Senatorial estates in Imperial Asia Minor

Talk held at the 16th International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (CIEGL) in Bordeaux The wealth and possessions of Roman senators in the imperial period consisted predominantly in land property, as emphasized by Pliny the Younger (epist. 3,19,8). It is mainly epigraphic documents that give us information about the location and sometimes extent of senatorial land ownership. Especially in Asia Minor there is plenty of evidence, of which Helmut Halfmann already compiled quite some in 1979, in order to draw conclusions about the exact origin of senators coming from Asia Minor. Since then many new testimonies have been discovered and published. Apart from that, further, earlier published evidence for the land ownership of senators whose origin was not in Asia Minor can be added. However, a systematic study of senatorial land ownership in Asia Minor as a whole is not yet at hand. My talk will highlight the key aspects of the topic and thus give an overview of the extent, distribution and background of senatorial land ownership in Asia Minor. Rarely is this property so clearly indicated as in the land register of Magnesia (I.Magnesia 122, c2). Usually only the combination of different inscriptions confirms the identification of senatorial landowners. Therefore, in my talk I would like to outline some methodological guidelines on how to obtain reliable findings from such information. Landed properties could change owners, senatorial estates often passed into the possession of the emperors, which is much better researched. Important questions therefore relate to continuity of ownership within a family and to the circumstances of changes of ownership. In this context, I will also discuss how the senators came to their property; in the case of senators of Asia Minor origin, it was often inherited from their ancestors; however, some of them owned estates far away from their hometowns. Especially in the case of senators of other origins, the question arises as to why and how they acquired landed property in Asia Minor.