundaries. The lower rank of the professional ''agrimensor'', as contrasted with the ''finitor'' of earlier periods, is shown by the fact that in the imperial period there might be a contract with an ''agrimensor'' for paying him for his services.


Late empire

The ''agrimensor'' of the later period was merely employed in disputes as to the boundaries of properties. The foundation of colonies and the assignation of lands were now less common, though we read of colonies being established to a late period of the empire, and the boundaries of the lands must have been set out in due form. Those who marked out the ground in camps for the soldiers' tents are also called ''mensores'', but they were military men. The functions of the ''agrimensor'' are shown by a passage of Hyginus, in all questions as to determining boundaries by means of the marks (''signa''), the area of surfaces, and explaining maps and plans, the services of the ''agrimensor'' were required: in all questions that concerned property, right of road, enjoyment of water, and other easements (''servitutes'') they were not required, for these were purely legal questions. Generally, therefore, they were either employed by the parties themselves to settle boundaries, or they received their instructions for that purpose from a ''
judex Judex (real name Jacques de Trémeuse) is a fictional French vigilante hero created by Louis Feuillade and Arthur Bernède for the 1916 silent film '' Judex''. Judex (whose name is Latin for "judge") is a mysterious avenger who dresses in black ...
''. In this capacity they were '' advocati''. But they also acted as ''judices'', and could give a final decision in that class of smaller questions which concerned the ''quinque pedes'' of the Lex Mamilia (the law setting which boundary spaces were not subject to '' usucapio''), as appears from Frontinus. Under the
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
emperors the name ''mensores'' was changed into ''agrimensores'' to distinguish them from another class of '' mensores'', who are mentioned in the codes of
Theodosius I Theodosius I ( ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene C ...
and
Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...
. By a
rescript A rescript is a public government document. More formally, it is a document issued not on the initiative of the author, but in response to a question (usually legal) posed to the author. The word originates from replies issued by Roman emperors t ...
of
Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
and Constans (344 AD) the teachers and learners of geometry received immunity from civil burdens. According to a constitution of
Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...
and
Valentinian III Valentinian III (; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the Western Roman Empire, West from 425 to 455. Starting in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by civil wars among powerful general ...
(440 AD), they received jurisdiction in questions of '' alluvio''; but some writers disagree that this crucial passage is genuine. According to another constitution of the same emperors, the ''agrimensor'' was to receive an aureus from each of any three bordering proprietors whose boundaries he settled, and if he set a '' limes'' right between proprietors, he received an aureus for each twelfth part of the property through which fee restored the ''limes''. Further, by another constitution of the same emperors, the young ''agrimensores'' were to be called "clarissimi" while they were students, and when they began to practise their profession, "spectabiles".
Jean-Baptiste Dureau de la Malle Jean-Baptiste () is a male French name, originating with Saint John the Baptist, and sometimes shortened to Baptiste. The name may refer to any of the following: Persons * Charles XIV John of Sweden, born Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was K ...
. ''Economie Politique des Romains'', vol. i. p. 170


Writers and works

The earliest of the gromatic writers was Frontinus, whose ''De agrorum qualitate'', dealing with the legal aspect of the art, was the subject of a commentary by Aggenus Urbicus, a Christian schoolmaster. Under
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
a certain Balbus, who had accompanied the emperor on his
Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...
n campaign, wrote a still extant manual of geometry for land surveyors (''Expositio et ratio omnium formarum or mensurarum'', probably after a
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
original by
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
), dedicated to a certain Celsus who had invented an improvement in a gromatic instrument (perhaps the '' dioptra'', resembling the modern
theodolite A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building and ...
); for the treatises of Hyginus see that name. Somewhat later than
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
was Siculus Flaccus (''De condicionibus agrorum'', extant), while the most curious treatise on the subject, written in barbarous
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and entitled ''Casae litterarum'' (long a school textbook) is the work of a certain Innocentius (4th-5th century). It is doubtful whether Boetius is the author of the treatises attributed to him. The ''Gromatici veteres'' also contains extracts from official registers (probably belonging to the 5th century) of colonial and other land surveys, lists and descriptions of boundary stones, and extracts from the ''Theodosian Codex''. According to Mommsen, the collection had its origin during the 5th century in the office of a vicarius (diocesan governor) of Rome, who had a number of surveyors under him. The surveyors were known by various names: ''decempedator'' (with reference to the instrument used); ''finitor'', ''metator'' or ''mensor castrorum'' in republican times; ''togati Augustorum'' as imperial civil officials; professor, ''auctor'' as professional instructors. The best edition of the ''Gromatici'' is by Karl Lachmann and others (1848) with supplementary volume, ''Die Schriften der römischen Feldmesser'' (1852). The 1913 edition of Carl Olof Thulin contains only a few works. The 2000 edition of Brian Campbell is much broader and also contains an English translation.


See also

* Bematist * Triangulation (surveying)#History


References

*


Further reading

{{Library resources box , by=no , onlinebooks=yes , others=yes , about=yes , label=Gromatici , viaf= , lccn= , lcheading= , wikititle= * Campbell, Brian. 1996. "Shaping the Rural Environment: Surveyors in Ancient Rome." ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 86:74–99. * Campbell, J. B. 2000. ''The Writings of the Roman Land Surveyors: Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary.'' London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. * Classen, C. Joachim. 1994. "On the Training of the Agrimensores in Republican Rome and Related Problems: Some Preliminary Observations." ''Illinois Classical Studies'' 19:161-170. * Cuomo, Serafina. 2000. "Divide and Rule: Frontinus and Roman Land-Surveying." ''Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science'' 31A:189–202. * Dilke, Oswald Ashton Wentworth. 1967. "Illustrations from Roman Surveyors’ Manuals." ''Imago Mundi'' 21:9–29. * Dilke, Oswald Ashton Wentworth. 1971. ''The Roman Land Surveyors: An Introduction to the Agrimensores.'' Newton Abbot, UK: David and Charles. * Duncan-Jones, R. P. 1976. "Some Configurations of Landholding in the Roman Empire." In ''Studies in Roman Property.'' Edited by M. I. Finley, 7–24. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. * Gargola, Daniel J. 1995. ''Lands, Laws and Gods: Magistrates and Ceremony in the Regulation of Public Lands in Republican Rome.'' Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press. * Lewis, Michael Jonathan Taunton. 2001. ''Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome.'' Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. * Nicolet, Claude. 1991. "Control of the Fiscal Sphere: The Cadastres." In ''Space, Geography, and Politics in the Early Roman Empire.'' By Claude Nicolet, 149–169. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press. Surveying Ancient Roman technology History of measurement