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03-03-2005, 07:46 PM

Does any body know what the scholae of Roman army exactly? I am not talking about the Imperial Guards, but probably Military clubs. I think, they should also have connections with the distribution of annonae. And as I learn there are some corruptions amongst these various scholae or maybe collegiae. 
Thanks.

Carlton Bach · 03-03-2005, 10:07 PM

at least, not to my knowledge. 
 
'schola' was a word - though infrequently used - that could describe a military collegium (or more precisely a collegium of soldiers, as the so clearly delineated 'military collegium' appears to be a shadowy presence at best). It has in turn been speculated they were burial clubs, savings associations, or proto-unions, but the evidence bears none of this out. They were most likely initially nothing more than clubs in which, quite frequently, functionaries of the army associated - some were more exclusive than others, we assume. In the course of the transition of the later 3rd/4th centuries they may well have undergone considerable transforemation and become integrated into the administrative structure of the army and the 'notional' legions of the professionalised civil service, but there is hardly any evidence. The 'scholae' of the palace guards equally may have developed from such organisations, though that is definitely going out on a limb. 
 
If you have evidence for scholae/collegia/sodalitates/hetairiai in the 5th or 6th century army I'm definitely interested!

03-03-2005, 10:33 PM

yes, as much as read from Ginsburg ("Roman Military Clubs and Their Social Functions" Transactions and Proceedings od the American Philological Association 71 (1940) 149-156.). It seems as you said. I will write what I learnt so far: 
 
We know about such organizations from certain inscriptions mostly found in the Legionary camp of III Augusta in Lambaesis in Africa. Collegiae were established as a special fund to which soldiers paid for their own funeral expenses. These army associations might be formed in the Severian age and the best known statute concerning them is the regulation of collegium cornicinum. The main idea of the collegiae was to provide insurance, when a member died, to takeover his burial expenses and also to aid his widow and orphans, but their functions apparently were not limited to this in reality. As we see in those inscriptions, these military collegiae/scholae or clubs, apparently functioned not only as an insurance institution and but also as a source of social security, and they were even able to influence the promotion of soldiers, especially in the collegia of officers. But as we might expect, such institution was very open to corruption and as a matter of fact, certain aspiring officers were given opportunities to visit Rome in order to advance their position through influential connections, as can be read from the third century inscriptions of Lambaesis. 
 
This is all I know. I am currently working on a military inscription whic is new and very important, as far as understand from inscription. You asked for evidence about them in fifth or sixth century. I will give you some translations from my text I am currently working on. This inscription is dated around 500 AD. You can also see me in other threads because of it, trying to find the corruptions in the army at this time. 
 
Some translations from the text: 
 
1) each man from various and diverse scholae, obtains the higher grades by the corrupt solicitation, cunning and luxurious self-indulgence of some people, not in accordance with (their own) labours, duration of service, merit and the time ordained (for appointment). 
 
2) . . . (and) up to the successive term, the amount of those enlisted in the muster-roll of the whole unit (arithmos/numerus) and in each schola, shall be preserved without being reduced in accordance with the aforementioned notice arranged below, (through this divine decree)ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦ 
 
So we have scholae here, as a source of some problems. 
 
by the way thanks for your other comments in other threads 
 
I will be glad while reading your comments, thanks... 
Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=patroos>Patroos</A> at: 3/4/05 1:38 am

Carlton Bach · 03-04-2005, 07:44 AM

The Lambaesis inscriptions (on which our understanding of collegia is largely based) are very controversial and not at all clear, unfortunately. Ginsburg reads them as a form of professional insurance, but there are three main problems with this 
 
-the purpose of the sum to be paid out to members leaving the collegium is nowhere specified 
 
-the sums to be disbursed differ, depending on the circumstances of his leavinmg, and the payout to a widow IIRC is the lowest, certainly lower than in other cases 
 
- in every case, departing collegae get less than they paid in. Given that we know Roman soldiers lent money to each other and third parties at interest and that money in the bank was part of the peculium castrense that went to their heirs, this sounds like a bad investment. 
 
I suspect this has more to do with status and display, same as some people writing on their gravestones what their funerals cost. The sums in question were quite considerable, even for the early 3rd cetury.

03-04-2005, 05:07 PM

can you give me more bibliographic information about scholae or collegiae, if you have? QUI DESIDERAT PACEM, PRAEPARET BELLUM!Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=patroos>Patroos</A> at: 3/4/05 6:08 pm

Carlton Bach · 03-04-2005, 06:22 PM

If you read German, I could simply send you my MA thesis on the military collegia. It's not exactly what I'd consider mature scholarship, but unless I've missed a recent publication it is about the latest thing there is, including all the epigraphy up to 1999/2000. I also think I got most of the relevant books and articles. Very little has been published since the 1940s.

03-04-2005, 08:06 PM

Thank you very much for your suggestion, 
I would be very glad if I could have your M.A. thesis. I say ok. 
It is good to learn that you had a thesis on this topic. 
So, what should I do to get it? 
Thanks a lot QUI DESIDERAT PACEM, PRAEPARET BELLUM!Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=patroos>Patroos</A> at: 3/4/05 10:18 pm

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