Abitare in campagna: senatori, cavalieri e notabili locali nella regio XI Transpadana. Comum, Augusta Taurinorum e Augusta Praetoria

Abstract

The contribution aims to investigate the epigraphic presence of local senators, equites and notables in the countryside of the regio XI Transpadana. After the examination of all the inscriptions of the region filed in EDR in search of eminent figures (see Appendix), the authors focus on the cases of Comum, Augusta Taurinorum and Augusta Praetoria, cities that are epigraphically well represented and that share a colonial status. A varied picture emerges, with the reduced but significant presence of senators and knights in contrast to the high frequency of municipal offices and the sevirate. An attempt has been made to reconstruct the economic and holiday reasons that bound these notables to their probable properties (villae rusticae and luxurious residences) in a vast and varied ager, between the plains, high hills, valley floors and Lake Como. Possible correspondence between epigraphic and archaeological evidence has been surveyed.