La gestione finanziaria dell’acqua in ambito urbano tra IV e V secolo

Abstract

Regarding the administration of water and especially its financial management in Late Antiquity, the documentation is rather sporadic. Nonetheless, the analysis of the sources, especially the legal ones, allow us to perceive the existence of a well-organized administration system although some details escape us. This administration had its own headquarters (statio), where the registers for the distribution of water were kept. It furthermore managed, through a specific financial department (ratio), all accounts related to water and a “chest” (arca) concerning the expenses and incomes of different nature. Although, this was only one of many rationes of the fiscus and probably also administered quite similarly as the various accounts concerning the food supply system in Rome and Constantinople, accounts often interconnected to each other and, from the 4th century onwards, fell under the supervision of the urban prefects. Besides, the fact that it is mainly within the constitutions of emperors that the protection of water and its uses were addressed, one can assume that there was a persistently present central authority, which tried, by special laws and interdictions, to preserve and guarantee the water supply to citizens. The imperial edicts do therefore reflect that the guarantee of water supply was an act of benevolence on the part of Emperors, towards the citizens. However, it should be emphasized that this was also true with regards to other essential aspects of civic life: guaranteed food supply, urban splendour, public order, facilities and welfare.