STAFF

Due to the lack of a municipal charter for Pompeii we cannot know for sure how much staff the magistrates had. However, some scholars decide to look to other municipal charters for inspiration.

The Lex Ursonensis 62.  (Spanish Charter):

Aedile :

1 secretary (scriba) – 800 sesterces/year

1 soothsayer (haruspex) – 500 sesterces/year

1 flute player (tibicen) – 300 sesterces/sesterces/year

1 herald (praeco) – 300 sesterces/year

4 public slaves (publici cum cinto limo)

 

Duovir :

2 secretaries (scribae) – 1200 sesterces/year

2 guards (viatores) – 400 sesterces/year

1 attendant (accensus) – 700 sesterces/year

1 copyist (libraries) – 300 sesterces/year

1 soothsayer (haruspex) – 500 sesterces/year

1 herald (praeco) – 300 sesterces/year

1 flute player (tibicen) -300 sesterces/year [1]

Scholarly interpretations of this information differ. Some believe that the similarities in regards to benefaction regulations between the Spanish charter and Pompeian benefactions mean that the Lex Ursonensis can be taken as evidence for Pompeian regulations. However, we can see from Pompeian evidence that the magistrates had a more ‘skeletal staff’, as Mary Beard puts it.[2] For example, the Jucundus tablets only mention a single public slave and only 4 other clerks are mentioned (they signed their names in graffiti). [3]

 

 

[1] Johnson, Coleman-Norto, Bourne,1961: 97-104

[2]Beard, 2008:200

[3]Beard, 2008:200