Senatorial Estates in Imperial Asia Minor – State of the Question, Methodological Issues and Perspectives on Future Research

Abstract

The wealth and possessions of Roman senators in the imperial period consisted predominantly in land property, as emphasized by Pliny the Younger (epist. 3,19,8). It is mainly epigraphic documents that give us information about the location and sometimes extent of senatorial land ownership. Especially in Asia Minor there is plenty of evidence, of which Helmut Halfmann already compiled quite some in 1979. Since then many new testimonies have been discovered and published. Apart from that, further, earlier published evidence for the land ownership of senators whose origin was not in Asia Minor can be added. However, a systematic study of senatorial land ownership in Asia Minor as a whole is not yet at hand. The paper provides prolegomena to such a study. I thus give an overview of the extent, distribution and background of senatorial land ownership in Asia Minor. Rarely is this property so clearly indicated as in the land register of Magnesia (I.Magnesia 122, c2). Usually only the combination of different inscriptions confirms the identification of senatorial landowners. Therefore, I outline methodological guidelines on how to obtain reliable findings from such information. Landed properties could change owners, senatorial estates often passed into the possession of the emperors, which is much better researched. Important questions relate to continuity of ownership within a family and to the circumstances of changes of possession. In this context, I also discuss how the senators came to their property. Especially in the case of senators from other parts of the Roman Empire, the question arises as to why and how they acquired landed property in Asia Minor.