The role of slaves in Roman land surveying

Abstract

The writings of ancient Roman land surveyors were preserved in a collection which is usually referred to as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum after the title of the edition published by Thulin at the beginning of the 20th century. Its first manuscript dates back to the 6th century. This collection consists of several writings of different lengths and various contents. Hyginus or Siculus Flaccus, e.g., wrote lengthy discussions; however, the manuscipt also contains short fragments from different laws or geometrical treatises and reports of late Roman officials or clerks. We only have slight pieces of information on the personality or life of the authors, but some of their remarks make us think that they must have had practical or field experience in the background of their theoretical works. The writers of the land surveying treatises did some field work themselves; therefore, it is suprising that they do not mention any mechanical device or labour force in their works.