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Did legion workshops make money?
#1
The 20th legion had a tile workshop that covered four acres near Chester. Other than producing endless roofing tiles to replace the stuff drunken legionaries broke, who did they sell it to? Were the legion's factories profit centers? Did they displace the locals on price and quantity?<br>
We had had some discussion earlier on the Romans' effect on the local economies: were these local workshops significant or were they just for local consumption? <p></p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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#2
Can I ask how we know it was a military workshop and not a civilian one? <p>It's not a bug, it's a feature</p><i></i>
In the name of heaven Catiline, how long do you propose to exploit our patience..
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#3
Salve,<br>
<br>
Some military tiles and bricks were used in civilian villae in the Netherlands, but it is hard to tell how the owners got their hands on them, possibly by trade or conceivably also by having the right relations with commanders. Commanders employed their troops in all kinds of labour schemes and it is recorded that troops petitioned the emperor to grant special honours to commanders and officials beforehand to spare them the extra effort involved.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Sander van Dorst <p></p><i></i>
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#4
Other than the book I read saying the workshop belonged to Legio XX, the antefix and tiles are all marked Legio XX. I can only wonder if every legion had such workshops. The production must have been significant, since so many examples still exist. While the particular antefix of the 20th may not have been popular, Roman villas used antefixes a lot, and this must have spread. <p></p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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#5
I got the following from Dan Robinson, curator of Roman Army at the Chester museum:<br>
<br>
As for the pottery query, this is not really my speciality, but I believe<br>
the accepted opinion is as follows;- the Roman army arrives in an area, and<br>
immediately you have a situation where there are several hundred [or<br>
thousand, depending on the unit] men wanting the sort of pottery they are<br>
already used to, and in quantity. In non-industrialised areas such as<br>
Britain there was noone locally to supply this sudden large demand; the<br>
troops would have to resort to making their own. In the case of a whole<br>
legion the demand could be quite exotic as well as large - we believe that<br>
our works depot at Holt, some 8 miles upstream from Chester, employed<br>
craftsmen from Asia Minor for some of the fine wares. How that worked we do<br>
not know [perhaps they were on the strength of the legion just because they<br>
were good potters?]. The depot only operated for a few years at full<br>
capacity.<br>
<br>
Once the 'locals' had got their minds in gear , and learnt the technology,<br>
the preferred method was for the Roman army to buy in its pottery. Local is<br>
a relative term - the most successful potteries in Britain for supplying the<br>
army, which was mostly based in the far north, were situated in Dorset and<br>
Oxfordshire in the south. Obviously some sort of competitive tendering or<br>
'central purchasing' process was going on between the southern potters and<br>
the Roman quartermasters.<br>
<br>
I hope that answers your question,<br>
<br>
With best wishes,<br>
<br>
Dan<br>
<p></p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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#6
Mr. Robinson, the Chester curator, sent me a very nice color print of several of the Legion XX antefix in their collection. An image of one is in the 'off topic' section where I was attempting to learn how to post an image.<br>
Most of the antefix have the running boar, going either left or right, with a staff behind surmoounted by a disk with three arrows coming from the top. Mr. Robinson didn't have any idea what those were. One antefix with the image of a male in place of the round thing and arrows was probably a sun god, which to him means that they were still producing in the 3rd century, since this is the Imperial cult symbol which happened at that time. <p></p><i></i>
Richard Campbell
Legio XX - Alexandria, Virginia
RAT member #6?
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