Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Collegia in Ancient Rome

Someone on the newsgroups asked about the various territories in Rome. My response is below his query.

On Feb 12, 12:51 am, rfd...@optonline.net wrote:
> A question for those knowledgeable about the history of this period. Is the
> dividing up of territories in Rome, and having bosses and captains etc. the
> beginning of what eventually became the Mafia? Sure sounds like it, unless
> the writers are just trying to make it seem just that way. Thanks.

There were collegia in Rome, and usually each collegia was made up of a certain type of tradesman. (A collegium is like a club.) Each collegia had its own rules and finances. Politicians used the collegia to control Rome's mobs, and in doing so they became criminilized. Caesar tried to shut down all collegia before he died, but after his death they made a come-back. Eventually it got to where unrest could not be kept under control without the collegia's powers.
For more information, try reading http://www.hbo.com/rome/watch/season2/episode14.html

In fact, in the article linked above, it says, Vorenus is "the Jimmy Hoffa of the Aventine."

Sincerely,
Puzzledwoeman

A note for those reading this on the blog - Vorenus is a fictional character in the HBO television series "Rome". The only historical account of Vorenus shows up in Julius Caesar's writings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Vorenus

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