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Introduction
15
cificsymbols),whichcould,inturn,haveresultedinagrowingsenseof
distinctivenessfromtheurbancommunity.38
TevaluablecontributionoftheseglobalstudiesonRomancorpora-
tionsliesmainlyinthefactthattheyrevealthewidersocialcontextin
whichcollegesfunctioned.Teyenableustodiscoverboththefactors
whichencouragedtheestablishmentofcollegesandtheirimpactonur-
banlife.Ontheotherhand,thereisariskthat-asisthecaseofother
syntheticanalyses-theymightblurthedińerencesfollowingfromthe
specificcharacteristicsofindividualcorporations;e.g.thechronological
contextisofenoverlooked.Tesearecostswhichhistoriansmustfind
dimculttoreconcilethemselveswith.Itisequallyasdimculttoaccept
thefactthat,whilemakinggeneralobservationsonthefenomenoasso-
ciativo,wemustleavemanyquestionsaboutspecificcolleges,operating
inaparticularplaceandtime,withoutanswers.WhiletheCintegration
andcompensationmodel)ofthecollegiumexplainswhyassociationswere
establishedinthefirstplaceandwhysomanyRomancity-dwellersjoined
colleges,suchgeneralobservationsfollowingfromusingthismodeldo
notsatisfactorilyexplainwhytheyjoinedspecificassociations.Onlymore
in-depthstudiesonindividualcolleges(ortypesofcolleges)canprovide
answerstosuchquestions.39
Assumingthatreligiousassociationswereadińerenttypeofcorpora-
tions(seechapterI),Iwouldliketoanalysetowhatextenttheconception
ofthecollegeasaplacewhereprocessesofintegrationandsocialcompen-
sationtookplaceisconsistentwithwhatweknowabouttheorganisation,
structureandfunctionsofcollegesestablishedbycultoresdeorum.Unfor-
tunately,ourknowledgeaboutRomanreligiousassociationsissurpris-
inglylimited.40Intheintroductiontothe2002collectionReligiöseVereine
inderrömischenAntike:UntersuchungenzuOrganisation,RitualundRau-
38Rohde2012,356.
39Amonographoncollegesofthecentonariiisanexcellentexampleofsuchstudies.
Itsauthor,J.Liu,usingawealthofsourcematerial,attemptedtoshowboththeCprofes-
sional)aspectofthefunctioningofthisinfluentialcorporationandthespecificroleit
playedinthepubliclifeoftheEmpire(Liu2009).
40Untiltheearly21stcentury,inthevastliteratureonthefenomenoassociativo,
therewerepracticallynopublicationsentirelyorpartlydevotedtoreligiouscolleg-
es;aninteresting,butonlyfour-pageslongarticlebyNorthwasanexception(North
1924).
