POD - Collegia. Le phénomène associatif dans l'Occident romain

Colleges were probably the most widespread among the non-institutional collective structures in the Roman Empire. Their organisation was the same whatever their locations: regulations ruled the registration, the management, the meetings, the objectives of these communities whose operation was subject to the laws of the Empire; they were acknowledged on an administrative level and controlled by the authorities anxious to curb practices likely to disturb the public order. Colleges were referred to by a name which seemed to indicate the link between their members: a divinity, an occupation, a specialty, local roots, funeral customs. However, they all had various functions and met in order to worship a divinity, to attend a banquet, to choose representatives, to seek a patronage, to honour the emperor, to share friendly moments. They first appeared in Italy and then spread among the whole society, including the army and to all the provinces, particularly in the Western part where they were numerous and diverse. Therefore they bore testimony to the romanisation process and their study is likely to shed light on the “mark of Rome on the West” considered not from an elitist point of view but from a “popular” one, namely concerning the whole society in daily life and not on special occasions.

In order to get a better understanding of the process, the diversity of colleges in the Roman Empire is emphasised on a thematic level (religious, occupational, funeral diversity, similar associative organisations) as well as on a geographical (north-west provinces, the Iberian peninsula, the Adriatic shores, Egypt) or on a chronological one (colleges lasted till the 4th century) thanks to various papers, some extensive, others centred on regions or specialisations, based on epigraphic and papyrological documents whose use is made easier thanks to the numerous indexes.