Cornelius Bocchus e a economia da Lusitânia

Abstract

The operation of the cities during the Early Empire was based on urban elites who, attracted by honours, took part through the payment of summae honorariae and in the performance of acts of euergetism. In Hispania, Lusitania is the only province in which provincial flamines are known in the Julian and Claudian periods. Under the principality of Tiberius, the figure of L. Cornelius L. f. Gal. Bocchus stands out as originating from the town of Salacia and being a member of the ordo equester, designated flamen provinciae Lusitaniae, the same as his relative L. Cornelius C. f. Bocchus. In the Roman world the social promotion of provincial priests was common within the political and religious system. A minority, as in the case of this Lusitanian family, exercised a combination of careers, after undertaking official asks in the army, generally the position of praefecti fabrum. The comparison with other cases known in Hispania suggests that this position, in addition to its known functions, might be related to the economic and logistic activities of supplying the army. In this way, part of the wealth accumulated by this family might have been initially obtained in the exercise of this post. The emergence of inscriptions in Tróia, opposite Setúbal, in Alcácer do Sal and in Olisipo poses an interesting problem for the study of this family in the context of Lusitania's economy at the start of the Empire, possibly linked to the industrial production of fish‑based preparations. Directly related to this problem is the existence of a complementary phenomenon in the imitation of Lusitanian products with respect to those from Baetica, in the context of an "early" production recently identified in Lusitania.