THE QUESTION OF THEOPPIDA VETERIS LATIIIN PLINY THE ELDER'SNATVRALIS HISTORIA

Abstract

This article attempts to provide a plausible explanation of a series of expressions used by Pliny the Elder to designate a significant number of communities in Hispania:[oppida] Latio antiquitus donata,[oppida] Latinorum ueterum,oppidani Latii ueteris,[oppida] Latii antiquiandoppida ueteris Latii(Plin.HN3.7, 3.18, 3.24, 3.25, 4.117). These phrases, commonly explained from a chronological or typological viewpoint, encompass fifty Augustanciuitates, the most important feature of which was the enjoyment of Latin rights before the sources used by Pliny were written under the Early Principate. To address this issue, the meaning and the use of the termoppidumare first examined. In a second stage, the origin and the sense of the adjectivesuetusandantiquum, as well as the adverbantiquitus, are analysed. The results suggest thatoppida ueteris Latiiand its variants may express, in a simple and comprehensible way, the administrative changes that a group of Republican Latin colonies in Hispania underwent through their transformation intomunicipia Latinaduring the reign of Augustus.