''Opera publica'' is the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the 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 the power ...

name used by

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to 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 (753–50 ...

for the building of

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

projects carried out under the direction of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

on behalf of the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, villag ...

. The term "public works" is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

(literal word-by-word translation) of the Latin. Public works in the Roman Empire were not merely buildings for the conduct of the business of running the city, but all buildings for public use. Therefore, amphitheatres, aqueducts,

temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

s, fora, arches,

defensive walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

, harbours,

bridges A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

, fountains,

roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

circuses A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

, markets, and cloacae were classified as ''opera publica''.Water Distribution in Ancient Rome: The Evidence of Frontinus
Harry B. Evans. Page 9,15, etc In the Late Roman Empire the citizens performed ''opera publica'' in lieu of paying taxes; often it consisted of road and bridge work. Roman landlords could also demand some days' labour from their tenants, and also from the freedmen; in the latter case, the work was called ''opera officiales''. Public works were an important department, and the

Roman censor The censor (at any time, there were two) was a magistrate in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances. The power of the censor was abso ...

s were entrusted with the expenditure of this department's public money, though the actual payments were no doubt made by the

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

s. The censors had the general superintendence of all the public buildings and works and to meet the expenses connected with this part of their duties, the Senate voted them a certain sum of money or certain revenues, to which they were restricted, but which they might at the same time employ according to their discretion. They had to see that the temples and all other public buildings were in a good state of repair, that no public places were encroached upon by the occupation of private persons, and that the aqueduct, roads, drains, etc. were properly attended to. The repairs of the public works and the keeping of them in proper condition were let out by the censors by

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

to the lowest bidder, just as the ''

vectigalia Octroi (; fro, octroyer, to grant, authorize; Lat. ''auctor'') is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption. Antiquity The word itself is of French origin. Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, bei ...

'' were let out to the highest bidder. These expenses were called '' ultrotributa'', and hence we frequently find ''vectigalia'' and ''ultrotributa'' contrasted with one another. The persons who undertook the contract were called ''conductores'', ''mancipes'', ''redemptores'', ''susceptores'', etc.; and the duties they had to discharge were specified in the Leges Censoriae. The censors also had to superintend the expenses connected with the worship of the gods, even for instance the feeding of the sacred geese in the Capitol; these various tasks were also let out on contract. The censors were in charge of keeping existing public buildings and facilities in a proper state of repair, but also constructing new ones, either for ornament or utility, both in Rome and in other parts of Italy. These works were either performed by them jointly, or they divided between them the money, which had been granted to them by the Senate. They were let out to contractors, like the other works mentioned above, and when they were completed, the censors had to see that the work was performed in accordance with the contract: this was called ''opus probare'' or ''in acceptum referre''.Cicero ''In Verrem'' i.57; Livy iv.22, xlv.15; Lex Puteol. p73, Spang. The

aedile ''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...

s had likewise a superintendence over the public buildings, and it is not easy to define with accuracy the respective duties of the censors and aediles, but it may be remarked in general that the superintendence of the aediles had more of a police character, while that of the censors were more financial in subject matter.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the est ...

( Legg. iii. 3, 7) divided the functions of the aediles under three heads: care of provisions (quality inspection), care of the games (and also festivals), and public works, which he called "care of the city". He notes responsibilities including the repair and preservation of temples, sewers and aqueducts; street cleansing and paving; regulations regarding traffic, dangerous animals and dilapidated buildings; precautions against fire; superintendence of baths and taverns; enforcement of

sumptuary Sumptuary laws (from Latin ''sūmptuāriae lēgēs'') are laws that try to regulate consumption. '' Black's Law Dictionary'' defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expend ...

laws; punishment of gamblers and usurers; the care of public morals generally, including the prevention of foreign superstitions. Aediles also punished those who had too large a share of the

ager publicus The ''ager publicus'' (; "public land") is the Latin name for the public land of Ancient Rome. It was usually acquired via the means of expropriation from enemies of Rome. History In the earliest periods of Roman expansion in central Italy, th ...

, or kept too many cattle on the state pastures. This cites: * Schubert, ''De Romanorum Aedilibus'' (1828) * Hoffmann, ''De Aedilibus Romanis'' (1842) * Göll, ''De Aedilibus sub Caesarum Imperio'' (1860) * Labatut, ''Les Édiles et les moeurs'' (1868) *

Marquardt Marquardt is a surname of German origin. Notable people with the surname include: *August F. Marquardt (1850–1925), American politician *Bridget Marquardt (born 1973), American television personality, glamour model, and actress *Christel Marquardt ...

- Mommsen, ''Handbuch der römischen Altertümer'', ii. (1888) * Soltau, ''Die ursprüngliche Bedeutung und Competenz der Aediles Plebis'' (Bonn, 1882).

Citations

{{reflist, 2 Ancient Roman architecture Latin words and phrases Governmental auctions

See also

Citations