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16
Introduction
mordnung,UlrikeEgelhaaf-GaiserandAlfredSchäferaskedmanyques-
tionswhichpreviousstudieshadnotanswered.Teyasked,amongothers,
aboutthecharacteristicfeaturesofculticcolleges,theirattitudetowards
religiouspracticesorganisedbythecivitas,thewayreligiousassociations
builttheiridentity,whethercollegescompetedamongthemselves,ifthere
wasahierarchyamongcorporationmembers,andifso-whetheritwas
acopyofthesocialrelationsoftheurbancommunity.Unfortunately,even
thestudiescollectedinthevolumetheypublisheddidnotbringanswers
tothemajorityofthesequestions.41Moreover,evensuchbasicissuesas
theorganisationorsocialstructureofreligiousassociationscauseusgreat
dimculty.Itturnsoutthatitisveryproblematictoconcludewhether
theresultsoftherelevantstudiespertaintothegroupofcorporations
inquestionortoRomancollegesasawhole.Veryfrequently,historians
didnotdistinguishsuchcategorieswhilereachingforthesourceswhich
seemedthemostusefulinthegivencontext.Asaresult,someconclu-
sionsconcerningthefunctioningofCprofessionalcolleges)arebasedon
thesourcematerialcreatedbyreligiouscolleges,whichareofenhidden
behindubiquitous-untilrecently-Cfunerarycolleges)
.Organisingand
systematisingthediscussiononthesubjectisthenecessaryconditionof
conductingreliablestudiesonthecorporatelifeinRomancities,although
aclear-cutandunquestionabledistinctionbetweenvarioustypesofcol-
legeswillmostlikelyneverbepossible.
AttemptingtopresenttheactivityofRomanprivatecorporations,re-
gardlessofwhethertheywereprofessionalorreligiouscolleges,weare
almostcompletelylimitedtoepigraphicsources.Privateassociationsvery
rarelydrewtheattentionofRomanhistoriographerswritingintheimpe-
rialperiod.Tacitus)accountaboutthedissolutionofillegalcorporations
atPompeiwasoneoftheveryfewmentionsdirectlyconcerningthefunc-
tioningofcollegesinItalyintheperiodinquestion.42InimperialRome,
unlikeundertheRepublic,collegeswerenolongerapoliticalproblem
andbecamemoreofanissueoforder.Sincecorporationsnolongerhad
aninfluenceonthecourseofpoliticalevents(itisdimculttoimaginethat
41Teirauthors)focusofinterestaremattersrelatedtotheorganisationofthespace
inwhichtheanalysedcollegiafunctioned(Egelhaaf-Gaiser,Schäfer2002).
42Tac.,Ann.,14,17.
