ABSTRACT
Within the Roman Empire, the distinction between cities and other types of civilian settlements was clearly defined by law, never determined simply by considerations of size, economic or social importance; it was Rome which granted the city its charter or confirmed its legal status by treaty. Excluded from the rank of city and denied the full rights of municipal autonomy, there nevertheless existed numerous settlements which were important local centres, occasionally even larger and more prosperous than many of the smaller cities of the empire. Townships grew up around the legionary and auxiliary forts and large villages played an important role in providing for the needs of their inhabitants and those of the surrounding rural population; both types of settlement possessed a variety of industrial, commercial and social functions which distinguished them from smaller agricultural hamlets which provided none of these more specialized services. Both townships and villages differed also in more than just status from the cities of the Empire; coloniae, municipia, civitates foederatae and the tribal centres all exhibited a general uniformity in their administrative organization, their regular provision of a grid-system of streets and similar range of public buildings; they were planned foundations and their character reflected their purpose, and often their origin, as instruments of imperial policy (Part 5, Chapter 13). The unchartered township and village often attempted to provide some of the facilities offered to urban communities. The townships shared a common origin and a certain uniformity in their economic and administrative organization. However, both villages and townships were rarely official creations. They developed their own particular character as local conditions and opportunities allowed. Some were obliged to perform duties imposed upon them by central government and by the provincial authorities but they always remained responsive to the needs of their own population. They reflected, in their development, the variety of social and economic conditions which existed in different provinces and within different regions of the Roman Empire.
